I loved this photo of a effigy, ano viejo!
In Quito, during the New year, the Quitenos make effigies of people, often poking fun of a particular person or character. This is to symbolise the old year which they will burn at midnight.
This is particularly funny for me, because, while living in Quito, I often see many men around my neighbourhood, so drunked that they simply lie on the the streets. Quite a common sight around my barrio!
Posted in Ecuador, South America
taken at San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
I have an obsession with food, always. This is part of the essential part of my travels and it is a deal breaker for anyone who wants to travel with me. I eat a lot, sometimes a lot of weird stuff, and often the restaurant or food stall is hidden on some back alley street. I hate going to typical tourist restaurants and seek out the cheap and characterful places. It also helps to have an iron stomach, especially if you are game for raw stuff.
Part of the popular dishes in South America is cerviche. Raw seafood cooked in lime juice and other sauces. I had it in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Easter Island, Peru.
The best cerviche I ever had was in the most unlikely place that is a little far away from the coast. That was in Nazca, Peru, famous for the Nazca lines. It was cheap and so good for only us$5 for a complete meal that included a soup, the cerviche, main fish dish, a drink.
Every country prepares their cerviche a little differently.
Bolivia serve mostly fish cerviche with fried toasted corn and lotsa lime and chilli. Ecuador loves their cerviche with conche and prawns served with panacones (fried banana chips) and pop corn. Chile has their sea urchin cerviche which is delicious but expensive, serve plain with lime and onion. Easter island has mainly tuna cerviche, serve plainly like the Chileano version with lotsa lime juice. Peru has one of the best cerviches, mainly fish with some spices and mint.
Posted in Bolivia, Chile, Easter Island, Ecuador, Peru, South America
Tagged cerviche, food, south america
The breathtaking Edith Cavell Glacier in Jasper National Park, Canada is one of the best places to go early in the morning before all the tourists invade the pristine silence, broken with occasional rumbles of glacier pieces falling.
Best time to go is just before sunrise.
You could literally stand in front of the Angel wing’s glacier and just stare for hours!
Posted in Canada, Canada Rockies
I came across this photo on my facebook account recently. I really love this photo of me in Ta Prohm, Angkor Wat.
Visited Cambodia a few years back with a buddy of mine (might be possibly 2005). This was one of the best trips and it started my whole intense fascination with travelling around the world as well travel photography.
Air travel before the launch of budget airlines within other parts of South East Asia were crazy expensive. It cost as much as me visiting parts of Australia or even Europe for less than 5 hours flight from Singapore.
Visiting Angkor Wat National Park was incredible back then, there were less tourists, air travel was a little cheaper. I crossed the border from Thailand, via the city of Bangkok, making the crazy road trip from the border to Siem Reap with the infamous highly elevated white Toyota that feels more like a bouncy car going through tons of potholes through a dusty road.
Some places around Angkor Wat had hardly any tourists and you could spend a hour all by yourself before you see another group of tourists hoarding the whole place.
The famous Angkor Wat at dawn had many tourists but not as many as it is now. Ta Prohm ruins where Angelina Jolie had her TombRaider flick shot had even fewer tourists. Siem Reap had the balance of a sleepy tourist town with good touristy places that wasn’t so touristy.
I loved the whole experience and hope to discover more places around the world soon. The world keeps changing rapidly with hoards of people visiting other parts of the world than ever before. Air travel is becoming more expensive once again but there are more travelling these days.
Spending the New Year Celebrations in Ecuador is highly recommended and it had been quite a fun experience.
In Quito, Ecuador, the Quitenos celebrate their New Year’s Eve slightly different than the rest of the Andean countries. Around the late afternoon, the Quitenos would dress up in halloween costumes, the more frightful the better.
Families in costumes parade around the Avenue de Amazonas, often in costumes that are more suited to halloween.There were many celebrations going on with music stages all set up in the main street with huge dolls.
Events end early in Quito, the crowd would thin out quickly by 10pm, families would return to their barrio for their own family celebrations.
I got to visit a Quiteno family and participated in their celebrations, we did the rituals for the New year, danced, cried, read out our hopes and desires, burnt effigies, set off fireworks, then finally got to eat our new year dinner after 1am and continued until dawn broke.
In the neighbourhood, the young men or sometimes older men would dress up as ‘Viudo de Negro,’ Black widows. Blocking off their streets to hapless drivers begging and harassing for money. It can be quite a campy sight, where the males would dress and act in quite raunchy, exaggerated depictions of women.
Rituals and Traditions of the New Year
One of the traditions or rituals is to burn an effigy of a person in form of a masked dummy, the effigy is usually a person that you despise or someone you wish to get rid off in the new year.
At midnight, the effigy is burned, to symbolise the burning of the old year, aka Ano Viejo, and to usher the New year. Each person in the family would jump across the burning effigy to burn away their bad luck. It is also a custom to write your wishes and hopes out and speak it out as you burn the effigy.
Things to do at stroke of midnight – Everything is done 12 times
It gets quite busy at midnight,
You are suppose to eat 12 grapes to symbolise your desires and protect you for each 12 months of the year.
Wear new underwear : yellow for money, or red for love.
Sweep the dirt away in the front of your house twelve times.
For those wishing to get married in the new year, you have to sit and stand 12 times in a row at the stroke of midnight
Carry 13 golden coins for prosperity all night during dinner.
Read out your will, or desires and hopes for the coming New Year.
Then Finally eat your New Year’s dinner after everything is done!
Feliz Ano!
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Since it is the Christmas Season, I might post a little video on Ecuador, South America.
Quitenos celebrate Christmas Eve by attending mass either at midnight or earlier before heading back to their homes for Christmas dinner around midnight or 1am. It is a rather quiet affair with few people in the streets except around the churches.
In San Francisco Iglesia, Quito, I was expecting it to be a solemn quiet mass only to be greeted with pretty lively music, young singing monks with live band. The young padre would in between those lively pop music give rather short sermons and even invited a few of the masses to sing along with the band!
This went on for quite a while and everyone was rushing to the front to get their baby jesus nativity dolls to be greeted by the padre after the music
What a great Christmas Eve Mass, who knew!
Posted in Ecuador, South America
Tagged christmas eve, christmas mass, ecuador, quito, san francisco iglesia
Like the rest of the non-Judeo christian world, I don’t celebrate Christmas. However it is a time of gratitude.
I am appreciative of the people I met along my travels. There were many who shown me kindness, generosity and became friends whom I will continue to be in contact with for years to come.
Here’s wishing you a great festive season!
Posted in British Columbia, Canada
Tagged british columbia, canada, signboards, signs, vancouver
Moving slowly around West to East Canada, I kinda found Canadian humor to be on the very subtle side. It is very prevalent with their sign posts and I found it quite funny at times
So here’s a whole bunch of these sign wisdoms slash postings.
Posted in British Columbia, Canada
Tagged british columbia, canada, signboard wisdom, signs, vancouver, west canada
