Happy New Year!

It seems I want to start each blog with WOW.  Learning new things and meeting new people seems to be the life we live in this beautiful country.  We just started to recover from our first Christmas in Cuenca and then the preparations for New Years (Ano Nuevo) got underway.  Ecuador is unique by having a ceremony to say goodbye to the Old Year. All throughout the country on the 31st of December, young people and old go to extraordinary efforts to maintain one of the magical traditions of Ecuador.

Symbolism is rife. The Old Year, or “Año Viejo” is represented by various creations. A model house is made of branches and burnt to ashes. Life-size dummies, made of sawdust and dressed in old clothes, are sold in the streets. Ornate masks are sold for adornment of the dummies.  The idea is to represent an individual that had a negative impact on you in the old year.  Just down the block from us several vendors had their creations for sale.

We planned to have our usual guiet, stay home New Year's celebrtion.  After dinner I started on a project that seemed appropriate  to start the New Year, cleaning the chandeliers!  I was up on the ladder when Noshy and Alfredo called to see if we were home and if they could bring some cherries I wanted from the market and share their manaquin to burn.  So a party was created.  As the children are young we did not want to wait 'til midnight.  Gary and Sue came to share in the festivities.  There was a large party in the park just down the street but we did not venture that far, our little event was enough.

Alfredo, Gary, Ruben, Matthew, and Sue lighting sparkler from the burning man.

At midnight all the celebrations broke loose.  The night sky was full of fireworks, bottle rockets, and fire crackers.  Poor Iggy, not his favorite night.

New Years day we planned to take a bus trip to see the city but discovered unlike Christmas Day, the buses did not run.  Took a cab downtown for Pizza and then sat in the park for a while before going home to make cherry jam.  Sure wish I had packed the antique cherry pitter!  Need a little adjuctment to the jam making process . . I have three jars of cherry syrup but boy is it good!

Today the buses were running on a reduced schedule so hopped on the #16 and rode it to the end of the line. Got off and back on to another #16 for the return trip home. All in all it was a $1 for the two of us for a two plus hour tour.  What a beautiful day.  It is now 4:30 and the afternoon thunderis rolling in, glad we did our tour this morning. 

 

More Later!  Chao for now, and our best wishes to each of you for a New Year full of love, good friends, and dreams that come ture....