Festival de San Bartolomé

I had a very busy weekend!

This weekend was the Feast of San Barolomé in Lumbisí.  While the town is relatively small, these people really know how to party.  Starting with Friday night they had the crowning of the Queen of the fiestas and her court.  Then they served authentic food and had a live band.  The entire town danced until after midnight.

Saturday was beyond my imagination.  The activities started at 8am with parades and people dressed in masks and costumes.  I did not actually arrive until about 7pm because I spent the day helping my host family with a birthday party for their grandmother!  By the time I got there the entire town was dressed in clown or cowboy costumes and had consumed a significant amount of alcohol... but I got there just in time for the best part of the Fiesta: FIREWORKS!

Now in comparison, we in the US really have no idea of how to put on a good fireworks show.  The 30 minutes of sparkles in the sky on the 4th of July is nothing compared to the 3.5 hour celebration that I witnessed in Lumbisí.  Safety is not emphasized quite as much here in Ecuador when it comes to explosives, yes I said explosives. Sure there were the traditional type of fireworks in the sky, but there were also these giant castles made of wood rigged with multiple levels of bottle rockets, firecrackers, and whatever else you can think of.  Each castle took over 25 minutes to finish.  You really had to be on the lookout when watching these things because they shoot fire in random directions and you are CLOSE.  So close in fact, that all the children and drunk men would run under the spewing sparks!  It was spectacular! I have never seen anything like this! You can check out all my photos and intense videos in my gallery but I don't think even those can do justice to what I experienced.

Another really cool part of the night were Los Globos.  These are giant paper machete balloons that  people fill with hot air and then release into the night sky.  The were beautiful. Check out the video below: