Here are some more pics from the staging area of the Cuenca Navidad parade The parade lasted over eight hours. When we left the staging area, it was 10:45 and the parade had not yet begun (scheduled start was10:00 ya gotta love Ecuador).
We spoke with some gringos who live by the staging area (the Tomebamba river). They said that families began arriving around midnight the night before to setup and decorate their cars and trucks to transform into floats.
parade participants came from all around Ecuador, as well as Columbia, Peru, and other countries. Some traveled on horseback and entered the parade that way. In South America, different regions and towns have unique Panama (that actually originated in Ecuador) hats. Many of these are represented in our pics.
Three of us had cameras and took around 200 pics. These were edited and boiled down to around 70. I will post a few at a time over the next several posts.
Enjoy