La Festival de la Mama Negra, or Fistfights with Midget Women

After "finishing" the Quilotoa loop Friday afternoon, we all caught a $1.50 bus back to Latacunga where the rest of the group headed back to Quito. Hannah, Luis and I stayed in Latacunga in order to attend La Festival de la Mama Negra the following morning. During the evening we walked around the large city, which had really pretty architecture that reminded me of Spain, and tried the famous dish, chugchucaras. This delicious heart attack-on-a-plate dish is composed of fritada (fried pork), fried plantains, popcorn, fried potatoes, and...lettuce- no just kidding, as if there wasn't already enough fried stuff, it also includes fried empanadas.

In the morning we woke up early and got to the festival around 9am. There were hundreds of people in the streets and lots of street vendors set up in anticipation for the big parade. The festival is known for two things: hundreds of roasted pigs and people that offer you drinks and whip you if you don't accept them. (All of the following pics are from Hannah):

One of the many pigs (and skin) sold on the streets

We found a corner to stand and watch the parade and spent the next hour and a half fighting off a constant stream of rude Ecuadorians demanding to "pass" by us (aka stand in front of us). Although it was relatively funny at first (gringos vs. Ecuadorians! Gringos win!), it was still really frustrating and stressful.

The corner where we stood/fought a war

Unfortunately, when the actual parade started, the people only got worse. After a group of women came up and started yelling, pushing, shoving, poking, and scratching us, the surrounding Ecuadorians started yelling at them too. It escalated so much that they had to call the police over. I only wish I was kidding. When they finally shoved us out of the way (literally), we thought the struggle was over. But for the next 30 minutes, a constant stream of extremely rude Ecuadorians continued to push their way through us. The highlight of the day (and probably the whole feriado) was when a 4-foot tall indigenous woman punched me in the back six or seven times. I gave her the award of being the best Grumpy dwarf impersonator of the festival.

Despite the horrifically rude crowd, the little parts of the parade I could see were really cool. There were lots of marching bands, people dressed in crazy colored costumes dancing, and of course, the decorated pigs.

Decorated pig in the parade

There was even one pig that was not only covered in colored fabric, but was also surrounded by a ring of roasted cuys! After we couldn't take the horrible crowd anymore, we abandoned the food for a new quest: street food.

Luis and I enjoying delicious festival food

After we left la gente loca of the Festival de la Mama Negra, and arrived back in Quito, we opted for a more chill night, brah. Some of the girls got together and went to Chelsea's house to make breakfast for dinner. The menu included cinnamon and chocolate chunk pancakes, fruit, and juice. We finished the relaxing night with a screening of the Disney classic The Little Mermaid (I am horrified to say that two of my friends had not seen this quintessential movie...my peers, don't let this tragedy ever befall your future children).

The girls and I indulging in the wonderful pancakes