¡Nuestra Aventura!: El Día de los Difuntos (Day of the Deceased)

Today Mike and I went to Calderón (just north of Quito) to see how the locals celebrate Day of the Deceased in Ecuador! It was an awesome cultural experience! When we arrived at about 10 am, we noticed there were a ton more people walking about the town than in South Quito. Many people were carrying flowers and were dressed nicely. First we went to the open-air market, which was very much like the markets that we work in everyday. Then we asked around to find where the cemetery was, and took a short walk there. There was a line forming outside of the entrance, and everyone was holding flowers in line. We were the only tourists it appeared. There was a news station taking video, and many vendors selling sweets, candied apples, guaguas de pan (bread babies), colada morada (traditionl drink), snails, roast pig, etc. Just down the road there was actually a little amusement park for kids too!

As soon as we entered, we noticed the little cemetery was packed with people! There were groups of indigenous people sharing a meal on and around the tombs of their loved ones, people cleaning and repainting the graves and tombs, and kids running around playing tag from one tomb to the next, all the while a band was playing music to serenade the deceased. It was really a celebration! About five minutes into our little stroll around the cemetery, we met this older woman named Elisa. She said she was visiting for the first time too, even though she lived nearby. She was so sweet, and actually spent the rest of the day with us! There was Catholic mass that was just about to be held in the middle of the cemetery, and we were on our way there, listening to the music. Elisa pointed out this apparently very famous Ecuadorian pianist, and persisted on having us meet him and get our picture with him. His name is Paquito...I'll have to search for him on YouTube! After spending some more time people watching at the cemetery, we headed to another bigger and more modern cemetery. On our way out, we realized there was a HUGE line and a ton of people waiting to get into the cemetery! Here's a clip I took of the first "traditional" cemetery:

The bigger more modern cemetery was beautiful, and had a beautiful view and lovely green grass with uniform tombstones, but it didn't have the same cultural feel to it. It also wasn't as packed with people. We only spotted one or two families eating at the gravesite. It was so awesome to see so many graves, and just about every one of them had flowers placed by them! At this cemetery many people were repainting the tombstones, and most were just visiting, just as we would visit a cemetery back home.

Before taking the mini-bus on the way back to the main street in Calderón, we stopped by and tried a very traditional Ecuadorian dish, the hornado, which is roast (whole) pig. I can't believe I hadn't tried it yet! Yummy! We've been trying to stay away from eating "street food," but sometimes you just have to risk it! It was served with a type of mashed potato, lettuce, tomato, onions, and mote corn.

Just before heading back to Quito, we did a little shopping. Calderón is also known for its mazapán art figures, so we saw all sorts of beautifully shaped animals and cultural figures. They're so colorful and detailed! This one shop had a woman mazapán figure that was taller than Mike!

What a great day we spent in honor of the deceased!

The first three pictures and video below are in the first cemetery we went to...the older and more traditional cemetery.