There is no Q in Ecuador

In Ecuador, they don't celebrate the New Year as much as the demise of the old one. In fact, they talk about the holiday as Ano Viejo (old year). Saturday was New Years Eve.

Terry and I rose before Andy and decided to go across town to the Molina's house to see Emily and Cayo and Cayo's family. We started walking and when we got to Parque Calderon there were a bunch of people getting ready for a parade. We learned later that it is called Paso del Ninos, or the children's parade.

As you can see from these pictures, there were lots of children dressed in fancy costumes. The boys had painted mustaches and beards. There were also horses loaded down with complex collections of food and decorations. There was probably quite a lot of symbolism that escaped us. The people were very friendly and loved to have their pictures taken. We hung around for awhile but didn't stay for the actual parade. We found a taxi to take us to the Molina's house.