Our first full day here was Easter Friday, famous for the Cucurucho parades. I had attended a very colourful and bright Easter Festival in Cusco, but Cucurucho means Penance, and these were very penitent parades with many carrying heavy crosses to atone for previous sins or flagellating themselves with stinging nettle. Many were dressed in ku klux can like outfits as part of their penance.
The crowds were huge but most of the locals are shorter than most of us so we could often see over the top.
But while the Parades lasted almost all day we were busy visiting the main museum for a sense of history of the cultures of Ecuador and strolling the streets.
Late in the afternoon we visited the Presidential Palace. Sadly we weren't greeted by the President (he still lives in the Palace, but obviously something more important came up. We needed formal photo ID and three of the group didn't have theirs so we we loaned them NZ drivers licences and with 3 duplicate names and poor photo matches bluffed our way through security. I suspect there was a bit of sweat lost as we had our IDs checked three times. The last roll call style with an awful lot of duplicate names.
Hazel added to her handstand collection with a pose on the Presidential balcony.
The day was not without other challenges as we all felt the altitude and had O2 saturation levels from 88 to 94%. Andrew N and Mike G both had their pockets slashed by teenage groups of pickpockets. Mike noticed and the guys backed off immediately. Andrew lost $5 and a bit of time cancelling cards after 3 girls jostled him but no one was hurt.
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