Ecuador 4/6/2012

Friday April 6, 2012 - Good Friday

I woke up at 3 o'clock in the morning, and it was still raining. I heard voices ("voices, I heard voices...") and laid awake for a while. At 5:45 a.m., our alarm went off and it was still pouring rain. Good Friday is a day of multiple processions in Cotacachi. We were afraid of what the weather would mean for the processions. Do they even hold them if it's raining? Good Friday is the highlight of the Semana Santa festivities, and we hoped that the weather wouldn't ruin it for us. Craig had some hope because he said it was raining at this time yesterday morning too, yet had cleared up by breakfast. We got up and got ready for the day, putting everything in our daypacks into layers of ziplock bags just in case.

We headed over to breakfast at 7 o'clock. It started to look like the weather might clear up. We had scrambled eggs with onions and green peppers and bread with the honey we had bought yesterday at Peguche. Yupanqui was still in bed. Aida said he had had a fever overnight but they had given him some medicine and it went back down.

The sun came out and we put our wet hats from yesterday (the only thing that hadn't dried overnight) into a sunbeam.

Antonio put on his white pants, white shirt, and felt hat, but he eschewed his poncho for his leather jacket. Sisa was dressed traditionally, and was wearing trhe gold cross pendant we had given her for her baptism. When Yupanqui woke up, they dressed him in the cargo pants and shirts we had given to him. We were happy to see that they fit him. The length on the pants was actually a little long, but there was a handy button to keep the hem rolled up. He and Sisa both looked adorable.

We walked next door and met up with Rosa's sister and her teenaged daughter Celestina. We all got into the back of a pickup. I sat on a bench with Aida, Yupanqui, Sisa, and another local woman. Craig, Rosa, Antonio, and Antonio's mother Abuelita stood, along with Celestina and Rosa's sister. We kept stopping and more people piled in. Craig counted at least 23 passengers in the truck bed. That beat last year's record of 21! The pickup took us all the way to Cotacachi. It was nice not to have to transfer to a bus in Quiroga.

We were let out on Calle Bolivar. We saw a sign for a furnished apartment with internet overlooking Bolivar just a block or two from Plaza de la Matriz for $350 / month. As we walked toward the square, we could see people congregating on the church steps and bleachers. We crossed the square and headed several blocks down to the cemetery. Aida ran into a tienda to buy a single diaper. We stopped across the street from the cemetery, and saw vendors selling flowers. Aida changed Yupanqui.

We walked into the cemetery. There were tidy above ground crypts in the mestizo section of the cemetery. At the far end of the cemetery was the indigenous section, where tightly packed underground graves were marked with white wooden crosses. There were Kichwas in traditional Otavaleño dress everywhere in this corner of the cemetery. Some sat on the white crosses, while others stood around them. Everyone brought food to share with the living and the dead, similar to how they celebrate Day of the Dead in November.

We went to Antonio's father's grave. His grandmother is also buried here. Antonio's mom had carried a bundle of food wrapped in a piece of fabric on her back. They opened the bundle of food and laid it out in front of the cross. Yupanqui crouched down next to it and started eating handfulls of food. He had slept through breakfast this morning and was making up for lost time.

There was a wide-eyed little girl sitting on the grave next door. I recognized her from the preparations for Sisa's baptism party.

People would scoop out food with bowls and hand it to one another. Everyone exchanged food and shared with one another. Rosa handed out some fanesca (ostensibly with the hot dog bits removed, as we were not allowed to eat meat today). A woman gave me an ear of corn. I ate some kernels and then shared with Yupanqui, who ate the entire rest of it. (My stomach had been a bit problematic this morning, so I was being careful not to eat very much.) Rosa gave Craig some potatoes in a small bowl.

Vendors were selling ice cream and popsicles. Antonio bought Sisa and Yupanqui popsicles at 2 for 25 cents. People were praying and one couple poured offerings of Coca Cola onto their relatives' graves.

The sense of community was really palpable, and underscored the importance of the respectful relationship between the living and the dead in this culture.

I felt some bugs biting my ankles. When I pulled up my skirt hem to check my shins, there were about 100 tiny black fly bites. Some of the flies were still biting. I wiped them away and then had blood smeared across my legs. I cleaned up as best as I could. This caught the attention of the locals and they chattered in Kichwa about it. They were all wearing skirts and sandals; why had none of their shins and ankles been devoured?

As we packed up our things and started to head out of the cemeterr, we saw Sisa's friend Natalie and her mom Rosita. We said hi and snapped a photo of Natalie. There was a fountain where people could get drinks of water and wash their dishes. Everyone stopped there and rinsed out the bowls and plates they had been eating from.

We walked back to the Plaza de la Matriz. We saw a little boy driving a Power Wheels-esque bright yellow sportscar. He was the envy of a lot of the children, and probably some of the dads as well.

We walked a couple of blocks past the square. I ducked into a restaurant and bought two Gatorades. We walked through the streets until we got to an area where the "floats" were being staged, waiting for the processions. These were large floats which could weigh hundreds of pounds carried on the shoulders of penitents through the streets. We could smell incense. Some of the floats were too tall to make it under the power lines, so certain members of the processions carried things that looked like long tridents which they used to move the electrical wires out of the way. Some folks used these tridents to prop up the floats, to give their shoulders a rest before they needed to carry the floats all the way to the church. People were congregating around the floats, looking at them. There were a few police around, closing roads and keeping everything orderly.

The sun was hot. Some of the float carriers were wearing traditional Otavaleño clothes. Others wore suits and sunglasses. Young girls carried bright colored flags. We saw the Morochos float. One float had a statue of Jesus carrying the cross and also a real child dressed up as a Roman soldier next to him. This was the first time we had ever seen a person on one of these floats.

We continued on until we found where actors were dressed in costume and performing the Easter passion play. A white support truck carried a speaker which broadcast their lines, which were spoken into microphones. One man acted as a narrator / emcee and also seemed to be the director. A man dressed as Jesus wore a white robe and a red sash. He had long curly hair and looked very much the part. The apostles were wearing robes and headbands. Roman soldiers wore shiny gold cardboard helmets with red broom bristles as a crest. They held a large cross on its side. One of the Roman guards was played by a young boy, the only child to have a part in the dramatization.

They enacted the Last Supper. Jesus held a small loaf of bread aloft toward heaven. Then he held up a chalice. Soon afterwards the apostles fall asleep. Jesus was betrayed by Judas and arrested. As the apostles woke up, one attacked the Roman soldiers. Jesus stopped him.

The play consists of the stations of the cross, and after each station, everybody sings, the truck drives another block, and we all walk another block alongside the actors. Then we stop and the next station is enacted.

There was some unpleasantly loud feedback from the sound system. You could see the speaker vibrating itself apart. Antonio went over to help, working with sound equipment often with his band Chaski Ñan.

Jesus' hands were bound and he was paraded through the city. Peter denied him three times before the rooster crowed (actually the young Roman guard crowing). The guards whipped Jesus as he walked. Jesus was brought before Herod. The mob yelled for crucifixion. We felt caught up in the mob mentality.

As the procession moved along, Craig and I jockeyed for position so that we could see and get photos. The rest of the family held back, letting us do what we wanted, while they looked on from a distance, buying the kids ice cream, etc. Once in a while we would feel a little hand take ours. We would look down and see Sisa smiling. Despite the crowd and the heat of the day, she seemed to be in an excellent mood. At one point we saw Yupanqui on Aida's back, fast asleep with an ice cream stick still in his hand.

There were a few missed cues ("Caiaphus? Caiaphus? CAIAPHUS!" the emcee called under his breath at one point. At another point, he gestured wildly for the apostles to lay on the ground for their Gethsemane scene) but all in all everyone took it quite seriously.

The procession made its way toward Plaze de la Matriz one block at a time. Pilate offered to let a prisoner free. The crowd called for Barrabas to be freed. Barabbas did a victory lap around the procession. The cross was put onto Jesus' shoulder and a crown of thorns was put on his head. Jesus dragged the cross toward the church, falling now and then. While he laid on the ground, people colored his body with lipstick to look like blood.

As we approached Iglesia de la Matriz, we ran smack dab into the procession of floats, which was taking place simultaneously. There was a moment of pause where they passed one another. We saw the Morochos float in the distance.

When we got to the square, the actors faced the church and they nailed Jesus to the cross. Luckily they didn't use real nails (as we hear they do in the Phillipines). Instead they borrowed some woven belts from some women and used those to tie his hands to the cross. They stood up the cross right in front of us. Jesus languished there, as Mary and Mary Magdalene wept for him. It started to sprinkle rain, as if heaven was crying. People recited Our Father's and Hail Mary's. We alternately knelt and stood.

I was getting to the end of my Gatorade and was starting to feel rather lightheaded as I stood up from kneeling. Although it hadn't seemed like it, we had been following the procession for over two hours at the hottest part of the day (it was now around 2 p.m.) Craig graciously gave me some of his Gatorade. Come to find out he was a bit woosy too. We felt a little hand grab ours and we heard Sisa's little voice say "Vamos" (Let's go). We had totally lost track of where the family had been sitting on the church steps. Antonio motioned for us to follow; it seemed a good idea to beat the crowd to the bus station.

On the way to the bus station we stopped at a little row of shops where I had bought my blouse, belt, and hair wrap for Sisa's baptism. Craig and I went into a convenience store near the bus station. We bought 4 Gatorades and a 6 liter water bottle. We also bought Cokes for Sisa and Aida. All for under $7. Compare that to $5.90 for 2 20 oz waters at the Houston airport!

At the bus station, we went to the end parking spot where the Morochos bus usually parks. The bus wasn't there. Nobody was forming an orderly queue waiting for it; everyone swarmed around, ready to pounce as soon as it arrived. This always makes Craig and I nervous; one of us could be left off accidentally. Bus lines were ruthless. Though we had been there longer than many people, it made no difference. As the bus pulled up, everyone pushed and shoved. I ended up behind Aida right in front of the bus door, but people shoved us out of the way. Aida got on first and eventually I was able to fight my way on to the bus. Craig was a few people behind me. He held on to the handle next to the door and strong-armed others from getting through so that Antonio's elderly mother could make it on to the bus. He then fought his own way on. Aida had saved us a seat, which I quickly snatched up. All of us somehow made it on, and we each ended up with a place to sit.

As soon as we were situated on the bus, it started to pour rain. The timing couldn't have been better; the rain held off until after the passion play and procession.

We got off the bus at Quiroga and took a pickup home. When we arrived Max went nuts, but he wasn't fully satisfied until he saw the kids get out of the front seat.

Rosa and Aida told us that lunch would be ready in about 20 minutes. So we went to our room and gave them some time. We got changed and raved to each other about the morning's events.

After half an hour we went over to the kitchen. Sisa was sleeping, but Yupanqui was awake. We had veggie omelettes, fries (we joked that Yupanqui "wants more fries"...a nod to our godson Eddy in Guatemala, who had a "I want more fries" onesie as a baby), rice, radishes, and fresh juice.

Antonio asked if we wanted to go to another procession tonight. We asked if it was any different, and Rosa and Antonio both said "Igual" (the same). We decided against it. We were grateful that he was willing to take us, but it was raining and it would mean going all the way back to Cotacachi. The kids wouldn't be going, and we had had such a great experience this morning, we decided to leave it at that.

After lunch Antonio went to the community center to do some work in preparation for tomorrow. He said that he'd be home for dinner at around 7:30. We all retired to our rooms and Craig and I took showers.

By 7:30, it was no longer raining. We went over to the kitchen for dinner. The kids were both awake, playing with their MagnaDoodles and the wooden puzzle. We had cream of tomato soup that was a bit spicy, followed by choclo mote, llapingachos, beet salad, and pineapple juice.

Antonio played sanjuanitos (Inti Raymi songs) on his flute as Yupanqui danced around the kitchen. Antonio tried another type of song and Yupanqui didn't like it. He said Yupanqui only likes sanjuanitos.

We had a really nice conversation about how much we all mean to each other, and how blessed we are to have one another as compadres.

At 8:45 we said our goodnights. I journaled and went to sleep at 10.