Nothing says Happy NYE like men in skirts and burning stuff

We left Banos early New Year's Eve, jacked on adrenaline from the adventure the day before. Our next destination was a small nondescript city called Tena, the gateway to the Amazon, or at least it was. Continued deforestation has pushed the jungle further and further back east.
The city of Coca is a better representation of the true gateway to the Amazon, but that would have cost valuable days, which on this limited schedule, we could not swing... so Tena would have to do.
We checked into a hostel and set about to explore our new city...

The city is peppered with beautiful graffiti murals, most representing the Amazon in some way...

And a small statue to the Kichwa tribe, indigenous to this area...

There is a tall observation tower on the banks of the river running through town...

Honestly, we were NOT impressed... we actually hit the town's tourist information office to inquiry about activities the town has to offer, and he literally said "sooo Nope, really little to nothing to do here, you should leave and go to this other town"... really?!?! this is how you talk up your place?
We would have most certainly blown out of town had it not been for the fact that it was New Years Eve, and we really didn't want to be on a bus as the Mango dropped.

Then THIS happened... walking back to the hostel, we saw a guy, dressed in drag, dancing in the middle of the street, stopping traffic... CRAZY right?

Of course, we just assumed that there was a regional transvestite convention and an attendee had gotten into the sauce a little early and stumbled out... the Policia would have the situation handled in no time, right?

So so so very very wrong... what we had witnessed was the start of the most unusual, uniquely Ecuadorian New Years Eve tradition. 

Across South America, on NYE, people will make effigies of various things that did not go well during the year, and burn the effigy at midnight to signify out with the old and in with the new.

For example, old women who may have lost a husband may burn his likeness... 

which led to the women requesting money as they have lost their husband and means of support, which logically led to MEN dressing in drag, requesting money to support partying, 

which of course, led to Riad taking this picture with the ugliest transvestite ever.

He was very appreciative of our donation to his "grief and loss"...

The entire city, region and country, all do this... we later met other backpackers with similar stories of ugly men in dresses dancing...

What was great about this is that EVERYONE is super into it... there are cops, nuns, children, families, young, old and THIS dude... 364 a year, a straight laced accountant who neatly folds his socks. but on NYE, he rocks a multi colored mohawk and gawks at dancing dudes...

With some considerable difficulty, we tore ourselves away from the street party to make our way to the main square...

With men wearing dresses stopping traffic, I am assuming no one can be bothered with the kids with high explosives.

In the main square, a big local Cumbia band was rocking it out... Ryan Seacrest would have loved these 3.

And then the Mango dropped... another year in the bag... wahoooooooo

Starting 2015 with a selfie in the afterglow of a serious Crazy Tena party.

By 12:05 am, the streets were littered with burning stuff... this one apparently represented a guy's old job / boss... apparently it was not a pleasant split and he was harboring some ill feelings... "that's it senor... get it all out, just burn a doll with your bosses face pinned to the front... release that negativity and tomorrow go get some therapy"