Monday of Carnavale in Ambato

The big activity of the day doesn't occur until evening - the night parade, so we sleep a little late and use the late morning and early afternoon to explore a little more of Ambato.  The four of us make our way to Parque Cevallos.  People gather to have their photo's taken in front of the Ambato sign and/or the Fiesta de las Flores y la Frutas clown sign.

Across the street is the Colegio Bolivar and it's natural history museum.  As we walk through it reminds us of the diverse wildlife in Ecuador and that Ecuador has 1,600+ species of birds(not all are represented).  The museum quality doesn't compare with the New York Natural History Museum nor the Field Museum in Chicago, but is of reasonable quality and the admission fee of $1 makes it a definite value.

We also check out the flower market and the Mercado.  They are comparable to what we see in Cuenca.  Lunch is an almerazo of tasty chicken soup, a plate of rice, potato salad and chicken followed by a little dessert at a cute restaurant near the markets.  This gives us enough time to meander back to the hotel and rest up before the evening parade.

Once again we have reserved seats in front of the hotel.  We understand that the parade route will be the same as yesterday's parade and it begins at 6PM, which means it should reach the hotel between 7 and 7:30PM.  We take our seats at 6:30PM. The vendors are once again out in full force with food, waters/soda's and trinkets.  They are also selling spray foam, which the crowd uses to coat each other and innocent bystanders.  There are no liquor vendors, though some people buy beers at some of the Tienda's which are open.

The parade does not reach the hotel until ~ 8:15PM.  Most of the parade floats and dancing groups are the same as yesterday's parade.  However, the floats are lighted.  The crowd has fun.  By 10PM the last group goes by and the parade formally ends.  However the partying in the streets and clubs continues until ~ 1 AM.