¡Nuestra Aventura!: Mamá Negra Parade & Festival

On Saturday morning we took a short one hour or so bus ride to Latacunga with some other volunteers for the Mamá Negra parade and festival. It was a bit hectic (imagine Black Friday shopping) waiting in line for the bus! Everyone was heading to Latacunga from Quito, and so the process was not as organized as usual. People were hitting each other and swearing, and we had to push our way onto the bus so that we could all stay together. The police got involved when one man complained he was hit in the head. Then shortly after, a woman slapped the bus driver! What drama!

When we arrived around 10 am, we first saw an open-air market, and a ton of people walking around by foot. We had to ask around, and found out the parade had actually already started at about 9 am. This was the longest and biggest parade we had ever seen! The people dancing in the parade were probably so tired by the end of the day! We actually didn't see the end of the parade, but it ended around 4 pm and the festivities went all through the night!

This festival happens every year on the second Saturday of November. It's a huge cultural celebration that combines Incan, Spanish, Mayan, and African cultures. It began as a celebration of the Virgen de la Merced, or the Virgin of Mercy, who is the patron of Cotopaxi. The people believe that Latacunga was saved from volcanic eruption after praying to La Virgen de la Merced. At the end of the parade is the Mama Negra on horseback, who is actually a man dressed as a woman, that combines the Virgen de la Merced with African deities. The crowd gets sprayed with milk and water, and candy, wine, and alcoholic beverages are passed out freely during the parade.

Our host family has a place in Latacunga, so we headed to their house in the countryside and stayed the night. It's so peaceful there! We were awakened by a rooster crowing, and it was a clear morning, so we could see the snow-capped Cotopaxi volcano in the distance!