The political campaigning is in full swing here with nationwide elections for all levels of government this Sunday. My host mom is a canditate for Consejala Urbana with Pachakutik, the indigenous party that is supposed to be all indigenous people and everyone united. Alas, as always in politics there is division...which here leads to intense rivalries between the communities. I don't quite understand all the details of the history of the split among the indigenous communities, but I do know that it is not pretty. Starting on Friday, the sale of alcohol is banned until after the elections. The most annoying part of the campaigns are the pickup trucks that drive around with loudspeakers mounted on top blasting campaign songs and messages.
Last night my host mom invited me to go to "La cierra de Campana" (Campaign closing festival) in a community. My friend Anna joined me and we rode in the back of a pickup for a couple hours through several communities in a parade of trucks, cars and motorcycles decked out in rainbow flags and posters blasting campaign songs and honking horns. Good times, except that I was about 5 feet behind the loudspeaker that had an invitation to the campaign closing in Cotacachi tonight on repeat for several hours straight. Not so fun...
On Sunday the madness here will all be over. I hope the rainbow flags don't all disappear. They make things prettier around here :)
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