Ecuador Gallery

For tourists and foreign residents, Cuenca's Christmas Eve Paseo del Niño parade, or Passing of the Child, is a colorful, often bizarre mixture of the sacred and the profane. To locals, it is a time-honored Christian festival of thanksgiving and homage that combines Catholic and indigenous traditions. Everyone agrees that it's a lot of fun. The eight-hour-plus procession features floats and decorated cars, many festooned with flowers, fruits and vegetables, empty beer cans and liquor bottles, roasted pigs and chickens....