+Bill+and+Loretta.bmp)
Christmas is upon us and the frenzy is palpable.Tonight, the evening before Christmas eve, there were events everywhere. We insisted Jonny take a nap this afternoon as we knew he would be up late, then a taxi into town to conserve our energy and into the huge New Cathedral on Parque Calderon. Along with a thousand other revelers, we sat in a pew right by the orchestra and listened to the Cuenca Symphony play both English and Spanish Christmas carols. The cathedral is so huge that the acustics were not the best but the enthusiasm of the audience made up for it. Jonny clapped and sang along with the chorus.
We decided to go to the other Navidad event at the parque and entered the Old cathedral just across the square. As we entered, we heard a girl’s choir singing just prior to a very elaborate Christmas manger pagent. After listening to them sing and act out the nativity scene, we went out into the parque where the 30 man Ecuadorian army band was playing rousing military music, slightly inappropriate but nevertheless very lively. Jonny was rubbing his eyes by this point so we didn’t stay for the huge standing fireworks display to explode in all its glory. When we got home, the children in our building were all crowded around a huge paper balloon that had somehow chosen our yard to drop into. We looked up into the night sky which was filled with at least 15 paper balloons. More and more followed. They are like miniature gas balloons made of colorful paper around a frame that supports a wad of burning cloth. The heat from the fire causes the balloon to rise into the air where the wind takes it where it will. When the flame burns out the balloon falls gently to the ground. We watched one very large one rise up from town shooting off fireworks that lasted for at least five minutes. An amazing amount of balloons rose up from at least 9:00 to 11:00PM. At the stroke of eleven, we heard loud explosions and saw the smoke rising from the huge ground fireworks display at Parque Calderon. Our only regret after such an evening full of Christmas was that there was so much going on in town that we might have missed something. Tomorrow is the Children’s parade, a 6 hour long parade through town that is an absolute “don’t miss” event. Christmas in Ecuador is a more grand extension of our past Christmas’s and confirms, once again, that this country absolutely venerates children. Almost every event we went to was crowded with children and many were elaborate events directed just at them. At the very least, Christmas in Ecuador brings out the child in everyone.
We decided to go to the other Navidad event at the parque and entered the Old cathedral just across the square. As we entered, we heard a girl’s choir singing just prior to a very elaborate Christmas manger pagent. After listening to them sing and act out the nativity scene, we went out into the parque where the 30 man Ecuadorian army band was playing rousing military music, slightly inappropriate but nevertheless very lively. Jonny was rubbing his eyes by this point so we didn’t stay for the huge standing fireworks display to explode in all its glory. When we got home, the children in our building were all crowded around a huge paper balloon that had somehow chosen our yard to drop into. We looked up into the night sky which was filled with at least 15 paper balloons. More and more followed. They are like miniature gas balloons made of colorful paper around a frame that supports a wad of burning cloth. The heat from the fire causes the balloon to rise into the air where the wind takes it where it will. When the flame burns out the balloon falls gently to the ground. We watched one very large one rise up from town shooting off fireworks that lasted for at least five minutes. An amazing amount of balloons rose up from at least 9:00 to 11:00PM. At the stroke of eleven, we heard loud explosions and saw the smoke rising from the huge ground fireworks display at Parque Calderon. Our only regret after such an evening full of Christmas was that there was so much going on in town that we might have missed something. Tomorrow is the Children’s parade, a 6 hour long parade through town that is an absolute “don’t miss” event. Christmas in Ecuador is a more grand extension of our past Christmas’s and confirms, once again, that this country absolutely venerates children. Almost every event we went to was crowded with children and many were elaborate events directed just at them. At the very least, Christmas in Ecuador brings out the child in everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment.