There were events for all ages and interests. Chess tournaments on the main street; bicycle races from Baños to Puyo, a distance of about 30 miles and mostly downhill; bicycles and tricycle races in town for the kids from five years to eight years old; there were cake sales; art fairs; a volleyball tournament with nearby towns competing; parades; a soccer match between Quito and Baños with Quito taking the trophy. The list could go on and on.
On the seventh day of the festival, Baños was treated to a concert by the Metropolitan Orcastra of Quito. They preformed for more than an hour inside the Basilica. They played a variety of music which included Glenn Millers, In The Mood.
Photo by Alex Hernandez
During these days, although an event would end late at night, with all the trash that is thrown by the crowd, the next morning when you walked down town the streets were clean and looked as if nothing had happened the night before. If they needed a stage for an event, they blocked off the street and with 12, 55 gallon drums, 12 large bamboo polls, a little rope, a few plywood sheets and some canvas, in less than an hour you had a covered bandstand. The following morning there was no evidence that an event had even taken place.
On the first day of the Fiesta de Baños, the 40th running of the Carrera de Coches de Madera. (Race of the Cars of Wood.) This race starts about 20 KM outside of town, at a place called The “U” de Pelileo. There were 42 cars entered for this years race. From this point it is approximately 90% down hill to the finish line in the center of Baños. When there is an uphill grade the drivers must get off and push. When they enter the city they come down a “S” curve, across the Bascun Bridge and when they run out of steam they need to push the car about 500 meters to the last down hill run on Martinez Street at Gonzalo Diaz de Pineda.
An hour before the race the first enthusiast start arriving. And who could be more enthusiastic then kids.
Photo by J. Walker
A fallen tree makes pretty good bleachers-
Photo by J. Walker
The police clear the street anticipating the first cars.
Photo by J. Walker
This is the most dangerous part of the race as the downhill grade on this section of Martinez is about 30 degrees or more.This picture gives a feelins of how steep the downhil grade.
Photo by J. Walker
As the cars cross Pastaza Street they are actually airborne and when the wheels touch down, some loose control and crash into the crowd injuring both the drivers and spectators alike. The race this year was not without injuries. Thirteen people were taken to the hospital...five had broken bones and one had a head and neck injury.
Photo by J. Walker
Photo by J. Walker
Photo by J. Walker
Photo by J. Walker
Although the police are there to keep the crowd out of the way of the on-coming cars, is almost a sport to temp fate as the crowd envelopes the oncoming car. At times accidents are caused because the crowd doesn’t move fast enough. Just like Pamplona....only these are not bulls.
Photo by J. Walker
The race is against the clock and each car leaves the starting point at approximately one minute intervals. Even with this one minute separation some of the cars overtake the one in front. This year, one car was trying to pass on the steepest part of Martinez and clipped the rear wheel and they both flipped. That accident sent several to the hospital.
A few years ago, the city changed the final leg of the race to come down Montalvo Street which does not have the grade of Martinez. The race was completed without accidents and the next year it was moved back to Martinez. As one person told me...”A race without accidents, is not a race.”
Over the years, the all wooden cars have evolved into hybrids of wood, metal and even some with inflated tires. It was interesting to see that the cars with hard wooded wheels had better times then the numatic tires. All of the cars that finished made the trip in from 35 to 49 minutes. The contestants are mostly from Baños but several come from other cities to win the coveted trophies. A very emotional afternoon.
There were two major parades in this years festival.
Pregón de Fiesta...This parade took place in the afternoon of the second day. It started at 2:00PM and ended close to six. For a town the size of Baños it seemed to be a very long parade.
Photo by J. Walker
Photo by J. Walker
Although there were many beautiful children in the parade...this is my favorite.
Photo by J. Walker
Most of the town turns out all along the parade route as most of the businesses close, at least until their child has passed in review. The theme of the parade was the “La Alegria y Encanto de Baños”, more or less....The happy and enchanted life in Baños.
The Military Parade is always held on the 16th. This parade was impressive as each school participated with a band, and all of the senior grades marched in uniforms. The bands were made up of mostly drums. I counted 50 in one unit from one of the larger schools. The students have practiced for the last month for this parade and for the most part they were very good. Close to where I live there is a night college that practiced at least an hour for this event each night, starting around 9:30PM, in the parking lot of the bus station which is across the street from where I live. If you can imagine 40 or 50 drums beating for an hour at this time of night, I was obviously happy when the big parade day came. I watched with special interest when this group passed. They looked stunning in their white uniforms and as they passed I had to admit that all that lost sleep was a small price to pay to view their performance.
It was a wonderful week. Everyone has a great time and if you plan now you can watch the 41st running of the Race of Wooden Cars....live.
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