New Year´s in Ecuador

This is Aragon, beloved black lab. The small paper dog next to Aragon is a año viejo. I returned to Ecuador on the 30th and was intrigued to find new vendors on every streetcorner, selling años viejos (paper mache characters of cartoons and people, as well as paper masks). At midnight, Ecuadorians burn the años viejos, as they say goodbye to unfavorable parts of the past year and welcome the new year. It seems that the burned character is either done in good fun (Aragon), or something you truly despise.

Burning of años viejos outside the house. In the hour surrounding midnight, it sounded like a warzone. Fireworks went off from all surrounding streets with a whiz, pop, and crack!

The view of the Sunset from Crucita. Absolutely breathtaking. This beauty is tempered by a hog eating refuse in the seaside dirt street.