Kimbler's Exit to Ecuador: PAUTE 152 YR CANTON CELEBRATION

Last week we took our friends Christine and Kim to Paute as they had never been, and we love the small town atmosphere, as well as the warmth of the place!

We wandered all over town trying to get around the massive parade taking place in this very small town. I think folks from far and wide came there. I have never seen so many people here before. The driving question we all kept asking was, what is a Canton ?
Here is the answer I found in Wikipedia:
"Cantons are the second-level subdivisions of Ecuador, below the provinces. There are 226 cantons in the country, of which three are not in any province. The cantons are further sub-divided into parishes, which are classified as either urban or rural..."

These are the pictures I took. We didn't realize we were at the end of the parade until we found the beginning... afew hours later!

Important Folks get the bleachers and shade!

Here comes the military!

This guy had to be sooo hot!

This poor guy.. he must have drawn the short straw.. walking in full hot camo and packing the SAMS!

Pink camoflage? I am just trying to figure out where in the world this would be used?

Food Vendors were out in force, He is offering hard boiled quail eggs... peeled.

These folks were getting the Cuy ready and Yep those are nakey guinea pigs!

Anyone need some camoflage bustier dresses? We got 'em here in little Paute!

The parade kept coming and coming so we decided we would dodge around it and head over to the Open market. Sundays are normally a big day, so add the celebration on top of that and these folks were inundated with new customers!

Giant Cabbages!

Giant Papayas!

Remind me to never complain about my shoes again.. this little lady was begging from the vendors.. quietly and sweetly asking for a little fruit or vegetable..She was very "anciano" and crippled.. a little birdy told me that our friends secretly donated some change into her basket when she was not looking..

We decided we needed to try to find our friend Jani, and go to lunch. I talked everyone into hiking UP the hill towards her house. I think Kim was about to stroke out with the heat, so I left them in the shade on a nice bench.. As I headed off to Jani's house I found the beginning of the parade. These poor kids had been waiting HOURS to begin the parade. I made sure to take pictures and smile ALOT.. they were already wore out!