Halloween in Quito

Our Halloween this year was a lot more fun than it's been in the past - we actually had trick or treaters! You may remember our Halloween on the island of Lindau in Germany was also eventful.

This year we went to a Halloween party on the Saturday night before and everyone put a lot of work into their costumes. We didn't bring our camera that night, but you'll have to trust me that there was a half an Ecuadorian Olympic swimming team (complete with Speedos and swim caps); a Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky (who you may remember were intimately involved); a table of spaghetti and meatballs and the chef who made it (these two won the prize of best costume); Tony the Tiger and Chester the Cheetos cheetah (the hosts for the night); a set of troll dolls; an owl; a Black swan and a White swan (from the movie The Black Swan); Zohan (played by an Israeli guy); several made-up superheros; a banjo player; 2 binders full of women (thank you Mittens for that!); and Greg as Arthur Dent from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and myself as a black cat or a panther or a jaguar depending on my mood at the moment. There were more, but these were the ones that really stuck out

Then, on the actual day of Halloween, we had trick or treaters! There were maybe 10 or 12 of them and Greg got a few photos. Our favorites were our friends who dressed their little girl as a zebra, our friend came along as a tiger, and they were the zoo keepers. Very cute!

Frida and a ghost

Memorable Halloween

We spent Halloween in Lindau and the kids on the island actually dressed up and went around. It was funny to see them ring the "doorbells" because there weren't traditional houses around. It was all apartments - granted they were only three or four story buildings so I guess they could have hit up all the floors if someone let them in.

Anyway, we were surprised on Halloween to hear a commotion on the street outside of our second story window. Upon opening it, we saw a bunch of scary masks and face painted goblins, witches and wizards looking up at us.

"Suss oder sauer!" shouted one of the moms of the group and held her hands out. The kids all imitated her. Roughly translated that means: sweet or sour!

Ummmm, okay, we hadn't come prepared obviously for second-story-window trick or treating. Luckily, I remembered the two mini chocolate bars we got at the hotel and promptly threw those down. That really didn't do much to satiate the appetites of the twelve kids that were down there, but at least it was something! I'm not even sure if anyone caught the chocolate bars or if they got smashed in their tumble.

One little girl with her dad held her hands out expecting more to rain down so I had to explain in my halting German that we were in a hotel and didn't have more candy with us. They continued on their merry ways and I hope they filled their little orange plastic pumpkins with other candy.