Friday was the start of Festival in Otavalo and the kick off would be a parade through the streets and around the main square commencing at 7:00 pm.

We spent the day doing chores, looking over the UniMog, and waiting for evening so we could go see the parade. This is the first time I have seen a UniMog up close and it really is a beast. It sits on huge 365x80R20 tire (43 inches in diameter) and with the portal axles has about 30" of ground clearance.

The parade was a crazy, weird highlight. We walked into town about 5:00 pm and the place was a-buzz. Most of the streets were closed and thousands of people were out and about, beginning to take places in the stands and along the parade route. Some of the bands that would be in the parade were giving impromptu concerts. We wandered around taking in the atmosphere.

During this period the market was closing and vendors where packing up, and carry their merchandise away for storage. This sounds pretty mundane except for the way they carry the packed up stuff - just look at the guy in the photos load a huge bundle onto his back.

As the schedule 7:00 pm start approached we found a vantage point and waited for the fun to start. My words cannot do justice to the the parade and associated antics of the crowd. We left about 10:00 pm but apparently the parade went on until after midnight. That should give you some idea of the number of people in the parade. There were floats carrying candidates for Queen of the festival, there were a number of bands, various community groups from local and distant communities, and there were local Indian groups performing (what we assumed were traditional) dances. To my mind the best summary of the parade was the lady carrying a pole to which had been tied a number of live and dead chickens.

This was truly an amazing night, I will let Nina's photos tell the real story.