The Festival in Cayambe

Last week marked the end of the Cayambe Festival.
It lasted about a month. Now the festival of Juan Montalvo is starting, which is the area where I live, in the outskirts of the city. It was very interesting to see how they celebrate here. A popular event during the festivities is the bull fights. All of the Intercordians went to see one of the¨professional¨ bull fights, except me. This is when the bullfighters are actual professionals. I don´t like the thought of sitting (and paying!) to watch a bull get killed by humans for a show, as much as it can be a ¨cultural¨ experience. Then there are the ¨popular¨ bull fights, which is when the crowd is allowed to go in and get a shot at the bull themselves. ¨Isn´t this dangerous? Don´t people die?¨, I asked my host dad. ¨It´s very dangerous and yes, people do sometimes die, especially if they´re drunk¨, he answered. This upset me. How could anyone take that risk? Why is this still such an important cultural tradition to these people? This week I heard on the news that someone died from a bull fight. He had been drunk. It still puzzles me that people accept this and keep doing it. Anyhow, this is what I feel is the negative part of the festivities, but the rest is quite nice. On Tuesday, the 29th of June, was the day of San Pedro. This is the biggest parade of the year when groups from every community around Cayambe parade through the city´s streets. Even though my host dad doesn´t belong to any community, he still found a way to join one because he adores dancing. Four out of the seven Intercordians here in Cayambe dressed up and paraded with their communities. I didn´t because I would have needed to walk a long way and this is impossible with my stupid flat feet. I took pictures though, and laughed at my friends as they danced along.  The first picture is of my friends Alanna and Marian, dancing with the community of Convalesencia, dressed in typical Cayambe outfits. The second is of my friend Nick, who danced with my host dad´s community of Ouachu Ouachu.

That night I went to the fiesta of  the community my dad danced with. Thankfully, Nick had danced with them too so he was also at the party. This fiesta consisited of more food, lots and lots of alcohol, and of course, more dancing. I´m stubborn enough to say no when offered a drink, even though I often need to say it numerous times. My friend, however, dislikes refusing a drink so was obviously drunk by the end of the night. Both of us dancing in that circle for hours was quite a site. We often tried to escape and rest for a while but they would just come back and get us. I walked home with my family when the fiesta was over. My dad was quite drunk, he sang and played guitar the whole walk back home in the pitch dark. It was too funny, I had to take a picture! It´s awesome to see how passionate he is about celebrating his culture and music. It was very touching to witness. I kept thinking to myself ¨only in Ecuador would this happen!¨.

Last Sunday was the Desfile de Alegria or ¨Parade of Hapiness¨. It´s my host mom´s favorite so both of us went to see it. The difference with this parade was that the dances were choreographed, which was nice.