Mestre Marcos

Marco Ayala began his martial arts journey in 1985, achieving provincial and national titles in Taekwondo and Kick-Boxing competitions. He also developed extensive knowledge in the handling of nunchaku, knife, and machete. In 1993, when Mestre Zé Maria arrived in Ecuador to found the first capoeira school—Companhia ZEMA de Capoeira—Marco Ayala was among his earliest students, beginning his capoeira training that same year.

When Mestre Zé Maria returned to Brazil in 1996 for personal reasons, he entrusted the school to Marco Ayala, then a student of electrical engineering at the Escuela Politécnica Nacional. At that point, the group founded just three years earlier was practically the only capoeira presence in Ecuador, and Ayala took on the challenge of developing it almost from scratch.

The work was extremely arduous for more than a decade. In 2000, after graduating as an electrical engineer, Marco Ayala opened a capoeira nucleus at the Compañía Nacional de Danza del Ecuador (National Dance Company of Ecuador), where students continue to train every Friday to this day. In 2004, the school was renamed "Grupo ZEMA de Capoeira Ecuador," and it gained significant influence among the schools founded by his former students throughout Quito.

By 2007, Marco Ayala had officially achieved the grade of Contra-Mestre. That same period saw the first capoeira training centers opening outside the National Dance Company, at institutions including the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, the Universidad de las Américas, and the Universidad Internacional, as well as academies and dojos like IKA and Ciudad de Quito.

In November 2011, Marco Ayala received his graduation as Mestre of Capoeira—becoming the first Ecuadorian Mestre in the history of the art. This recognition came after nearly two decades of dedication to spreading capoeira throughout Ecuador. His students from this period formed the nucleus of what would become the country's capoeira community, with several going on to found their own groups.

In early 2012, Mestre Marcos founded his own school with the name RUMIZUMBI. The name is a fusion of two freedom-fighting warriors: Rumiñahui, the Inca general who resisted the Spanish conquest, and Zumbí, the strongest warrior who led the Quilombo de Palmares—the most important free territory from slavery in colonial Brazil. The name reflects his philosophy of strengthening Ecuadorian identity while honoring capoeira's Brazilian roots of resistance.

The RUMIZUMBI group is constituted as a family where students are educated toward integral human development. Its philosophy holds that capoeira is a small but valuable part of human life, a complementary rather than supplementary discipline—meaning that training capoeira should never neglect personal, academic, and professional growth. This is demonstrated by the professors themselves, all of whom hold university degrees in various fields while continuing to teach and practice capoeira.

Under the direction of Contra-Mestre JuanG Aragón, who joined in late 2000 and now manages operations at the National Dance Company facility, the group continues to develop. Other key figures include Contra-Mestre Manos (Juan Miguel Espinosa), who started in May 1996 and spent a year training in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and Contra-Mestre Poncho (Santiago Rubio), who has led the Valle de los Chillos training center for over ten years.

Mestre Marcos remains the leader of RUMIZUMBI, continuing annual technical perfection workshops and providing instruction not only in capoeira but also in boxing and full-contact methods. His legacy includes training most of the generation of teachers who now lead the vast majority of capoeira groups in Ecuador.