New Years, Ecuador Style

Searching Google News for information about Yasuní-ITT, the proposal by the Ecuadorian government to protect one of the most biodiverse places in the world by asking developed countries to pay the country to keep the oil in the ground.

Instead, I found this article, in the Boise International Travel Examiner about spending New Year's Eve in Ecuador. I the article has a great glossary of the things you are likely to see.

Below are some pictures of my New Year's Eve. I spent it in Conocoto with my friend Grace and her cousins (Grace is camera shy, so only her cousins made it into the photos.)

Me and Sam dancing with Michael Jackson.

Viejos- literally "the old ones"- are constructed at the end of the year. They are often important figures that reperesent the past year. This year, Michael Jackson, who's music can be heard almost everyday, was a common viejo.

Cousins Monica, Caro, Sam & Pakita and me in front of a viejo.

This viejo is dressed in the jersey of Liga Deportive Universidad de Quito, commonly know as Liga, one of the most popular teams in Quito. Liga just wrapped up a successful campaigns in the Recopa Sudamerica and Copa Sudamerica, two of the three premier tournaments on the continent.

Post midnight, the viejos look like this.

To bring in the new year, the viejos are burned, allowing for a new year of new figures to arise.