Thursday, October 6, 2016

Try to Remember the Kind of September....

Awake Once More!

Our summer travels exacted a toll and we needed to lie low for awhile.  Luckily, it was the perfect time to have a few peaceful weeks in August and early September.  Not much happens then in the Village except colossal thunderstorms and an ever deepening of the Lake.  The mountains are an amazing hue of green and the waterfalls in the mountains are cascading through the town and into the Lake.  Having renewed our energy, we set out once more to revel in Village Life.

All Hail The Globos!

The Day of the Dead and the Globos Festival are my two favorite events/holidays here.  There has been a Globos Festival in Ajijic since at least 1960.  Neil James, world traveler and adventuress brought the craft of making tissue paper balloons to Ajijic from Japan.  For weeks, if not months, teams of various types (schools, business, restaurants etc) craft their Globos. Some are relatively small, others huge.  They are propelled only by hot air (something in a bucket is set afire and off they go). Where they go is another matter.  A few run into power lines and explode.  A few explode over the field showering flaming tissue paper on the spectators.  One of our friends had an intact Globos land in their backyard.  This year was PERFECT for the Globos.  Sunny, little wind and many, many participants.  Because the conditions were so good this year many of them merely vanished out of sight at a very high altitude.  I will let Michael's photos tell the tale. Remember these are all designed and created by amateurs -- pretty impressive.

All set up to sell their wares at the Globos festival.

The ever present colorful cotton candy, which is at each event.

You can see the fire as this globos ascends.

As you will see in these photos, the shapes and colors of the globos are only limited by the imagination of the creators.  This one was from a kinder school.  We think adults made it though.

This was The Lake Chapala Society globos with the logo trailing beneath.



This next series of photos shows what can sometimes go wrong when the globos catches on fire.







Many globos are very colorful with no specific message,...

while others serve as advertisements. (Notice the drone near the penguins beak.)

This was the globos for a local restaurant that has el penguino (the penguin) as its mascot.











This globos commemorates an individual who passed away this year.


The globos at the upper right seems to be mocking the globos which is burning.














This particular globos is the one...

that landed in our friends' back yard.





Many of the globos trailed signs or banners beneath,...

but without a very powerful lens, they were not visible.

The heart globos flew on,...

but the rabbit globos went down in flames.







Speaking of Things in the Sky...

One night I was ambling back into the living room and glanced out over the terrace toward the Lake. There was a really large red light hovering.  I said, "Uh, Michael, I think you ought to come look at this big red light."  He (rather dismissively I thought) said, "Oh, it's just a plane."  I implored him to come and look and eventually he became a bit more intrigued.  First, it was not moving like a plane. It was just THERE.  And it was big.  And when it did move, it moved straight up (just like in those creepy movies).  He took a few photos.  We'll see if any of them reveal anything.  But even Michael, who is super analytical and rational, was a bit taken aback by this "event".  I don't see why he should be since when we went to visit the tonal focal (a vortex with alleged mystical powers) we were told over and over how Lake Chapala is just like a big, old magnet for UFOs. So, why be surprised, right? In fact, I'll repeat our prior entry about UFOs from the tonal vortex blog just to add credence to my sighting:

"I mean I should have guessed.  If you've got vortices sprouting up around you the only logical conclusion would be that you also have OVNIs (UFOs in Spanish).  And, oh yes, it is alleged that we do.  While chatting with our guide at vortex #1 he furnished photographic evidence of UFOs hovering above the lake.  "Oh boy," thought I. "We are in for the full nine yards of "iffy" stuff today."
We all politely perused the photos and nodded that we all agreed that the small green folks were with us.  After he left, and I was about to enter into another negative diatribe about the unexplained,  I noticed that Graham looked a bit sheepish and seemed to be weighing something in his mind.  I am going to state once more, Graham is NORMAL. Very. I mean he's British, c'mon. And then he told the story of the UFOs and volleyball.  He and a bunch of other expats were playing volleyball at Cristiana Park at midday.  Blue, clear skies.  He glanced up and saw a formation of what he thought were planes but they didn't have wings.  He thought it was the angle and waited to see the wings.  No wings.  He said to his team, "Hey, look up"  And they did.  And they saw the same thing.  And then, just like in the movies, ZAP they were gone.  They went over to the sidelines and told the other players who immediately judged them mad and handed them each a beer.  End of story.  He really is NORMAL.

While recounting this tale to a good, normal friend in Boston in a somewhat (but not wholly) skeptical tone, there was silence on the other end of the line.  And then Betsy said, "Well, I've seen them too-- along with several friends-- while at boarding school. We weren't drinking."  So two normal friends with paranormal experiences."  And now Michael and Me.  Another case of Quien Sabe.

Terrestrial or Extraterrestrial...Quien Sabe.


The Charros -- Not Churritos

Churritos are delicious.  They are extraordinarily bad for you and even worse if you dip them in chocolate.  But they are not to be confused with Charros who are the amazing horsemen (and women) with the really spangly, yet tasteful outfits.  Alex's girlfriend Lizzy was here to visit and enjoy both the Globos and the Charros.  Having destroyed my back in some unfathomable manner I remained chez Searles while the rest of the crew headed to the Charro ring to sit on concrete benches and soak up the local culture.  Then it was Independence Day and the PARADE OF EVERY KID IN TOWN.  I always get this parade confused with the Revolution Day parade which is really neat.  This is a fine parade but it's just about 1,356 kids in school uniforms with a couple of tuba bands and some Charros.  After living here for a while you get spoiled.

The women who ride side saddle, pictured here, and perform intricate maneuvers on their horse are known as escaramuza (skirmishes) charra.

Mariachis are an important part of the charreria.

The escaramuza line up to enter the ring.

Even the costumes of the escaramuza are determined according to a strict code based on custom.


The charros also ride in formation.


Since it is Independence day, the flag is brought in by one of the charros with an escaramuza escort.

The Queen of the Charro is crowned with a golden sombrero...

and given an ornate whip as well.

In this part of the charro, the riders gallop up and must stop their horse as close as possible after they cross the line.


These next town photos show the skill of the escaramuza as they ride side saddle and cross between each other.






The Salsa Trick 

From China to New Zealand to France to Roatan we have traveled without ever having out pockets picked.  We do the right things.  Wallet up front.  Split the cash.  Yadda,Yadda,Yadda.  Well Michael got taken in Tlaquepacque just down the road so to speak.  He had left Alex, Lizzie and me after lunch and was walking up to get a coffee.  When he got there and was waiting for his cappuccino two women behind him said "SeƱor" and pointed to the back of his pants.  They then said "servicios" and pointed upstairs.  So he went.  But the bathroom was locked.  Of course.  And one nice gentleman and then another helped him to wipe it off (on the back of his pants remember).  Upon returning home, he discovered that 2 credit cards (which we never use here) and his Global Entry card had been swiped.  All the cash and several other cards were still in the wallet.  Clearly they were all in on it including the two middle aged women who were probably responsible for spraying the back of the pants with salsa. God!  They are GOOD! No BAD! Good at being BAD!  Getting your hand into the front jean pocket of a guy without getting punched in the face requires great alacrity. It was the old Mustard trick but down here it's salsa.  Live and learn.  No harm done.  A fraud alert was waiting when we got home and the two credit cards were immediately canceled. There was only $26.33 & $10.04 charged on the one card and $0.80 charged on the other, which the merchant gets to absorb. They would have been smarter to take some of the pesos from the wallet rather than the charge cards.

OK.  That's it for now.  Have a lovely fall -- I DO miss the turning leaves and munching a crisp apple.

We will leave you with some wonderful sunset photos made more spectacular by the recent eruption of the Colima volcano.