Corso de las Flores y Alegría--Band, Clown, Girl, Chicken

Congratulations to Mary of South of Zero on her upcoming trip to Ecuador. I'm a little jealous. She is going to Salinas, among other places, which is a destination that Flor has tried to get me to see for years. The beaches in Salinas are supposed to be fantastic. If you haven't read South of Zero yet, you should. Mary compiles a daily guide to the posts on the various Ecuador blogs on the net. I always start with Mary's blog in the morning.

Here are more photos from the Corso de las Flores y Alegría parade in 2009 in Ambato. The photos will get more interesting as I go along, but I don't want to cherry-pick the best photos or jump the gun. Everything in due time. These photos are in the order things came in the parade.

I took the photos of this parade with my point-and-shoot, which means that most things are in focus front to back (no blurry backgrounds). I find that it's fun to do a little people-watching in the crowd with these photos.

Here's the band.

The obligatory clown. There were a few. Note the young man in the crowd trying to provide shade with an umbrella for the elderly woman.

Shameless chicken flirting with a beauty queen. He has a girlfriend of his own right next to him.

Here is the chicken back with his own girlfriend. You can see her legs on the other side of him. Yes, it is a KFC chicken. KFC is all over Ecuador.

This pickup truck was for a road safety education program put on by the National Police for children. Notice the puppet near the top.

I probably don't have to tell anybody living in Ecuador now that drivers in Ecuador are often aggressive. Caro's and my theory is that cars are important status symbols in Ecuador--not too many years ago few people had a car--and people with a car, consciously or subconsciously, feel they have a right to throw their weight around. Probably an oversimplification, but also probably true in many cases. There is a saying that drivers have in Quito, "¡Quitarán de ahí!", which is "You'll get out of the way!" Also probably true in most cases.

On the plus side, in many cities, Quito in particular, there are a lot of pedestrian overpasses, which if you can train yourselves to use them make crossing the street really safe.

This officer is clearly enjoying all the attention he's getting.