Ecuador Travel

Guaranda carnival

Attractions near Guaranda

The town of Guaranda is the capital of the province of Bolívar in the central Andes region of Ecuador. It is located 235 kilometers southwest of Quito and can be easily accessed by bus. The town itself is usually a sleepy highlands town with little out of the ordinary to offer travelers. However, it is a good place to experience authentic life in Ecuador as the town receives few tourists throughout the year. However, all this changes during the festival of Carnival when the town explodes with color, motion, and celebration. In addition, Guaranda is a good stopping point to reach the town of Salinas de Bolívar and the Cashca-Totoras Protected Forest.

How to get there

From Quito, buses leave regularly from the Quitumbe Terminal in the south of the city for Guaranda. The trip takes four or five hours and costs about 5 dollars.

From Guayaquil, buses leave from the main bus terminal. The trip takes about 4 and a half hours and costs about 5 dollars.

Buses also go to Guaranda from Riobamba, Ambato, and San Luis de Pambil.

When to go

If you are looking to experience a sleepy, authentic Ecuadorian small-town, then any time of year is a good time to visit Guaranda. However, if you are interested in seeing the town alive and experiencing one of the biggest traditional festivals in Ecuador, then you must visit Guaranda during the Carnival celebration. This celebration moves with the Catholic Church calendar, as it is the three-day celebration before the season of Lent. It usually falls in late February, but be sure to check a calendar for the year in which you are going to visit.

Carnival de Guaranda

The celebration of Carnival takes place throughout Ecuador. However, Carnival has a special significance in the town of Guaranda because it is the town’s main festival and the townspeople look forward to and prepare for it all year long. While Guaranda receives few tourists throughout the rest of the year, the city is flooded with them during Carnival with around 2,000 national and international tourists arriving daily. This means that if planning to visit Guaranda for the festivities, you should be sure to book transportation and especially lodging in advance. There are few hotels in Guaranda and they fill up fast during Carnival.

The Carnival celebration in Guaranda is a mixture of Spanish and indigenous traditions and includes the following elements amidst a carefree spirit of celebration and happiness:

• Water-throwing – Throwing water at unsuspecting passersby or neighborhood friends is a typical way to celebrate Carnival throughout Ecuador, though it is dying out as the government encourages people to save water. Eggs, flour, talcum powder and anything else at hand may also be thrown at passersby. According to tradition, flour and talcum powder are thrown in order to imitate the purity of snow, and water also symbolizes cleansing.

• Parades – Various parades take place during the four-day celebration and highlight traditional, brightly colored costumes, dancing, and music. The most important of these parades is the one in which the Taita (dad) and Mamá (mom) of Carnival ride into the city. Taita Carnaval is one of the local wealthy landowners who sponsors the party, and therefore, presides over the festivities.

• Typical dishes – Traditional foods are an important part of the festival. These dishes include fried pork, hominy, roasted guinea pig, and other delicacies. Sharing and hospitality are key during the Carnival festivities so locals will be more than happy to offer you a taste of the dishes they have prepared.

Cashca Totoras Protected Forest

The protected forest was declared such in 1988 and gets its name from the presence of the cascha tree as well as the Totoras community which lives within the forest. Located 30 kilometers from Guaranda on the road to Riobamba, the forest is an attraction that you can easily visit from the city of Guaranda. The forest covers an area of nearly 6,500 hectares in which several indigenous populations live and farm and you can explore a type of Andean vegetation which is nearly extinct. The average temperature is a comfortable 17 degrees Celsius (63 degrees Fahrenheit). The park is open from Monday to Sunday and entrance costs $5.

Attractions in the protected forest

• Flora – The forest is full of interesting Andean plant life and vegetation to observe. Some of these plants include orchids, cashca trees, cedar trees, and laurel. The local communities use many of the plants in the protected forest for medicinal purposes.

• Fauna – In addition to the interesting vegetation, the forest is also home to various animal species. It is one of the most important habitats of marsupial frogs which carry their tadpoles on their backs for four or five months before depositing them in puddles or small ponds to finish their development. In addition, one can find spectacled bears, toucans, deer and tiger cats. There is also a great diversity of butterflies and insects.

• Scientific Station – The state-run provincial university of the province of Bolívar has built a scientific and ecological station in the forest for the purpose of research and protection of the area. Tourists can visit and tour the scientific station.

• Hiking – The protected forest offers plenty of opportunities for hiking, including several established paths along which you can enjoy the peace and tranquility of nature and observe the plants and animals mentioned above.

• Totoras community – If interested, visitors to the forest can also visit the local community of Santa Rosa de Totoras of which the members live off of coal. The community also offers community tourism and agricultural tourism to observe how the traditional communities of the area live.