Renting A Halloween Costume In Ecuador

I giggled all the way home.

This Saturday there is a costume party at Inca Lounge, and you don't have to pay a cover if you have a costume. Admittedly, the cover is only $5, so it's not like there a high barrier to cross there, but it's Halloween and hey, who really needs that big of an excuse?

So where do you get a costume in an adult size in a totally Catholic country for Halloween?

MASKERADE, the costume rental shop.

Only I didn't know that it was a rental place when I went in. I was planning to buy something (cheap) and wear that. Except once we (BWH & I) got inside the shop and I got to reading the signs, I realized that we could rent this stuff.

How much? Sheesh, what are these details you speak of?

We took a number, 80. They were currently on 42. The place was packed! It's set up as a long counter, with all of the costumes behind the counter in big rows. You look through a book and pick out a costume and then tell them about it so they can go get your Spiderman suit or whatever. Then you take it and go try it on and go from there.

The place was teeming with kids in various kinds of costumes and some office workers doing the adult costume thing. Adult costume things here are different - they tend to be religious themed, or historical. Like monks and nuns and Robin Hood. So Ben has a Franciscan monk costume, and I have some sort of tacky medieval Maid Marian suit. I'm pretty sure the gold streamers are supposed to go in my hair and they offered me a crown, but its a long sleeved thing that goes to the floor and what do I really want with a crown?

Anyway, for the grand total of $16.60 plus a $10 deposit, we got our costumes, due back Sunday. It took about 2 hours, and in the big picture, if you had told me 6 months ago that I would be able to walk into a costume shop and fearlessly rent a costume in another language, I would have laughed you out of town. Now, well, Maid Marian will be making her appearance on Saturday night!