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Ecuador
Celebrating Easter in a sea of purple in Quito
We felt the anticipation the day before. It was a Thursday. The Thursday before Easter.
The streets in Quito, Ecuador, were busier than they had been. The roadside stalls had swelled. The sun was shining.
There was a carnival atmosphere in the air.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the grocery store to buy a bottle of wine and it struck me. In Ecuador, a land of chocolate, there were no Easter eggs for sale.
None.
We could buy hot chocolate, chocolates, even chocolate wine, but no eggs.
At breakfast on Good Friday we asked about local traditions, about the lack of chocolate eggs.
“We have a procession,” the woman in our hotel told us. “The Jesus del Gran Poder (Jesus of great power), which starts at the cathedral and travels through the old town along Venezuela Street.”
We didn’t know which cathedral she meant – there are 27 churches and religious buildings in the city centre. But we figured a procession should be easy to find.
It should start at 9.30 or 10, the waitress said.
South America time, like Africa time and island time. 9.30 could be 1 or it could be 10.30…
You just have to wait. Relax into the flexible timeframes. Have another hot chocolate perhaps.
We headed for the Quito Basilica del Voto Nacional, the largest basilica in Ecuador, and waited.
Around us stallholders were competing to be heard. Agua, umbrellas, plastic stools, chips, chocolates and toffee apples, hats shaped like capybaras… It was all for sale here at tables set up around the basilica or from roaming salesmen and women.
Anything you might need to stand outside in the sun waiting for a procession to start was up for sale.
There were tents for the police and tents for Red Cross.
A stall offering ‘Agua gratis’. Free water, urging us to stay hydrated. Perhaps they knew the long wait we would have before us.
And we waited.
Anticipation builds…
People meander up the road and down. Stall holders push carts, first here, then there. A whistle is blown, a stall holder moves on.
Eventually we too move on. There is nothing happening here and we realise maybe this is where the procession ends, not begins.
So we head into town, past locked doors and barred windows. The shops that were open just yesterday, all closed today. Past our favourite bookshop, the English bookshop, past the souvenir shop where we had bought a bottle of chocolate wine the day before, both closed.
And then we see it. A sea of purple snaking its way down the street in front us.
The procession. Headed our way.
Scattered throughout the purple, men dressed as Jesus carry giant wooden crosses, some wearing sandals, some with bare feet, some getting ‘whipped’ some left to walk alone with their crosses. But always surrounded by the ‘cucuruchos’ in their purple robes.
The cucuruchos, we learn, celebrate the men and women who used to stand outside the churches, dressed in purple capes and hoods, doing penance for their sins. There are statues of cucuruchos throughout the old town year-round, but on Good Friday the full celebration and spectacle of the cucuruchos is on display.
It seems like all of Quito comes out to watch the procession and to celebrate Easter. And it is a spectacle. The purple snake of people winds its way through the streets, passing as many of the 27 churches that make up Quito old town as possible on its way to the Basilica.
Afterwards we find out that the procession starts at the Iglesia de San Francisco, the oldest and one of the most significant religious sites in Ecuador.
When the procession is over, and Adrian has taken way too many photos, we make our way to Apolo’s Hamburgeusa for dinner. The owners are celebrating with their family who all welcome us in. They share their drinks with us and smile and chat to us in broken English and Spanish. Make us feel like part of the family.
As we go to leave the young granddaughter gives both Adrian and I a hug to say ‘Goodbye’.
And I’m reminded that this is what Easter is all about, time spent with family and friends and a shared meal.
But the chocolate eggs are good too.
Read more about our adventures in Quito here.
Fast Facts
We travelled to Ecuador in 2017, 2024 and, on this trip, in 2025.
We stayed at Hotel and Roof Crown King Experience by David, San Marcos Cultural House and Baltico, all were good, all were very different experiences.
We were in Quito for almost two weeks, with trips to Mindo and Cotopaxi in between.
Was it long enough? We had plenty of time to enjoy Quito and to relax and just soak up the local atmosphere.
Highlights: The English Bookshop! Wandering through the city streets and stopping for hot chocolate along the way. Seeing the gargoyles on the side of the Basilica.
Read more about our adventures in South America here.
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