Latacunga

Latacunga is a mid size colonial city in the "Avenue of the Volcanoes" south of Quito. That's the nickname give to the PanAm highway that runs south of Quito through a series of cities and near many volcanoes. We needed to do something since museums were closed and I though it would be nice to visit a town I had visited in 1995. I went there for the Mama Negra festival and had a great time. Too good of a time perhaps.

The Mama Negra festival occurs each November. While having a white man dressed in blackface is not too cool, the story behind this festival is. The story I heard is that the indiginous were treated so poorly by the Spaniards that they thought that God must be a black woman. Spaniards were the devil, and they were all white men. Therefore, god must be the opposite. So the story goes. They only select prominent white men in Latacunga to be the Mama Negra each year to be the parade host. I guess it's quite an honor.

All I know is that the cook and cleaners at my Spanish Language school exchange family talked a few of us into going to the party and parade. It was pretty crazy, kind of like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The parade is huge and featured costumed dancing troupes, marching bands, and some floats. One guy walked around with a humongous BBQ pig hoisted above his head, wearing it on a harness. I asked someone nearby what that was all about. She just said "we like pork." As the float went by, people screamed "Senor Chancho!" or "Mr. Pork!" I almost forgot to mention that it's good luck to be squirted with milk from Mama Negra's baster. She's on the main float. I know. Weird, right? Oh, and there were lots and lots of guys in drag, a la Monty Python style.

I was offered many, many shots of some unnamed booze by mostly older women in costumes who thought it would be funny to get the gringos drunk. They did and I barely remember getting back to the Pan Am highway to get on a northbound bus.

Anyway, going to Latacunga seemed like a fun day trip. It took us 45 minutes to get to the main bus station, Quitumbe, on the trole (tram). Then it took almost 2 hours on the bus. The city is only about 100,000 but it was so busy with pedestrians, cars stuck in traffic, and vendors of all types selling all manner of wares on the streets. We walked about 10 blocks to the central plaza and grabbed some cash at an ATM. Then it was off to find a traditional Chugchucaras restaurant.

It's a mouthful to say, and more of a mouthful to eat. Chugchucaras is a pork lover's paradise. It consists of pork rinds on top of big chunks of pork, a side of hominy, a side of deep fried corn that doesn't pop (more hominy?) some potatoes, popcorn, and a deep fried little donut thingy. When we walked in, we were handed a huge pork rind as an appetizer. I made sure we only ordered one of the dishes. I saw how big the plates were. And thankfully, the waitress asked if we wanted the small or large portion. "Small, please!" We finished it, but barely. It was good, but probably a one-time deal for us. Our arteries are thankful.

After that we walked around the traffic clogged streets and finally found a nice area with few cars. There were LOTS of high school kids walking around. Apparenly school hours are 7-12:30 in Ecuador and kids don't eat lunch at school. They just got out. They all have uniforms and most of them are pretty cool, like track suits. I probably saw 5-6 different uniforms and over a hundred kids eating, walking around, practicing dancing, flirting, etc.

We went to a small museum that described the Mama Negra Festival and it had some costumed manequins. I totally forgot to take pics of the nice areas, so the street scenes below aren't going to sell Latacunga on anyone. Unless of course, you make it to the festival. At the end, I'm adding a few photos I took at the festival, including Sr. Chancho.Read more