Cynthia Goes To Ecuador: Earth Day Cotacachi Style

On Tuesday I was waiting for a bus to take me to Columbia (you have to wait until Mondayto learn more about that) and saw many tent canopies being set up. I wasn't sure what they were all about and since all the signs were in Spanish, that didn't give me much clue either. Of course it didn't take long to figure it out.

First, though, before I knew what the occasion was, I caught some fun little shots of kids. I love kid pictures. It's really tough to get a bad one.

These kids have their homemade stilts all ready to go. An older boy came along a little after I got this photo and taped the legs and feet to the stilts. I'm here to tell you, if they fell, they were going WAY down.

Here's one of the boys with his fancy pants on and walking all over the place. Just about a minute after this picture was taken he stepped down the curb and into the street. I was very impressed.

These kids were so cute alternately climbing up the tree and pulling one another down again.

They really went all out. It's always so much more fun taking photos when people enjoy it happening.

Kids...

kids...

and more kids.

I love all the original artwork. These kids, here and in the three photos below, obviously worked very hard on their banners.

I'm not sure exactly what the kid on the left is supposed to be but he's cute, whatever he is.

The little bunny isn't having nearly as much fun as some of the others are.

More costumes and artwork. I love this one with the sad face on the world map.

The more things change the more they stay the same. It's been well over 50 years since I was this age and we were doing the same thing then.

The youngest group. Somehow there just isn't much cuter than a little bitty girl in her traditional clothes. I wonder if I'll ever come to think of it as just another little girl. Probably not. I still go ga-ga over little babies dressed in special outfits and I grew up with that.