The Festivals of Quito

From November 28th to December 6th, the city of Quito celebrates it's founding. As the oldest capital in South America, Quito has a rich tradition of history spanning over 400 years. Although it was a major trading post in the Incan Empire, the city was annexed into the Spanish empire on December 6, 1534 by Conquistador by Sebastian de Benalcazar. As is the tradition in Ecuador and most of Latin America, the date of a city's founding is held with high significance. Quito has a week long festival of events- parades, parties, special cultural events, and the much anticipated bullfights.
For the 10 days of the festivals, Toreadores from around the world come to Quito for the Competition of the Bulls. Like many other aspects of Quiteño culture, Spanish-style bullfighting was imported during the time of colonialism. With a long and rich history, the "art of the bulls" (as it is called) lives today.
While I fundamentally disagree with the idea of bullfighting, due to the cultural significance of the event I had to attend to see it with my own eyes. We purchased tickets days in advance as this is by far the most popular event of the festivals. 20 dollars a pop for nosebleed. I was eager to see a one-on-one fight. Man vs. Bull. I wanted to see something get real jacked up, preferably a toreador. What I got instead was an 8 on one massacre with pansy Toreadors. It was nonetheless an interesting experience to say the least.
We entered the Plaza de Torros and I was shocked at the scene- In the courtyard, gourmet food vendors were selling such rare delicacies as sushi and meat and cheese platters. The finest wine and spirit vendors were there as well. The people were just as fancy as the food. Everybody was in their Sunday's best while I was dressed like I was going to a baseball game. Apparently, there were local politicians and pop culture icons in attendance as well.

The main entrance to the Plaza de Torros

A cool sign in the middle of the stadium

Chilling in our seats

The Toreadors came out in a grand presentation. Every fight has 6 bulls and 6 toreadors. To be a toreador, one needs an ample amount of money to pay and maintain a large herd of cattle. Its a rather expensive "sport" to play, so Toreadors are usually members of the aristocracy. Apparently Toreadors are the equivalent to major sports stars in the States in regards to fame and glory.

The presentation of the Toreadors

Before the bull enters the ring, his testicles are tied up with a chord in order to anger him. (I mean, that would anger me as well..) Then, he charges into the ring. A group of men with sheets bait the bull to chase after them. When the bull approaches, they hide behind a wooden enclave. They continue this for a few minutes in order to tire the bull.
The bull ring. Notice the little enclaves on the sides where the Toreadors hide. Real tough, I know...

After that, two armored men on horseback come into the ring. They are equipped with giant spears. They proceed to bait the bull, and from horseback, poke the bull in a strategic spot in between his shoulders. Twice. The bull starts gushing blood and retreats. After that, two men holding large daggers come out. Their job is to jab the daggers in between the bulls shoulders. By this point, the bull will have two holes in it´s back, and 4 daggers in it's shoulders.

The horse in the top right corner has huge armor sides to protect it from the bull. The other men are the "assistants" and the Toreador is in the middle ready to olé.

The bull with 4 daggers in it's back. The culprits that stuck those daggers in it's back are hiding behind the wooden wall.

FINALLY the Toreador comes out. After all that. He gets a standing ovation also. He has his cape and starts to "olé" the bull. Every the bull goes under the Toreador's cape, the crowd yells "olé!"

Olé!!



Another olé. However, unlike the other bullfighters, this bullfighter actually got taken down by the bull. Notice his ripped jeans and gore mark on his calf. It was the coolest part of the whole event was watching this guy get ravaged

After a while, the Toreador goes to get his, as my friends and I nicknamed it, the "death sword." This is a huge sword that the Toreador is supposed to jam in the Bulls shoulders that will end the fight once and for all. Ideally, that is. Out of all 6 bulls, only 2 died with one blow. If you fail with the first blow, the crowd boos. Then you receive, as my friends and I called it, the "wimp sword." This sword is even bigger than the last one and is easier to remove so you can jab it back in again. One Toreador needed to stab the bull 4 times before it died.

The first Death Sword lodged in the Bulls back. The second blow was about to come


About to deliver the death blow

The slaying of the bull

After the bull is finally dead, the clean up crew comes out. They load the bull onto a horse-drawn truck bed and cart him off. His meat will be sold for profit. Then, in a similar fashion to baseball games, the in-field crew comes out to sweep the dirt.

The clean up crew

Carting off the dead bull



Towards the end of the bull fights, it started raining. The crowd became a multi-colored array of ponchos.

The only thing of skill I saw in the whole event was the one fight between a man on a horse and a bull. He did every single part of the aforementioned process alone, while on horseback. He stabbed the bull multiple times while the bull was chasing him. The skill for me was the fact that he had to manuever his horse away from the bull while at the same time trying to stab it.


Although I don't know much about equestrian sport, I could tell that this Toreador had spent years and years with his horse. In between the chases with the bull, he would perform show tricks with his horse. While it was impressive, It didn't change my opinion on the whole event. I still fundamentally disagreed with bullfights and will never go to one again. But I have no regrets on going to this one.
So that night, (December 6th, Quito's Independence Day) we went out on the town. We went to the Mariscal, a bar district known for partying.
The festivals are infamous for pick pockets so I put everything I had with me on my inside pocket of my jacket. The place was jam packed, a perfect place for pick pockets, especially since everybody was drunk. The streets were closed off and you could barely move. After eating mediocre Mexican food, we met up with some of our Ecuadorian friends, Carlos and Andres. We all decided that we wanted to find a Chiva, or party bus similar to the one I took in Baños. During the festivals of Quito, there are party busses that go all around the city. The only point of them is to get really drunk and, well, party. So we decided to pre-game a little before hand.

Me with my friend Sophie and 2 Ecuadorian friends Carlos and Andres. The cameraman is already inebriated. We still had some catching up to do

On our way to a liquor store, we stumbled upon a street parade. By this point we had already started partying and were not exactly sober. The parade featured some rather strange things, ranging from Ecuadorian cheer leaders to bizarre creatures on stilts to military bands and princess-carrying floats.

Strange Clown creatures.

Weird stilt men

An army of cheerleaders

more weird stilt men and a float


By far the strangest thing I have ever seen in a parade, let alone on stilts in a parade

A princess-carrying float thing

Some dancers dressed as Devils

A military band


Cool costumes

Spontaneous fireworks that erupted from nowhere

After the parade ended, we continued our quest to find the Chiva bus. No luck. After an hour or so of searching (and drinking of course) most of the members of our group decided to call it a night. Now, it was just me, my friend Max, and our two Ecuadorian friends. We meet up with some of his other friends to drink more. By this time, it's about 12:30am. We literally walk into a Chiva party bus ready to depart. So of course, we hop on, But Carlos and his friends decide they want to go to sleep so they leave.
The Chiva Party bus

So now, its just me and my buddy Max. We are immediately handed drinks, which of course we do not need but graciously accept. Drunkenly, we climb on the roof of the Chiva and start yelling and screaming. The bus stops off on the side of the road and everybody gets out. Suddenly, an improv dance party breaks out on the street. Afterwards, we all board the bus and head back to the Mariscal. The Chiva drops us off around 2am and we say goodbye to our new friends.

w00t w00t!! Party bus!!

hanging out of the party bus.

After that, we both hop a taxi and head home. Quiteños sure know how to have a good time, and we celebrated the anniversary of the founding of Quito in style.