Quito: Day 4, Fanny Packs & A Traditional Ecuadorian Halloween Dance Party

Fanny Packs: I am newly inspired to seek one out for two reasons. 1. The strap of my cheap cross-body zip travel purse (two musts when traveling: stick it to your body and make sure it has a zipper) snapped and I need something new. 2. My tinder date last night was wearing one un-ironically and I was surprisingly into it.

Traditional Halloween Dance Party: My Tinder date, Juan, and his friend Cesar brought me to a Halloween costume dance party last night. It was charmingly innocent except for the alcohol situation: you had to buy an entire bottle of liquor or nothing. An entire bottle?! There were 3 of us. We went to a bodega and snuck beer in instead. All ages above 21 were represented, a mix of families and friends, and a mix of costume dedication. Juan was a meme, an inappropriate and kind of gross, in more ways than one, meme: ****** whatsapp guy. His was the only funny-take-on-a-current-event-ish costume. Cesar had no costume and we joked that I was an extranjero. I did look the part, being the only blonde in the room. Venetian masks were a popular go-to, there was a red suited-devil, a beautiful Reina de Corazones (Queen of Hearts), a Prince, a maid. Everyone's costumes were outdone when the lights came on halfway through the party and 10 dancers shimmied onto the floor. Dressed in traditional Ecuadorian Halloween dance costumes, the men were clowns, so I'm told, and the women wore beautiful dresses. Two wore slightly more risque dresses and danced by themselves while the rest of the women danced teasingly for the clowns, who spun those clicking instruments and hopped around. A longer video of the actual dancing did not take to my phone for some odd reason but an amuse bouche:

More pics of Quito:

Later, Juan invited me to his father's birthday party. This was quite intimate! But I felt lucky to be included and as everyone is in South America, his family was warm and welcoming. I came at an especially opportune time of year, approaching All Saints Day, November 1st (a pretty somber Catholic holiday, unlike Dia de los Muertos in Mexico). Ecuadorians drink and eat colada morada and guaguas de pan. Colada morada is a thick and sweet fruit stew and guaguas de pan are decorated "baby" breads filled with jam or chocolate. The homemade colada morada was a special treat. I didn't take a pic at his house, but here is the advertisement at my favorite Panaderia de la Union.

And a basket of their guaguas de pan: