¡Viva Quito!

Mis queridos amigos y familia,
This past week we have been celebrating the Fiestas de Quito, the celebration of the founding of the city by the Spanish each Dec. 6th. Yes, I said week, here they celebrate the entire week before! We were invited Friday night to check out the sites in the city by the priests who live in our neighborhood. :) We went for a drive through Colonial Quito and were amazed at all the people out (there isn’t really a night life here, because it gets so chilly at night people stay in!). We walked around the center of the city and through La Ronda, the historic neighborhood with lots of coffee shops, bars and artsy stores. We enjoyed some caliente canelazo (sugar cane alcohol that comes in assorted fruit flavors) with the Fathers and taking in all the festivities. On Saturday we went with Hermanita Alex to watch a grand parade. It was full of color, bright costumes, bands, traditional music and dancing. They have a lot of bells in their marching bands which looked really heavy, but sounded awesome, and all the girls marching were wearing these ridiculously tall boots with their short skirts… How Uncomfy! There were also a lot of people on stilts (really impressive since I can barely walk without tripping in the stone streets) and many, many reinas including the queen of Quito. I loved seeing our friends from the barrio dancing in the parade and afterwards we watched them perform at a small music and dance festival! The next day we returned to see more bands and dancing in the plazas around town and attend mass at Santa Catalina the cloistered convent we toured. It was beautiful to hear the sisters voices singing, even though we couldn’t see them. We also happened upon the Museo de La Ciudad which was open, and museums in general are never open on the weekends! What a great find! We learned all about Quito through the years and also saw a temporary contemporary art exhibit. My favorite work was the pile of leaves Nicole almost stepped on in the middle of the floor. It was just a giant pile that the artist had laid in and left the imprint of his body. It reminded me of a snow angel. haha What is considered art still baffles me sometimes, but it was very interesting! As we were walking through the streets we kept hearing loud music and thinking it was another parade, but found out it was just another chiva. These open “party buses” have their own live bands playing on the top deck. Awesome! During the week we didn’t get to do too much with our school schedule, but we did enjoy a school fiesta on Friday. Many of the kids came dressed in their finest, or costumes. My class did a reenactment of the legend of Cataluña. This indigenous builder was contracted to build the convent and church of San Francisco (the largest in the city) and wasn’t going to finish on time. So, he made a deal to sell his soul to the devil if he would help finish the church. However, the night before the deadline, Cataluña removed one stone from the church, meaning the church was never “finished” and thus saved his soul. The kids were fantastic and very dramatic! We spent the weekend in the city watching spontaneous parades, dancing, concerts, and visiting museums. We saw the huge monastery and art museum of Santo Domingo, the museum of the house of Maria Augusta Urrutia (a VERY wealthy philanthropist), and a fabulous historical wax museum telling a lot of the political history of the country. Each night there were huge street dances and parties all over the city and even in our small barrio. I couldn’t believe how many people came out to celebrate that lived in our neighborhood alone! ¡Viva Quito!
I have also been learning about their advent traditions here. One thing that is different is on the advent wreath there are 4 different colored candles: purple, green, red, and blue. They signify penitence and preparation, hope, the martyrs, and Mary. I thought it was really interesting because we just have the two: purple and pink, to signify the time of preparation and hope and the joy of the coming of Christ. I’m getting very excited, I love this season and the spirit of giving and joy that comes with it! There are lots of windows with trees and lights going up all around - not as grandiose because people don’t really have houses or yards to decorate, but still beautiful.
I pray you can experience peace in your heart this Advent season and truly prepare for the birth of Jesus.
Un abrazo fuerte,
April