Posta Civica de la Lojanidad

Over the weekend, Adam and I participated in an annual event in Loja called the Posta Civica de la Lojanidad, where the mayor and his wife, along with the Reina (Queen) de Loja, Srta. CASMUL, the Reina de La Feria, and many other reinas, visit barrios across the city from 7:30am until 8pm. Posta is a "relay", so essentially we were doing a relay across 16 barrios.

In Ecuador, being a reina is a big deal. The reinas do a lot of community service work in their barrios or in the city, and they also help host events (such as the Posta Civica). And if you are trying to figure out how you become the Queen of Loja...well essentially it is through a beauty pageant- with talent shows, swimsuit competitions and speeches. Adam and I weren't fortunate enough to attend the Queen of Loja competition this year, but perhaps next year we can endure the whole process, which, from what I heard, went until 3am this year!

The Posta was full of trumpets, high school bands, lighting of 16 torches, singing of the Loja anthem, and speeches from the presidents of the barrios, the reinas of each barrio, and the mayor of the city. Since all the barrios are pretty far apart, we rode in a caravan of busses. For the first several barrios, Adam and I rode in the same bus with the mayor, his wife and the reinas. But with each barrio we visited, we collected more reinas and other special guests, so we switched to the empty bus with Adam's compañeros. Overall it was a good experience and we were amused by some of the entertainment during the day. I´ll post later the video of the performance by "Marcia y las Chicas de Miel" (aka Marcia and the Honey Girls). Who would have though gals in go-go boots and mini skirts would have shared the stage with some of the the traditional dance performances. And at the end of the night, a woman sang to the mayor- the poor thing sounded like a howling cat in the streets. It was truly amazing.

Adam looking super chipper for 7am on a Saturday morning

Students from one of the local colegios (high schools)

Our mayor giving his opening statements

The Reina de Loja giving her speech- check out that crown!

Not sure what this was all about, but they were hanging about 20 feet in the air... possibly a form of advertisement for the tienda nearby??

In some of the barrios, the BonIce folks were out selling their frozen delights (think Otter Pops, but with yogurt versions too). Adam and I enjoyed our guanabana and fresa flavored treats because the Ecua sun was out in full force yesterday!

Carrying the flag of Ecuador while the school band played

The mayor and his wife, surrounded by the reinas

Adam watching one of the ceremonies from the bus (scorching Ecuadorian sun wears you out!)

A lot of the barrio reinas did this when lighting the torch (they just threw the thing in, instead of holding onto it, lol)

Marcia y las Chicas de Miel (Honey Girls)