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Published: December 1st 2005
Quilotoa
Ever wondered how to prepare a Guinea Pig for cooking?... Me neither, but here it is anyway...After all of the excitement of the Day of the Dead celebrations Kate and I went to the Saquisili markets that the Lonely Planet had hyped as "South America's most important indigenous markets". It didn't live up to expectations at all and was just a market like any other. Apparently, the animal market was interesting but by the time we got there, there were only a couple of piglets left. The highlight was a man selling goats milk. All that he had in tow was the goat.
The original plan was to move on to Chugchillan and spend a few days around Lago Quilotoa but posters were plastered around Latacunga, advertising 'La Mama Negra' celebrations on the Saturday. We decided to stick around for the party but this meant an extra day in one of the most boring towns I've ever come across. Nevertheless, we successfully filled the extra day and before we knew it, it was time to party.
We had no idea what 'La Mama Negra' was, but we soon found out that it's basically a parade around the city, consisting largely of dancing, drinking and a whole lotta men dressed as women... some might say, a
Mama Negra
Who's a pretty girl then? little like Mardi Gras.
At the start of the day the celebrations kicked off with the 'swearing-in' of the 5 main figures (all men); 'Angel de la Estrella', 'Rey Moro', 'Abanderado', 'Capitan', and (of course) 'La Mama Negra'. They were each presented with their tools of the trade (swords, puppets and hats), and then they all danced a little jig and it was off to the start of the parade.
It's probably not in the spirit of things to have a favourite but the Angel, with her glittering lips, was mine. Closely followed by the rather politically incorrect, gollywog-looking, Mama Negra. Other standouts were the randon men sporting frocks, wigs and some rouge and cracking their whips to keep the crowd in line.
I'm still a little hazy as to what the whole thing was about and how everything was meant to tie into the history of the town (did men wearing womens clothing liberate the city by cracking their whips?) but it was a hell of a laugh and a great reason to get completely sloshed.
At the end of the parade, Kate and I followed all the party-goers back to the centre of town.
Mama Negra
The Captain having a dance with Mama Negra's Cabbage Patch doll. We were being offered shots of every alcoholic beverage under the sun; horrible fruity wine, beer and various non-descript home-brewed spirits that made me think there's an untapped source of industrial-strength cleaning fluid in Latacunga. We danced with a group of people until the wee hours of the afternoon and were in bed by 7 to sleep through the worst of an awful hangover.
It was a slow start to our destination the next day, but we arrived in Quilotoa in one piece each and promptly positioned ourselves in front of the fire at our hostel where we drank tea for the rest of the afternoon. We were glad to be vegaquarians when our hosts dragged three live guenea pigs into the kitchen and started preparing them for dinner.
Feeling a tad less touchy the next day, we went and saw the 'Lago Quilotoa', a massive lake, formed in the crater of a volcano. We walked part of the way around the crater (it normally takes 4 - 5 hours to go around the whole crater) then turned round, caught a bus and we were in Quito by the end of the day.
Kate had booked us
Mama Negra
A very beautiful Angel. into an awesome hostel in Quito, called 'The Secret Garden', complete with rooftop terrace with great views over the old town. I had a lovely few days in the capital, soaking up all the western luxuries. My favourite place soon became an English pub that reminded me of home. It probably says something about my lifestyle when the smell of beer, cigarettes and chips makes me homesick.
From Quito I took myself to the equator to check out what the big deal was all about. To my surprise, it was actually kinda cool. A museum on the line of the equator had a whole lot of experiments that you could try out. I balanced an egg on the head of a nail and I have the certificate to prove it.
Sadly, I said goodbye to Ecuador and to Kate, after 3 weeks of traveling together, and headed for Colombia.
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Luke
non-member comment
Queer as Ecuador
Wow Kate - move over San Fransisco and Sydney La Mama Negra is the most happening place to be. That volcano looks awesome! Cheers