No Wonder They Need Lent

I know there are all sorts of religious reasons for Lent but I suspect they do Lent here just so people can recover from Mardi Gras.  You may wonder why you haven't seen a blog in quite a while.  We've been in recovery (not rehab-- recovery).  Since Lent started there have been no: parades; fireworks; cross dressing, flour throwing sayacas; nada.  I can honestly say this is the most protracted period of calm we have enjoyed since sometime in July.  However, let's move backward to the final days of  Mardi Gras and the chaos that was then the norm.

Mardi Gras Revisited

When we left off, we had just attended the first parade and  night of Carnaval in Chapala during which the Burial of Ill Humor was conflagrated in its casket.  Ajijic and Chapala have evolved a ping-ponging schedule of parades, beauty contests, carnivals, charras and food fests punctuated by bottle rockets, fireworks, tuba bands and church chimes that ensure that no one in either town will get a full nights rest for at least a week and a half.  And to experience all of this with us, Betsy and Fred arrived just as the  Mardi Gras pace accelerated.  Their timing was magnificent in that they flew out of Boston the day before 31" of snow fell.  Somehow, that made everything in our little village look even better to them.

We dragged them from pillar to post stopping only to shore them up with margaritas and vast quantities of food.  We attended two out of three parades. The third was the final night of Mardi Gras and the participants obviously either lost their way or stopped for refreshment en route because they straggled through our part of town an hour and a half late. We had bailed out after an hour and were happily installed at the Plaza with a group of friends and our libations.  I mean how many parades can one set of humans do....

Even the local motorcycle group joins in the Chapala Carnaval spirit by joining the parade...

and getting creative in decorating their motorcycles & themselves...

creating a coffin on wheels.

The addition of the hula girls adds to the eclectic nature of the Carnaval parade.

Three generations of beauty queens. The oldest is the mother of our good friend Ramon.

Even our own Senorita Ajijic is represented.

The giant iguana float was definitely one of the crowd's favorites.

The prowess (and bravery of the women) is demonstrated here and...

in this photo. One slip and you land on not so soft cobble stones.

More fearless performers in the parade.

This colorful group was Deirdre's favorite.

Two generations of proud charro in the parade.

Then there were the cars, like this Spider Man corvette...

this old Chevy BelAir...

and this more modern rig with trailer & car, along with far more too numerous to include in the blog.

No Carnaval is complete without its King & his entourage.

An obvious victim of the sayacas during the Ajijic Carnaval celebration.

Betsey, Deirdre & Fred get sprinkled with confetti during the Ajijic Carnaval celebration.

Granddaughters of Becky, our property manager (the two young charras on horseback) in the Carnaval parade

Another of Becky's granddaughters

Fred, Deirdre & Betsy after being covered with confetti (Fred wisely had on his ball cap)

Fred, Deirdre & Betsy sitting down to eat at one of the food stands in the Mercado in Guadalajara

Betsy & Fred sitting on the giant chair in Tlaquepaque

Sun City No, Sedona Maybe

As we gain tenure here, we are noting that a surprisingly large percentage of ex pat folks are of a channeling, mystic and decidedly ex-hippie bent.  Routinely at Open Circle (you remember, the group that makes U.U.s look like evangelicals) speakers exhort us to expand beyond the 10% of psychic capacity that we are currently employing to reach ever higher pinnacles of awareness. I don't know, but I thought the idea of retirement was that 10% was pretty OK and actually sought after.  I was vastly disappointed to learn that we had missed last week's talk which explored a new self enrichment program called BE.  As part of this lecture, the presenter would "place a real arrow in her throat and break it with pure energy to demonstrate that when you live in contact with your vital energy, everything is possible".  Damn.  Later reports stated that not only was the presenter successful but that an audience volunteer couldn't wait to try it too.  No report on how the volunteer fared.

So the next day we were at the Gringo Monday Market where said presenter had a booth expanding upon her prior day's impressive results.  Now, we learned, we could sign up for the Firewalking Seminar. The booklet informed us that actually we were using LESS than 10% of our potential and with this seminar we would "learn how to access and benefit from your other 90+% and the doors that can be open when developing the other levels of consciousness.  You'll be guided through overcoming your fears, building your inner strength and finally, after a calm and confident walk across the red-hot coals, claiming the life of your dreams on the other side." Cost: 2,500 pesos or about $200 USD.  It was all I could do to restrain Michael from signing up on the spot.

Religion and spirituality in its many forms, or the lack thereof, is a hot topic in Ajijic.  We have all the mainstream ones, plus a congregation that celebrates all of them, and a group (I wouldn't call it a congregation) who adamantly worships no deity beyond rationality and science.  The Atheists (called Free Thinkers in Ajijic speak) are a recently formed group that is obviously outnumbered by the more devotionally-oriented folks but they soldier on and write many editorials. Oh, I forgot the Evangelical Motorcycle Club. There are probably witches and wizards but we haven't met them yet.

In keeping with the general drift of the population, the number of support groups is really impressive for a small village -- these people have obviously seen and experienced a lot.  Here is a sampling:  Alcoholics Anonymous, Al Anon,  Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families (probably all of us), Gamblers Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Artist Support Group...
I'm sure there are more.  All of this, and the diverse backgrounds and nationalities found here, make for a very interesting petrie dish of political, religious and social views.

Random Notes and Upcoming Topics

Gone But Not Forgotten -  In the Mardi Gras Parade marched giant puppets (made of corn husks of course) representing the recently deceased Pedro Loco and his donkey Vino Blanco.  This was particularly touching because the parade is a Mexican deal and obviously he won the hearts of Mexicans and Gringos alike.  Unfortunately we didn't get a picture.

Gone and Unable to be Forgotten - We took Betsy and Fred to Piano Rojo to see Chi Chi Rone's Ah Chihuaha show.  A portly transvestite (but with VERY good legs) who charmed with jokes and belted out tunes of long gone by.  A good time was had by all -- particularly Chi Chi.

Chi Chi Rones with a "victim" from the audience

Chi Chi Rones ater a costume change in the second half of "her" act.

Finally Chi Chi as Judy Garland.

New Record-  Previously we had met a person who was married five times.  Now, we met a 6er.  Comment to me:  "I liked the new one until a few years ago".  Watch out sir.

It's All in a Name-  Went to a neat little restaurant in an upscale B & B called Hacienda del Lago.  Was talking to someone and mentioned it and he said: "Wait, that's the name of the rehab place on the other side of the Carretera."  I bet they both get some unexpected guests.  Research pays.

Upcoming:

Chili Cookoff - A three day extravaganza of chili excess and Margaritas with contests for best of each held at Tobolandia (a 1960ish water park in town).  Vast amounts of both chili and drink will be consumed.  There are so many ways to go wrong with so many Margaritas at a water park.

The Passion Plays -  A full week or more of, well, you know the story.  Featuring daily processions, self flagellation, and a trek up the mountain carrying a REALLY big cross.

Semana Santa - No it's not Christmas again.  It's Holy Week which isn't really all that holy because it's a huge vacation and the folks party hard.  To discourage rampant carnage on the highways, the authorities take the worst car wrecks, put the hulks up on empty oil barrels with signs that say "Si tome, no maneje"  If you drink, don't drive.  Rather direct.

Trip to the Coast - We said we'd never go again.  See blogs on La Manzanilla and Yelapa.  We're going.  We'll report.

Gerry and Joan are coming -   One of Michael's ex-partners and his wife arrive mid March.  They've read the blog and they're still coming.

The Big Move -  Yep.  We're out of here.  No more mirrors over the bed and 6 person jacuzzis overseen by stained glass unicorns and mermaids.  But not far.  More as the smoke clears.

In the interim have fun and let us know what you are up to.