New Year's Eve in Ecuador

Johnny and I recently celebrated our first New Year's Eve here in Ecuador (which for those of you keeping track, means that we have been gone for just about a year now).  We had an amazing time... this is what went down:

Johnny with a "dummy" drinking beer

A Sponge Bob dummy

The man in a dress on the left climbed on the motorcycle

          Our boss and his wife picked us up from our home around 8pm. By this time there were a ton of people in the streets having a really good time. Among those people are men and boys that dress up (heels and everything) as women and stop all traffic and ask for money. The purpose behind this is that they are representing the woman that is about to become a widow when the Old Year "dies". You have to give them money so that they can survive in the New Year. Literally they pull ropes  over the road that act as blockades and you HAVE to pay.  We saw some of them climb on to people's cars and get on the back of motorcycles. They also prey on pedestrians, as John was molested by a rather convincing male in a dress earlier in the day (we gave him/her a whole 10 cents). Also along the roads are "dummy dolls" made out of newspaper stuffed in to old clothes and masks for heads.  These dolls represent the Old Year (more on that later) and people make little displays for them to sit in. We passed by about a dozen road blocks with cross dressers and quite a few dolls on the way to our boss's family's house. Some of the dolls were huge (10ft tall) and they could be dressed as anything. We saw the Hulk, Spongebob and supposedly there were a few of the President here in Ecuador. 

Men dressed as the widows of 2013

At the house we were fed a ton of snacks and there was more than enough to drink. I stuck to water because I do not like to bring in the New Year with a headache. Boring, I know, but I still had a good time. Around 11:00pm we were invited to get a plate and start eating a huge feast that the family had prepared. There were three salads, delicious baked tomatoes with cheese on top, a ton of meat, pasta, olives, bread and so much more. Everything was so good... I even went back for more tomatoes : ) We ended up finishing the meal with 4 minutes to go until midnight. Everyone filtered outside and what happened next was just jaw dropping. 

Johnny jumping over the Old Year

This is me being all shy about jumping.

The hours leading up to midnight random people were setting off fireworks, but only one or two. At midnight the sky exploded with fireworks from every direction. The house we were at offered an amazing view of no fewer than 50 different people setting off wonderful shows. The sky was lit up with fireworks for about 30 minutes. The family we were with had some cone fireworks and Roman Candles. Also at midnight is when you bring the "Old Year doll" outside. It is laid on the ground and then you light in on fire to symbolize the end of the old year. It is then tradition to jump over the fire. Of course Johnny had no trouble with this because he is a giant. I had to wait until the flames were not as tall as me to get up enough courage to jump. It was a pretty scary thing but I am glad I did it. Everyone got a glass of champagne and twelve grapes to eat.  The twelve grapes, or so I was told, represent the twelve months in a year. It was hard to eat all of them because we were stuffed from the the feast and the grapes were huge. 

Johnny being a good sport : )

We got home around 2:30am and our part of town was still in the party mode. In fact the music did not die down until 6pm the next day... Ugh. Both John and I agreed that night that this was one of our best New Year's Eves ever and we had a wonderful time. Personally, ringing in the new year with a full belly, jumping over a fire and watching an amazing fireworks show counts as pretty great.  



Interesting fact:  About a month before New Year's Eve there are stands at the market and around Quito that sell only yellow underwear. Supposedly you are supposed to wear yellow underwear on this night and it will help you to bring in money in the new year. John and I did not partake in this tradition. Also, if you are going to travel in the next year you are supposed to run around your house with a suitcase. Guess we should have done this one : )