Año Viejo (Old Year) vibes are prevalent on the streets in these last days of 2015 as both adults and children carry around homemade papier mache fictional and political characters, wishing everyone a Feliz Año Nuevo (Happy New Year) and asking for money to be put in the cup/box that they’re either carrying or have taped to their creation. At midnight on New Year’s Eve, Ecuadoreans burn all of these characters with the belief that they are setting fire to 2015, destroying any bad energy possibly built up from the last year, and preparing to begin anew. More on this tradition in the next post. For now, take a look at some of the characters interspersed throughout, as well as the city of Guayaquil in general.

31dec15. Guayaquil, Ecuador.