The Ecuadorians like pomp & circumstance and they started the swim meet with a parade, unexpected by us since swim meets in the USA usually start with a blow of the whistle. But suddenly, we had to line up and then they got the officials in some sort of order (not understood by us, probably head official first, stroke & turn judges following, etc) and then this woman in high heels and a dress was put into the parade (see picture, the woman with the pink color in her dress). She was the only person wearing a dress at the pool. I asked who she was & what her function was, and one of the Ecuadorian swimmers explained, in broken English, that she didn't know who she was but it was customary to have a pretty woman at the head of a parade. I wondered if she was Miss Guayaquil (or maybe the reigning virgin of Guayaquil. . . . just a though I didn't utter). And then we and the Ecuadorian Team and the one swimmer from Brazil paraded around the pool (I am wearing my swim cap since I was in the first heat).
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