Where am I? What time of the year is it? What am I supposed to celebrate today? Usually when I get back to Quito after a weekend of hiking in the mountains, I feel a bit overwhelmed by all the traffic, the crowds of people and the amount of garbage. This time I am more than just shaken. I am completely disorientated.
It started two weeks ago when I opened the door to the house that I live in with my host family. For a moment I was convinced to have opened the wrong door. I had entered Winter Wonderland; candles, snowmen, Christmas lights, angels in all colours, little soldiers, Jesus in his stable, and lots and lots of glitter. When walking through the streets of Quito, you can find little stands where people sell shiny festoons, Christmas stars, holly, miniature snowy towns, and purple slowly turning into yellow Christmas lights. I have never really liked Christmas decoration; it too easily gets tacky. With a bright sun it is even worse. Glittery festoons and huge snowmen seem really out of place when it is 28°C outside.
But this is not where the confusion ends. Sinterklaas sent me a parcel on the 5th of December. So what am I supposed to do now? Open it in the middle of all the holly and advent candles? And how can I eat pepernoten when everyone around me is eating German Christmas cake?
Before I left for Guaranda, a village in the Andes, on Friday, I promised myself to take it easy. If my greatest problem is that I have to celebrate Sinterklaas in a tropical country yet preparing for Christmas, I should be a very happy person. “Don’t let it bother you. Don’t let it distract you. You’ll be fine.” So I let it be but not for long. On my return, Quito had turned into a cowboy town. Men walking around in leather boots. Men and women wearing cowboy hats. So what is this for? “Bullfights, the way we celebrate 5th of December, our independence day”. Cowboys walking around in a sunny Winter Wonderland on the day that I am supposed to open the presents that Sinterklaas sent me is just too much.