For 10 days leading up to Shrove Tuesday, the southerly town of Ambato hosts a famously comprehensive programme of festivities. This includes a version of carnival, but staged within the town's traditional, long-running 'Fiesta de la Fruta y de las Flores' (fruit and flower festival). Bullfights, dances, cavalcades and parades run throughout the fiesta period, which begins with a blessing of the bread. There is something to see every day, be it a marching band, a gymnastic demonstration, a jazz night, the crowning of the Ambato Beauty Queen, classical recitals, fruit and flower parades or art exhibitions. It is one of the country's better organised events.

Times
Various.