La Caseria del Zorro and the Lake of Blood

This past weekend was the annual independence day for the gigantic coastal port city of Guayaquil. After much deliberation, Amy, Kane and I decided to skip the reunion with our fellow volunteers in Guayaquil to partake in a local Ibarra celebration which we had heard involved horseback riders chasing a fox. After seeing flyers and posters around the city and hearing from locals that the celebration is not the largest in the city but one of the most fun, we purchased tickets to the infamous after-party through some of our few Ecuadorian friends and anxiously waited out the weekend.
Saturday morning at roughly 10 am I traveled to the city´s main park to see the first event of the day- the parade- with my host mom and some of her friends that had driven up from Quito to witness the tradition. The blaring salsa music, colorful venders, and about 1,000 spectators anxiously awaited the procession of horses and numbered participant horseback riders fashioned in traditional dress and not-surprisingly looking like they stepped right out of a Zorro movie. When I finally got my hands on a program I found out that this was the first part of the 4-part day. After the parade, all the spectators jumped in cars and took off for the mountain where they could watch the jockeys ride down on an incredibly complex and winding course in pursuit of "Zorro", the black masked rider who had won the 2nd part of the day the year before. My brother David, was one of riders and I waived to him and his girlfriend as they passed near the front of the pack. We saw quite a few horses take a spill on one especially steep trail while munching our empanadas and sipping our Pilseners. While I thought this 2nd part of the festival must be the highlight, my host family told me that the best part was yet to come and that the riders were just getting tired out a little first. Once the riders passed and I snapped a few pics, we again jumped to our car and raced to Yaguacocha Lake (about 15 minutes outside the city) where the 3rd part, the actual race, would take place. Around the historic lake where a deadly Incan battle had once taken place deeming the site "Lake of Blood" (or Yacuacocha in Quichua), we saw a 2 mile race course that had held a sort of Ecuadorian Nascar in the 80s but had since been shut down. In recent years the Ibarra country club has sponsored this race to capture the tail of Zorro with $1,000 going to the winner. As the gun went off and the riders advanced on Zorro, the crowd went crazy with applause and cheers. Our seats in the side bleachers proved to be the best spot in the stadium to see the Zorro get his rope tail pulled off by another rider right near the end of the race. When the race finally ends around 5pm, everyone goes home to get in a siesta (nap) before the real partying starts. Around 10pm we left with my host brother and his friends to attend the after party- a 5 hour crazy dancefest hosted at a local hacienda. This was no ordinary party: There were 5 dance floors, a stage with live music, countless tents, a buffet of typical Ecuafood, and a plethora of ridiculously strong moonshine-type beverages that were all a mandatory part of the experience. As Kane and I struggled to keep up, we made a few new friends and even mingled with a few of our students. Around 3:30 we finally returned home and crashed until almost noon the next day. When I finally did get up the next day, I got out my dictionary wondering why on earth I had thought the race had to do with chasing a live fox. As I read the definition of fox, the lights finally went on in the old Basak brain. Spanish translation of fox: zorro.
Hey, better late than never, right?

In other news, today is the final day of election campaigning. On Saturday and Sunday, drinking, smoking are any other mind-altering substances are strictly prohibited/cannot be sold in preparation for the Sunday elections.

Also, yesterday I walked out of my morning class to find roughly 10 officials and the mayor of Ibarra standing around our small tropical campus. Not only did I get to meet the mayor, but amy and I left such an impression that he is planning a party/dinner at our school so we can get to know each other better. Guess who got nominated to cook?