Photo Essay: Ecuador’s Crazy New Year’s Celebration
February 8, 2010 by Anil P.
Filed under Guest Post
This is a guest post by Troy Floyd, a photographer currently living in Quito, Ecuador. Troy got in touch with me recently and I thought his pictures really bring the unusual Ecuador New Year’s celebrations to life. You can read more about Troy, his travels, and see more of his photography at FOGG Odyssey.
Burning the viejos at mid-night
This year I spent New Year’s in Ecuador and found a new celebration and tradition for bringing it in. I don’t know for sure how Ecuadorians took a simple countdown to 12 o’clock and turned it into an excuse for men to dress as women, to take fireworks to the extreme, and to burning of viejos (dummies) as a way of celebrating a new year… but they do. In all of Latin America there is no country that I know of that does it like Ecuador does.
Fireworks going off at midnight
The Streets Of Ecuador At New Year’s
Men dress as women to represent the widows from the year and then beg for money on the streets the night of New Year Eve. It has somehow been taken to a new degree (like all holidays) and now involves men dressed as sleazy as they can, group coordinated dances and a no-holds-bar of not letting anyone by without paying. One can’t walk down the street in any major city on New Year’s night without having a pocket full of change. They guys (I mean ladies) even go as far as setting up roadblocks to stop traffic and they stop everyone. Taxis and buses don’t get by either without throwing a few coins and even seen a ladyboy get inside a bus one time and sit on the drivers lap until he gave him a quarter.
Two guys dressed up as ladies and working the street for booze money!
The tradition now is that the ladyboys (who are straight macho Latin men any other day of the week) is to collect as much money as they can, then go buy as much booze as they can with the bounty. They will party until daylight or until they pass out.
I don’t think this kid was even 14 years old but I guess everyone has a right to get drunk on New Years, so he was out trying to collect money as well.
Viejos
Another part of the New Years tradition in Ecuador is to burn a viejo. It’s basically a dummy filled with wood chips that can be burnt for good or for bad. That night we burned 3 viejos, each good and representing friends I knew. We saw a lot of Michael Jacksons being burned, as I assume they love him and because of his death last year. There were also a ton of politicians being burned and most weren’t for good, as a lot of Ecuadorians are pissed about the current president in Ecuador (as well as Hugo Chavez from Venezuela).
A City Ablaze
Fireworks start blazing at 11:00 pm and don’t stop until about 1:30 am. It was amazing and I loved getting the photos of them bursting over the city but you would never see this in the USA. I was surprised that 1/2 the city wasn’t burnt down by the next day, as I saw numerous kids (anywhere from 5-10 years old) walking around on their own with Roman-candles shooting them in the streets.
Maybe 1/2 of the shots cleared the buildings as I seen a lot of the kids just flat out pointing them at buildings and viejos burning. Even if there was a fire I doubt anyone cared, as I almost guarantee the fire department was as drunk as everyone else.
I must have seen a 100 Michael Jacksons on the street that night...but this was the best show of the night hands-down! Thriller!!!!
Mask for the viejos. They cost about $2 each and are hand-made.
The viejos without a mask. These can vary from $5 for a small one to $20 for a full size one.
My girlfriend doing the same but in all, honesty, I don’t think we were “directly” linked to any fires (or any that can be proven).
Amigo blasting off a 50 count Roman-candle, thus helping to torch the town!
If you’re ever near Ecuador during the Christmas holidays, make sure you stop off and try to stay for the New Year’s celebration. You won’t regret it and you won’t ever see anything else like it… PROMISE!
Troy, thank you very much for sharing your pictures with us. You can see more of Troy’s photos from New Year’s on his website FOGG Odyssey.
D’olier Chambers Dublin, Ireland
February 5, 2010 by Anil P.
Filed under Pictures and Video, Travel Journal
Dublin is a very photogenic city although I couldn’t do it justice. (My pictures looked much better on the back of my Casio Exilim digital camera.) I was in town attending the Hoscars but arrived a few days early to explore. I happened to capture this picture while I was lost trying to get from one end of the city to the other and took it on a whim. The streets tend to curve and names change from one block to the next…plus I’m hopelessly terrible with directions.
D’olier Chambers was built in 1891 by a tobacco company but now houses the Mona Lisa Restaurant on the first floor. I’ll be writing more about Dublin next week, which is a fun city to wander around; until then you can see some more of my photos from Dublin here.
The Book That Continues To Inspire My Travels
February 4, 2010 by Anil P.
Filed under Books, Guest Post
Reading and travel are two of my passions and it was fun to be able to put them together in a recent guest post I wrote about the book Long Way Round. It was a pleasure to write How A Long Way Round Shaped Travel for A Traveler’s Library about how this particular book influenced my travels.
I originally heard about the trip (which book is based on) in a magazine my uncle handed me in 2003. The trip was still in the planning stages but it had me hooked and lusting for the road. I actually kept the magazine and still have it as a reminder of the joys of traveling, which can be easy to forget in the modern world.
A Traveler’s Library is one of my regular reads and if you love books and travel it’s an excellent site to keep up on. I hope that you’ll read my guest post How A Long Way Round Shaped Travel and check out some of Vera’s other wonderful posts.
[photo by: Fred Kranich]
Travel Blog Success Launched This Week
World traveler Dave Lee blogged his way around the world in 2007 and is the founder of GoBackpacking.com and MedellinLiving.com (both nominated for 2010 Bloggies). On Monday he launched Travel Blog Success, a community for those looking to improve their travel blogs and potentially use them to earn money for traveling.
More travelers are becoming interested in travel blogging, particularly as a way of earning income to fund part of their travels. Travel Blog Success is a membership site that consists of 12 core lessons ranging from creating a travel blog, the technical details of maintaining a website, and managing a travel blog while you actually travel.
Who Is Travel Blog Success For?
Travel Blog Success isn’t for the casual writer but those of you looking to turn your new or existing travel blogs into a more professional outlet or earn a side income blogging. Dave doesn’t promise that you’ll triple your readership or make thousands of dollars but Travel Blog Success can help your travel blog beyond more than just the 12 core lessons.
- An active community and forum where you can meet other travel bloggers, ask questions, and get advice about blogging and travel.
- Podcasts and audio interviews with other experienced travel bloggers.
Travel Blog Success is a membership site that runs $75 for premium membership and access to all of the lessons, forums, and audio interviews. Dave has pulled together some of travel blogging’s best minds and put together a valuable resource if you’re serious about travel blogging.
You can read more on my full review of Travel Blog Success over on my other blog, Travel Blog Advice.
