Parades

I don't think I've ever been to as many parades in one year as this year!  Most of the parades here, in Macas, are civic parades, which means that all the students dress up in their nicest uniform and march down the streets, with the police marching behind them, similar to the old military parades that I remember seeing pictures of in my history book (yes mom, I'm making fun of how old you are ;) ).  However, these past couple weeks, there's been a number of parades to celebrate Macas Days (las fiestas de Macas) and they were much more interesting!!  Everyone kept asking me how I liked it and if there was something similar in the States and I said that there wasn't.  The first 2 parades were folkloric parades, and about the only place you can find people dressed up celebrating their culture or someone else's culture is at a Native American pow wow or at a festival specifically for people of that descent, it's rare to find it in any other place, so it fascinated me! :)

To open up the festivities we had the Pregón, which I think basically is the little kids' parade, since it was mostly little kids that don't participate in the others.  Emanuel decided to represent all cultures taking care of God's creation.  To do that all the kids were assigned a different culture to dress up as, both from Ecuador and around the world.  The teachers walked with the kids, keeping them in order, reminding them of the steps and making sure no one took off. :)  To have more fun, they also decided to dress up too!  A week or so before, one of the teachers asked me if I'd do her a favor.  I wanted to know what it was and she said that she wanted me to dress up as a Shuar, the local indigenous group, who used to be known for shrinking the heads of their enemies (nope, didn't tell you that before I came down here, mom :) hehe).  As you can see from the picture, I did.  It was hilarious!!!!!!  The kids and parents were all shocked when I walked out of my office, after changing.  You don't see too many pale, blond Shuars around Macas, so it was a bit of a shock to them. :)  Then the cameras started appearing out of nowhere!  Everyone wanted their kid's picture taken with the crazy English teacher dressed as a Shuar.  During the parade we all danced to different songs, with the same song between each culture's turn.  Every couple steps another camera was out and someone was taking a picture of me!  It was crazy!!!!  One of the teachers told me, the next day, that no matter what I did, they took pictures!  Definitely one of the more fun parades I've been in. :)  Not because of all of the pictures though!!  Although, the reactions were fun, I enjoyed it mostly because I wasn't just walking down the streets, those parades take forever!  I was in charge of a group of 5 yr olds and dancing with them, it went much faster! :)

The next parade was the folkloric parade where the older kids, from each school, and adults in various town governments dressed up as from different cultures and performed typical dances of the culture they were representing.  That one was really fun because I got to watch the whole thing instead of participate! :)

The last parade was a typical civic parade where all the teachers put on their new uniform, including heels (2nd or 3rd time in my life for me!!!!!!!!) and marched down the streets.  At least I had 1 entertaining parade! ;)  Here's a link for more pics on Facebook :) Pregón pics