Older adults opened the carnival festivities in Nono with dance

In a corner of the western mountain range of the Andes, tucked between the mountains, is Nono. In rainy seasons, like now, the fog never goes away. It rises thick in the mornings to the hill and descends relentlessly at sunset. An almost permanent drizzle threatens that at any moment the downpour can fall. This is how Nono was on the morning of this carnival Sunday, with a gray sky.

This town can be reached from Quito traveling about 20 kilometers along the northern flank of the western slopes.

On that carnival morning, the cold dissipated with the lively spirits of the village bands, the dancers who were preparing to perform their troupes and the riders who reviewed the steps and acrobatics on horseback. It was the atmosphere before Color Parade.

Among that crowd was Olga Cerón, a 74-year-old woman. Her thick, long, gray hair was woven into two braids that slid down her shoulders. She was wearing a white blouse and a wide red skirt down to her ankles. It was the uniform of her group of dancers, all of the elderly. To decorate it more, Doña Olga, as they call her, put on a necklace of multicolored flowers.

They were twenty old men, all impeccable. The men wore a suit with a white shirt, vest, trousers and black felt hat. One, lacking a uniform, wore his best suit. It was not be for lowerly. The group led the parade.

Around 09:00 the village band began to sing the yumbos and dancers, both traditional carnival rhythms. The elders danced in sync and arranged in rows. “Long live Nonoo! Long live the third age!” they shouted.

Doña Olga took hold of her hips and advanced with short steps. She is not from that area. She arrived 25 years ago from her native San Gabriel de Ella, in Carchi, hand in hand with her husband, who had found a job on a farm. “My husband really liked being a butler of estates”, has longing and twelve years of widowhood in tow.

The main economic activity of Nono is cattle ranching. They produce a lot of dairy. It is a very old and popular work in the area. In fact, a waterfall located very close to the town is named Guagrapamba, which in Quichua means land of cows. Those waters, which come down from the Pichincha volcano, are one of the main tourist attractions of Nono.

Another are the riding schools. Several businesses offer horse rentals and lessons to learn how to ride. The offer is aimed at connoisseurs and those who have not had any experience, including children. Nature helps, because in the sector there are trails for short or long tours.

In recent years, Nono has also become an attraction for those seeking a country house. Faced with the saturated real estate market in the eastern valleys of the capital, many families have built their place of escape from the city there.

“I liked Nono’s tranquility. There is no abuse here for anyone. There are no robberies. We people take care of ourselves as neighbors,” says Doña Olga. She entered the senior citizens group as soon as it was formed, three years ago, at the initiative of the Parish Council and the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion. The project is called growing old together. The elderly meet on Wednesdays to exercise and play board games.

Doña Olga says that they went to her house to invite her to integrate. “You’ve seen that I’m upbeat, that I’m enthusiastic, I help guide,” she laughs.

When the Parade of Colors was announced, the group got organized and made a troupe to perform. They marked the route of approximately one kilometer, from the entrance of the town to the central park. Behind him were other groups, most dedicated to dancing the foreman and the tinku, typical of Bolivia; also riders from riding schools in the area.

He led the group of elders Gonzalo Guachamin, 85 years old. He dressed up as a clown from head to toe, with a bright cloth jumpsuit, a red vest, a white cloth that covered his head, a bonnet and a mask. He with a tambourine he marked the pace of the village band.

Don Gonzalo has been an enthusiast of popular festivals since he was young. He participated in the festival of turbans and in the tradition of the holy soul. Remember that they dressed up as Roman soldiers and holy barons.

These traditions have been lost. Today don Gonzalo has the carnival and the festivities of the Virgin of the Way of Alambi, the patron saint of Nono. Tradition has it that the Virgin Mary appeared in the middle of the last century on the route that connects the center of the parish with Alambi, a neighboring town. In that place there is a grotto with the religious image. In her name, the parish celebrates its fiestas every August.

“There are many many people who have devotion to him and who attribute miracles to that Virgin”, says Gianina Moreno, president of the Parish Council.

She regrets that a municipal ordinance has prevented them from making a village bullfight in this carnival, because that attracted more tourists. “That was the essence of the party, of the rural towns. That tradition strengthens our identity as parishioners and, beyond that, it was an opportunity to start reactivating ourselves financially. Today there are fewer visitors because there are no bulls,” he commented.

After the comparsa, Don Gonzalo approached his friends, with his mask on, challenging them to guess who he was. One of them removed his mask and offered him a drink of tips, as cane distillate is known. He raised his glass and in the middle of the conversation he commented: “God has allowed us to celebrate the carnival, because he says that we are born from dust and we will become dust”. (I)