Heading for the Home Stretch

Celebrating Lent

But not for the usual reason.  Starting in mid-November with the nine day celebration of Ajijic's patron Saint Andres through Mardi Gras this village is one noisy, busy, boisterous place.  After the final blow out on Fat Tuesday we enter Lent -- thank God! The tuba bands stop playing, the cohetes are shelved and the Eventos no longer blare music through the night.  It is now time to schedule your dentist appointments, take your driver's test, get your hair cut, read a book, and relax until Semana Santa (Holy Week) when it all starts up again.

The Glorious End of Carnaval

We all (gringos) showed up for the Mardi Gras parade promptly at 10:30.  Will we never learn?  At 11:30 all the Mexican villagers showed up and then the parade started.  As predicted, the closure of Tom's Bar resulted in a much lower alcohol content among both attendees and participants but things managed to get pretty out of hand anyway.  My favorite float was the guy who kept erupting out of the volcano -- frequently getting his head caught in the electrical wires draped across the street.   He seemed unperturbed. Although the dancing bull was also very cool and required significant energy and liquid refreshment to keep dancing for about 20 blocks.  All you really need to know is found in the pictures.  By the end we were fairly covered in confetti and flour but, after years of this, we don't even bother to try to dust it off.  Everybody looks that way.

The vendors are out and everybody is waiting for the beginning of the parade with great anticipation.

When the sayacas appear, along with the flour covered participants, the parade has begun.

The sayacas costumes are more creative each year, as can be seen from this series of photos.

No Carnaval parade is complete without the Queen of Carnaval.

The floats and the myriad variety of costumes come next.

Many of the floats are sponsored by local businesses, such as this one.

Perhaps these two should be carrying the burro, rather than the other way around.

Here is the dancing bull alluded to above.

And here comes the sun (also note the head with flower and confetti in the foreground).

Senorita Ajijic is represented as well.

This float proclaims Mardi Gras in bright colors...

while its participants are outfitted for the occasion.

This participant can't resist taking a selfie, ...

while this one takes a pause that refreshes.

A lot of effort goes into preparing the floats.

This float definitely has a contemporary theme...

although I am not sure La Reina del Sur is accurately portrayed.

A lot of body paint was the order of the day on this float.

This float has a more sinister appearance.

This volcano float was one of the most interesting & creative of the parade.

It was accompanied by South Seas beauties, ...

who fortunately did not have to be sacrificed.

The only problem with the volcano was that occasionally the wires needed to be raised, ...

as the volcano erupted.

Our famous pollo participated in the parade as well.

These young girls added a Mexican folklorico theme to the parade.

Every so often a random victim is pulled from the crowd and given a flour bath...

in which the unwitting victim is completely covered in flour from head to toe.

The charros bring up the end of the parade.

This is a sign that it is safe once more and there will be no more flour or confetti.

Although it appears as if this charro had an earlier accident with his hand.

As always, the young learn to ride very early...

so they are quite accomplished by the time they grow up.

This horse must be from a ghost ranch, based on the tattoo.

After the parade we took our sister-in-law to lunch at Adelita's which was only notable because two pals of ours showed up in the best Mardi Gras costumes thus far seen in town (well, that don't involve partial nudity).  We had to include their picture.  They lived in Galveston which apparently really lives it up and they swear they have many similar costumes.  Can't wait for next year, John.

Well, the day was still young.  We regrouped with my brother and headed down to Christiana Park for the last night of their multi-week festival of Carnaval. This park is huge and during the festival it is crammed full of non-OSHA inspected amusement rides, a mini-circus, many booths selling shoes (everybody in Mexico LOVES shoes),  booths selling delicious crepes, Mexican food booths and MANY booths selling drinks.  I don't think I've ever seen a fair in the US which sells hard liquor but it is all the rage here.  You entered through metal detectors which screamed at every single person but nobody paid any attention to it. We went to see the dancing horses that were supposed to perform at 5:00, then 6:00, then 7:30.  They arrived somewhere around 8:15.  Patience is a virtue.

Lee enjoys some crepes from one of the vendors.

The next series of photos show some of the dancing horses.

And the Beginning of Lent...

To atone for all our Mardi Gras excesses, we decided to pay a visit to our Virgin of Guadalupe in her Cathedral in Zapopan.  Old Zapopan (Za-PO-pan) is a very charming part of Guadalajara and kind of a jaunt from the Centro Historico (like  6 or 8 miles).  This doesn't stop the populace from holding a parade that stretches from the Centro to the Cathedral every October to honor the Virgin and return her to the Cathedral after her circuit of the Lake.  The parade kicks off after dark and there are still parade marchers arriving in Zapopan in the morning.   Next door is a really cool museum of Huichol Indian artifacts and crafts.  Regrettably they didn't allow photos.  Maybe we can shoot some photos in the plaza to demonstrate the kind of stuff they do.

Feeding the pigeons is a time honored tradition everywhere.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Zapopan.

The intricate beadwork of the Huichols is shown in these photos.

The Huichols are also known for their colorful yarn paintings...

as well as their beaded masks.

On the opposite end of the large plaza from the Basilica is this gateway...

The columns of the gateway depict the Spanish subjugation of the indigenous people.

This interesting Church of Saint Peter the Apostle was only a block away from the Basilica.

Like all churches in Mexico, the bell tower and bells are very prominent.

The inside of the church is also very ornate.

Well, that's two blogs in two days!  Hope we don't exhaust you guys.  We are a bit quixotic with our timing I'll admit.  When, and if, we ever get the once again promised and not yet again disappeared car and it is safely tucked in our driveway we will regale you with our trials and tribulations of business dealings in Mexico.  Until then have fun.