Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
November
November 1 - All Saints' Day , Todos Los Santos - a public holiday,
commemorating all of the Saints of the Church.
November 2 - All Soul's Day , Día de los Muertos or Día de los
Difuntos (“Day of the Dead”) - a continuation of Todos los Santos, in
which families visit cemeteries to pay their respects to deceased rela-
tives, often bringing offerings of food, drink and flowers.
November 3 - Cuenca Independence Day - the largest fiesta of the
year in Cuenca.
November 11 - Latacunga Independence Day .
December
December 6 - Quito Foundation Day , Día de Quito. Includes pa-
rades, dancing in the streets, bullfights, and chiva rides. A chiva is
basically an open-air party bus. They typically have no sides; people
pile inside or even onto the roof, and the bus drives around the more
happening parts of downtown. There's often a live band on board, or
just really loud music blaring from the stereo, to get everyone in a
dancing mood.
December 24-25 - Christmas Eve & Day , Navidad.
December 28-31 - Year's End Celebrations . This holiday typically
means big bonfires in the streets of most towns and cities, where life-
size effigies - built to resemble prominent public figures, such as po-
litical leaders or TV personalities - are ceremoniously burned by the
crowds, in a goodbye to the events of the preceding year. Another as-
pect of the evening is that the men dress up as 'widows' (tarty widows
quite often, which can include some scary visions!) and hold up the
traffic on all the main roads, wielding buckets and demanding money
for the festivities.
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