Ambato Fiesta Flores Y Frutas
There is no February Carnival in Ambato. It is a much more sedate affair. Huge queues of traffic to the festival of fruits and flowers meant that the two hour journey took four hours and that was after the bus almost toppled over by taking a corner too sharp after the driver took a shortcut through Latacunga. Looking down into the river while my neighbour across the way was toppling into me was quite scary.
Ambato was crowded with a band playing in the Market. the noise of hundreds of people all talking at once was deafening. Concerts with local musicians and folkloric dances were held in the Parks on the night before the parade. Everyone was getting ready for the carnival. People were camping out all night on the main streets on tiny plastic seats where the parade would pass, with plenty to drink from bottles which once held lemonade. Moonshine,I think they call it in USA but Chicha here. Stalls selling mouthwatering foods were sizzling and steaming along the walkway. Lots of foam was being sprayed by the teenagers, laughing and giggling as they got wet and blasted by spray foam machines. There is an order that no foam is allowed to be sprayed during the procession but afterwards watch out. It was a free for all in the streets. I got foamed with pink, yellow and green foam and I am still cleaning my T-shirt which is now almost tie-dyed. Ambato is very modern due to a gigantic earthquake in 1949 and has very few Colonial buildings. It is known as the Garden City of Ecuador and grows peaches, apples, pears and oranges as well as vegetables. It has some beautiful parks and orchid gardens. One park has some lovely statutes of hummingbirds. The main church had a wonderful floral decoration climbing up it’s wall made using fruits, vegetables and breads and all the floats were decorated that way too.
There is a beauty contest and the floats carried the beauty queens of the area as well as beauty queens from Peru, Mexico, Bolivia, Chile, Hawaii and Cuba. The floats were followed by dancers in their National costumes. The Bolivians costumes were outstanding with unusual hats and colourful dress.
