Mask Shop

In our rambles on our first day in Ibarra we almost walked right by this place.

At first glance it was just another of the tienditas (little stores) you find on every other block in Ecuador. They are like mini-marts with basic food and drink and other items for folks to pick up in the neigborhood. We usually get our bottled water at these places.

But this one was different.

Hanging on the wall and from the ceiling were at least 100 or more paper mache masks. The place was closed for siesta, but the nice proprietor saw is peering in. So she let us in to have a look. Some of the masks were standard devils and clowns and animals. But many appeared to be real people -- politicians and sports stars and actors, I would imagine.

Later I found this good article about Ecuadorian masks on the Web. These might have been left over from the New Year's festivities described in this article. I would have loved to buy some of these if we were closer to the end of the trip and we weren't backpacking.

Maybe we will see some more in Columbia.