Artisans and Guayaquil’s Carnival Allegories

The old cellar of Ecapag, located in Guasmo in the south of the city, is the scene where five floats are being build, at request of the municipality of Guayaquil.

Thirteen people have been using iron, foam, cardboard and other synthetic materials for two weeks to create the allegories that will be parade through the downtown streets of Guayaquil this Carnival 2012.

The room smells like paint, there are sprays on the floor and Antonio Ortiz, the craftsman who is in charge of the allegories’ development, tells Ecuador Times some details about these crafts.

Antonio has been creating allegories for Guayaquil parades for more than five years. He is responsible for recruiting people who will work in the projects, buys the materials, makes the designs of the allegories and submits them to the municipality for approval.

“They usually give us 20 days to deliver the floats,” says Ortiz, who affirms that the team of craftsmen have been working every day from 08:00 to 18:00. “We will also work on the holidays,” as allegories must be ready on Saturday night.

None of the artisans involved in the creation of the allegoric floats has a fine arts degree, they simply have painting skills and creativity, some of them also work making puppets for the new year on 6 de Marzo street.

The path of the parade is divided in two: from the streets Cuenca and Machala to Parque Centenario and from there to Malecon 2000.

“One float represents the parrot, the Queen’s carriage, the carriage of Juan Pueblo, which goes with a monkey and a car with musicians,” says Ortiz, who also creates allegories for the holidays of July and October.

(MS)