Dec.23- 25- Christmas in Cuenca

We seem to discover new sights in downtown Cuenca whenever we go there and at Christmas it was no exception. In beautiful Calderon Park was a huge Christmas tree decorated with all things Ecuadorian- Panama hats, local dress etc.

As well, many tempory stalls were set up around the church selling children's toys and Christmas cards

On Saturday, Christmas Eve, Cuenca has their annual Christmas parade called

El Pase del Niño Viajero which consists of miles of decorated vehicles with every child in and around Cuenca dressed up. Even the parade watchers are dressed up and hundreds of decorated horses and colourfully decorated young riders join along. The parade takes more than 6 hours to pass.

When we left our apartment at 9AM, several miles of decorated vehicles were already lined up along Av Gran Colombia, the street close to our home.

The parade had not yet started but everyone was already lined up ready to go. Uwe and I decided to walk along the parade and try to reach the beginning so we could see it start. We walked several blocks before it was reached and the closer we got the more people were lined up waiting for the procession to start.

It was a very colourful scene- with vendors selling toys

And cotton candy

Angels singing

All waiting for the parade to start

Finally it began led by a line of police on horse back. We stayed there and watched for awhile and then decided we could see more by walking along the parade route back towards it's end. As many people accompanied the parade by walking along side as were in the parade. So many cute little children all dressed up.

and lots of vendors selling food along the route including whole roasted pigs.

And such beautifully decorated horses and cute little senoritas astride

Uwe and I walked all the way to where the end of the parade still stood waiting to start- many many colourful trucks, cars whatever- all decked out for parade day.

By the time we walked back to our apartment, that part of the parade was just starting to move- yes, a very long parade.

That evening we went for a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner at the Secret Garden Restaurant- this time the Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes http://jardinsecreto.webs.com/.
Joe & Joseph, pictured in our reservation below, were kind enough to reserve a table for us and four friends.

We had a wonderful feast lasting several hours.