Dry Elections
We survived the election weekend. It seemed pretty quiet except for some protests in one town in the mountains (Cuenca). Heard a clip on the news about it on Friday afternoon but haven´t heard anything else. It turns out that there will indeed be a runoff election in November to decide who will be President for the next 4 years…maybe…Ecuador has blown through 7 Presidents in the last 10 years!
Interesting thing about the election weekend: the country was dry. They passed a law that for the weekend (Friday noon until Monday noon) no alcohol could be sold or even consumed. We saw clips on the news of people being hauled out of bars all over the country.
This was especially bad for business in Portoviejo as this week is their big festival week celebrating the independence of the city. There is a big party going on ever night on the grounds of the Universidad Tecnica de Manabí, complete with dozens of vendors, food, and rides. We have yet to visit, but hopefully shall be partaking soon. Tomorrow we have the day off work as it is the official holiday day.
3 comments:
I was walking through Penn Station in Newark, New Jersey, on Sunday morning and saw a man walk through the station with a large Ecuadoran flag on a flag pole. He was walking out of the terminatl with several other people. Not something I had anticipated seeing!
Do the people of Ecuador follow the advise of Chicago's former mayor Daley? "Vote early and vote often!"
Actually, it´s manditory to vote here. You get a ¨voting card¨ to prove that you´ve voted and you can´t register for any government or bank services without it!
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