Dec.31- New Year's Eve in Cuenca

During the day we took our normal two hour walk around yet another part of Cuenca. On every corner there were the dummies for sale . For the best explanation, please read the attached web site from Cuenca Highlife
http://www.cuencahighlife.com/post/2011/12/29/Ecuadorian-tradition-the-New-Years-Eve-burning-of-the-dummy-clears-the-slate-for-2009.aspx

                        Here are some pictures of the many sales-the one at the right with blue   pants is the 'pres' of Ecuador- a popular item to burn on New Year's Eve- LOL

Many are without heads/masks so that you can customize yourself

We also saw many finished dummies sitting in front of shops/ banks decorated to look like the boss/ manager/security guard etc

In front of our apartment building, they had the effigy of our security guard

We had decided , per usual, to not go out anywhere on New Year's Eve but to have our normal romantic dinner at home and watch the festivities from our balcony.

We had a great dinner of stir fried veggies& shrimp with salad

And of course a bottle of wine ( or two...)

This year we decided to actually stay up until midnight, something we had not done since bringing in year 2000! And good that we did as the constant fireworks would have kept us awake anyway. And what a celebration it was when midnight finally came. We watched some of the best firework displays right from our balcony. It wasn't just in one part of the city- we have 180 degree view- but from EVERY direction. You didn't know where to look first and this seemed to go on forever! The Latin people- especially the Cuencanos- definitely know how to bring in the New Year.

As well, we watched some of the effigy/dummy burnings on the street right below.

When we took our daily walk on New Year's  Day, we saw little piles of ashes everywhere on the sidewalks, roadways, parking lots- some even in the shape of the dummy that was burned.