Of Frontier Towns, Cowboys, and Tradition

I spent the weekend celebrating fiestas with my extended family in Macara. Macara is a town of about 15,000 inhabitants that sits on the Peruvian border across from the city of Pirua.

Macara is a cowboy town, plain and simple. They love their horses, their hats, and their whiskey. Life is a bit slower and every pillar of every building has built in hammock hooks (and everyone owns a hammock). People love late night music and dancing in the public square, family time, and mid day siestas (mostly due to the fact that Macara has a desert-like climate).

The town is over 100 years old, but many of its inhabitants have been there longer. One of Arturo's grandmother's friends has lived in Macara her entire life, but is 14 years older than the town itself (yes, that makes her 114 years old). This small town is so famous it even has it's own anthems.



Fiestas take place in just about every town or city in Ecuador and are really worth making the effort to attend. Here the true culture of a town, and of Ecuador, comes out. You will not just be a passive observer in these fiestas, you will be an active participant... there is no way around it. The rapturous nature of the locals will draw you in and before you know it you'll be dancing the local dances, drinking the local drinks, and sharing in local plates.

Our weekend started off with dinner with the family (beef, steamed yuca root, and amazing preserved jalapenos of different colors... homemade of course by Tio Marcelo!) and was quickly followed by a visit to Primo Popo's bar (the most popular bar in the town).


The next morning we all slept in, or as much as we could with the heat picking up fairly quickly (I'm just whinging because I normally live in the mountains where it is nice and cool. The heat is dry and actually quite nice when you're not 8.5 months pregnant.), and had a traditional breakfast. I stuck with my motepillo (hominy mixed with eggs to make a scramble) and Arturo had an encebollado (a type of soup which is made with fish, yuca, tomatoes, and onion then sprinkled with lime juice). Encebollados are a very traditional plate, but is originally from the coast (you can read more about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encebollado).

After breakfast it was off to the horse prep area to look at all of the Peruvian Caballos de Paso and watch the riders get ready for the parade. The prep area was on the outskirts of town (not far from the center of town) and included food stalls, traditional music played live by a banda del publo (town band), and stalls for the horses.

We watched the handlers work the horses and prep them for show. It was really an amazing experience. However, I am very much so a city girl and my comfort level with large animals with hooves is quite low. Arturo convinced me to stand next to a horse and pet it. It proceeded to immediately whinny at me and make me squeal. Everyone got a kick out of it.

It is also one of the few times in my life I have ever worn (or ever will wear) a cowboy hat.

The horses then paraded up and down the main drag of the city for about an hour. I know this seems like a lot but they are what we call caballos de paso (step horses), so they all types of steps and movements. It's quite entertaining. I also enjoy the people watching because everyone gets so excited by the horses, it is really quite the to do.

After the parade everyone heads back up to the horse prep area to listen to live music, dance, drink, sing, and to hang out with the horses. I took this video of the singer they had on Saturday. I thought she was fantastic and put up quite well with the drinking cowboys and their desire to dance with her.

I didn't last very long here either due to the lack of drinking ability and the great offer to go home and rest after being in the hot sun and on my feet all day long! However, this quickly changed around 9:00 when I was invited to a combination Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, and birthday party celebration with the tios (all of the cousins were still up with the horses). I decided it was a great opportunity to dress up and spend time with my tios. So, we went, and what an event! It was, basically, just a party. The room where they held the event was decked out in gold and white satin fabric, the chairs were covered, there was a set-up for live music, and bottles of Johnny Walker Black Label on each table. They served a full meal, snacks, and desert. Had a DJ and two live bands. The tios drank, sang to classic songs (including the Macara song I included above), and danced the night away. I was the first to finally say I was tired and that I needed to go home and rest! They all came with me (at 2:00 am), but many of them returned and stayed until the earlier hours of the morning. I wish I had taken my camera, but sadly, I didn't, so I have no pictures to share from this event.

The following day was a day of rest for us (especially for me!). We went to explore the market they have on the other side of the airport, which is always fun. I love going to this market because we get to walk across the landing strip of the airport. Only two or three flights arrive in Macara per week and they announce their arrivals, so the rest of the time you can walk on the tarmac. It's fantastic (I know, it's the small things in life....)!

We headed back to Cuenca Monday morning after a wonderful weekend with our extended family in Macara! If you get the chance to get there, I highly recommend it! Good times! I'll leave you with a few more pictures from our wonderful weekend...

The view from the horse prep are in Macara.

My brother in law (Ramiro), Arturo, Anita, Carolina, Karen, and Popo (the cousins)

My cowboy husband at the horse parade.

My cowboy husband at the horse prep area.