La Mama Negra or (An Incredibly Inappropriate and Not Politically Correct Ecuadorian Festival)

Last Saturday Javier and I shared a bus with some friends to Latacunga for La Mama Negra festival and parade.  The origins and purpose of the festival are somewhat elusive, but I was able to track down two English blogs that describe the festival here and here. In short it combines some elements of Christianity with folklore about the city being saved from a volcanic eruption by a black slave woman.  And it results in a day long parade of dancers, bands, cross-dressers, spitters (I'll explain in a bit) and culminates when the mayor of Latacunga arrives in full blackface and feminine attire.  It sounds crazy and that's exactly what it was....kind of crazy.  We had planned on it being a bit out of control after most of the teachers who had attended last year declined the invitation of a second visit with comments like, 'I think it's a once in a lifetime' or 'seeing it once was enough...'  

With that in mind, I did not bring my camera, for fear of losing it or having it stolen.  That said, I did bring my phone and attempted to capture the colorful debauchery of the day.  I hope my pictures are worth a 1000 words (because I think it might take that many to really capture the scene and experience of the day....).

Park in the center of Latacunga

It's really not a tourist town, but was still very beautiful.  It meant that we got a lot of notice and attention at the parade as clear foreigners.

These are guaguas de pan.  They are little bread babies usually filled with cheese, jam or chocolate.  They are used primarily in the celebration of the Day of the Dead, but were still out and extravagantly dressed in Latacunga.

This is Galo (left) our regular school bus driver and chaperone for the day.  He is from Latacunga and offered to drive us to the festival.  Then there is Ben (right), the only returning festival attendant of our group, who is also very blond.

If I haven't mentioned it, I should...we were warned that during the parade, many performers would be carrying bottles of liquor that they would 'share' with audience members as they walked by.  This is us purchasing some fried street food in preparation for our liquid intake for the day.

Here is our little group!  Galo and Javier negotiated a bargain price of $3.50 to have some reserved seats 1) up on some risers for better viewing and 2) under a tarp which meant shade, which is very important when spending a full day out in the Ecuadorian sun.

Unlike parades I've witnessed in other countries, this one included mobs of people standing on and sometimes in the street so that the role of performer and spectator where constantly blending.  This is a picture of the policing attempting to clear the street before the start of the day....good luck guys.

Here is a group of men, all in panchos, parading down street.  You can also see the folks on the roof across the street that purchased heightened seating as well.

Here was my first treasure of the festival.  The performers were throwing out candy, cookies, and fruit into the crowd.  It's also tradition to pass out ornaments of the five main characters of the legend: the Moorish King, the Angel of the Star, the Sergeant, the Captain of the Guard and the Mama Negra. 

Javier did a great job and was able to snag TWO ornaments for our Christmas tree: Mama Negra (the one I really wanted) and the Moorish King (we think).

Have I mentioned yet that almost ALL of the men are dressed in drag?  Again, this was never really explained to us, but we think relates back to the virgin that saved the town from the volcano?

In addition to dancers, bands and the men in drag, it's common to see these full-sized, gutted pigs being paraded down the street.  Javier spoke to a man who explained that the men who carry each pig on their back actually volunteer and count it as penance for them and their family for the year.  We guessed each pigs weighed about 300 pounds. 

Here is one of the main characters; we think the Angel of the Star (but who really knows.)

While we spent a lot of time in the safety comfort of our shady spot on the bleachers, we also wanted to have a bit of the street experience too.  As I said, the line between spectator and performer was constantly blurred as in this photo when Javier was pulled into a dance group by this woman.

In addition to the 300 pound pig, there were chickens, guinea pigs (or cuy, a traditional Ecuadorian cuisine), cigarette cartons and bottles of liquor attached to each pig.  This one was also decked out in Ecuador's flag.  (We've been told that after being out in the sun all day, these animals will be cooked the following day for a feast shared by the entire city).

Here we are with a pig carrier.  They usually had attendants giving them water and carrying a stand that they would rest the pig on for a break throughout the parade. 

Granted the parade did start at 10 and lasted until 3-ish, but I was still surprised at how often performers stopped for pictures, to grab drinks or get the audience involved in the show.

As I said, Latacunga doesn't see a lot of tourists and Ben's blond hair makes him particularly obvious so he got a lot of attention throughout the day; both with the performs and in this case the media.

Lots of beautiful and colorful costumes seen throughout the day!

Here is another character (I think the Sergeant or Captain?).  It seems like they typically ride horses to keep themselves a bit above the chaos occurring in the street. 

Here is the other part of the festival that I haven't mentioned....throughout the parade and day these folks dressed in all white would pull members of the audience into the street to be blessed.  Here are Ben and Javier being blessed. 

The blessing is conducted through a series of rituals: the costumed blessers dance a little circle around those being blessed.

As they circle, they rub antlers (I don't know why?) and branches of eucalyptus all over the person being blessed.  Sounds reasonable (sort of).

But the they also have a member in charge of taking a mouthful of water (or something alcoholic, like aguardiente) and spitting it all over those that are in the middle of the circle.  I don't know where the spitting comes in, or what it does, but it was obviously an important part of the day.  Then the blessers often offer the recently blessed a sip of whatever alcohol they are carrying and you tip them with a coin (whatever you have) from your pocket.

We've been told that staying away from street food improves our chances of avoiding illness and parasites, but it seemed to be the best option at Mama Negra so we took a chance and had some chugchucaras, and mashed potatoes.  Essentially it includes pork three different ways, corn 2 different ways, and a plantain and mote (boiled hominy). It was delicious. 

And here is the big finale: the Mama Negra "herself."

She comes riding down the street, holding her baby dolls and squirting milk into the crowd.  (Remember this is actually a man, usually the mayor of Latacunga).  While this signified the end of the parade, it didn't necessarily signify the end of the party from what we could see...

Overall, we really enjoyed the experience.  It was certainly crazy and included many sights I had never seen before, but we never felt unsafe.  I think having seats on the bleachers also helped a lot because we could take ourselves out of the craziness and participation on the street.  If you are ever in Ecuador, I'd agree that it is definitely worth a visit to Latacunga for La Mama Negra, but I may also agree that it is a once in a lifetime experience.  We were both spit on blessed and caught our Mama Negra ornaments, so it seems our participation was a success!

Our First Trip to Mindo

Last weekend we shared a taxi with another couple to the quaint tourist town of Mindo.  I aptly titled this post 'our first....' because Mindo quickly made our 'we have to go back' list.    We were looking forward to the cloud forest getaway and celebrating our first non-group trip in Ecuador.

We stayed at Cabana Armonia which was just an easy few blocks off of the main street in town.  We had our own little cabana complete with front porch and hammock!

Some fresh and exotic flowers were ready to greet us when we arrived.

A fine little bathroom (complete with hot water which is never a guarantee in Ecuador).

We had room to house two more with the bunk beds, but were fine cuddling up in the double bed that was available.

Our little spot in Mindo, complete with a hammock.

Mostly we spent a lot of QT out on our porch, one in the hammock and the other sitting beside, watching the birds and butterflies the roamed the vegetation of our hostel.

Our cabanas were set among an orchid garden that we were able to tour (for free!) with the purchase of our room.  I had no idea that orchids are native to Ecuador or of the variety of orchids that exist beyond the heavily marketed and sold orchids that you see in the store.

Each orchid was so different, but they all maintained that familiar upside shape that you'd recognize from your store-bought flowers.

These turn their leaves bright pink.

Many of the orchids grew right on the leaves of their plant, apparently pretty common among this type of flower.

This one smelled SO much like cloves, that I went back to sniff it again after our initial tour.  Amazing!

This one isn't native to Ecuador, but reminded us most of the orchids you might find in the States.

On our first afternoon we decided to go for a hike to see some waterfalls.  To get to the trails we had to take the tarabita over a rather large valley.  It was a quick, but terrifying trip over the gorge (and good practice for our planned ziplining adventure for the next day).

Our view from the tarabita....headed into the great, green unknown.

We had to hold on to our hats so that they didn't go flying off into the gorge!

The hike was pretty easy and super beautiful.  We opted for the path that would take us to 6 smaller waterfalls rather than the hour long trek to the one large waterfall.  We documented each of the waterfalls we found.

Numero uno.

Dos.

We were impressed with the rustic, but well-maintained trail: like these steps that were carved into a tree to get us to the next waterfall.

Double falls for number tres.

Also, I picked up some burr friends on my hat as we walked.

Numero cuatro. (Impressed with my Spanish yet?)

This was as close as could get to numero cinco without getting wet ourselves.

The last one, seis, had a big pool that some folks were wading in but the water was freezing so this is as wet as we got.

Our cabanas had hummingbird feeders out in their breakfast area so we had entertainment with our meal.  It's hard to catch a hummingbird on camera, but after many attempts I was able to document a few for you!

Can you see the little guy buzzing to the left of the feeder? Hummingbirds are everywhere in Ecuador, but we're not sick of seeing them yet.  It's fascinating to watch them fly around!

Our ziplining adventure was a complete success! Javier even tried the 'Superman' pose (head first) after going on a few ziplines.  I too tried the 'Superman' and the 'Mariposa' (butterfly) which meant riding a ziplne upside down.

Ziplining professionals.

After ziplining, we took a ride to the butterfly house.  It actually reminded us both of one of our first dates back in DC.  The Natural History museum had a butterfly exhibit about 6 years ago that Javier took me to during our wooing times.  It was so beautiful and so fun to see all the butterflies. There were hundreds flying around and perched in the hot, sweet-smelling garden.

They collect all the cocoons and hang them here to hatch.

Then freshly hatched butterflies wait for their wings to dry before flying off into the garden.

These banana stations were set up all over the garden so that visitors could take some banana to attract a butterfly.

I was immediately on board with the 'feed the butterflies' idea and got this little guy to sit on my finger for a bit.

And then my shoulder....he didn't want to leave!  I guess my hostessing skills translate well into the butterfly world...

Javier was being picky about which butterfly he wanted to feed, but eventually was satisfied with this guy. (They're called owl butterflies because of the dot/eye you see on the bottom of their wings.)

It was a gorgeous garden and super fun to walk around, watching the butterflies.

We ate some good food while in Mindo, too!  We befriended a man who owned a quinoa restaurant.  Everything he offered was made out of quinoa, including the quinoa pudding that we ate.

Javier waiting for quinoa pudding and ice cream.

I know it sounds strange, but it actually worked well!

We also stopped by the chocolate store for the brownies we'd heard about prior to our visit. They did not disappoint.  Did I mention we ate both the quinoa pudding and brownies prior to our dinner?

The brownies and scoop of ice cream were both HUGE, but super rich and delicious!

We also spent our last night at a Frog Concert at another hostel just outside of town.  The hostel has built the perfect environment for frogs and takes visitors on a late night tour, looking for frogs and other creepy, crawly things.  We were lucky enough to see some cool stuff (including a spider the size of my palm) but I couldn't help but wonder which of these nighttime creatures were potentially crawling into our cabana as we were on our tour....

We got to see most of the Mindo highlights but are already looking forward to the next time we visit.  The town was small and perfect for a weekend getaway.  We were happy that it offered lots of fun entertainment and such a laid-back atmosphere, good for some relaxing as well. We're looking forward to bringing some visitors from home to the town to experience its character and charm!