Fiesta!

Mexico is a country of fiestas. Just a day before we arrived the entire country celebrated Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on November 1and 2. It is a custom to celebrate the lives of dead loved ones and it isn't a morbid thing at all. At the graveyard the dead are welcomed back with picnics, music and parties which last all night long. The gravesites are all very elaborately decorated with flowers, streamers, balloons and more. Even though it had taken place a while before we arrived in Ajijic, the graveyard was still looking like the aftermath of a New Year's Eve party when we visited.

Now we are in the middle of another fiesta which will end on November 30, the feast day of Ajijic's paton saint San Andres. Each day of the fiesta is sponsored by a different trade union or group and they each try to outdo the others with the noise and partying. We wake up each morning at 5:30! to the sound of the church bells which ring for about 15 minutes. Then there is a mass, then the hundreds of cohetes (rockets) start- and go on all day long. The louder the better- big booms, some last about 30 minutes- then all is blistfully quiet. Just when we start to relax, BOOM! We are only a few blocks from the town square so it is very loud for us!

At night the whole square is filled with booths with temporary bars and restaurants, strolling musicians, games and fireworks- the LOUD kind! At 11pm (or thereabouts- Mexican's don't really observe traditional time!) is the "Castillo" a 25 foot castle of spinning wheels that sends coloured fireworks all over the crowd, then more cohetes! This happens every night!! It would NEVER be allowed in Canada. The men hold the cohete at arm's length, light the fuse with their cigarette and then throw it in the air, even in the middle of a crowd of people. Then the sparks all float down. We were warned not to wear synthetic clothing because by the end of the evening our clothes would be filled with little burned holes!!

Another rather sweet custom is that the young men buy little plastic eggs from the Indian women and "break" them on the heads of their beloved. The eggs are filled with confetii and in the morning I pity the poor streeet cleaners, the confetti is everywhere! My camera just isn't good enough to capture the evening fireworks we saw last night so these are some photos I stole off the internet. :) I am up early early because the rockets and bells woke me but it's just as well as we have to be packed and ready by 8 am for the taxi to take us back to the bus station in Guadalajara. I can hear a band playing in the distance and it's only 6:42AM!!

This may be my last post on this trip because we go back to Puerto Vallarta this morning and I think I will only have internet access from a cafe and not with my own laptop. If you've enjoyed my blog, please let me know either by sending a comment or an email to me at kgalway@shaw.ca. Check again in a few days. If it is at all possible I will continue to update our activities, although being in an all inclusive you can just guess that it will be a lot of pool, beach, food and margaritas! Ole!