Party time tainted with sadness

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Hey, yep im back so soon, i bet you cant contain your excitement! This time ill be delighting you with some tales from the last few weekends, giving a blurred in site into the magical world of mexican fiestas and traditional celebrations. For some of you, you may just want to read half......
Anyway i will begin with the sadness......now that grieving stage has progressed from denial to disappointment i shall fill you in on my grand final experience before the memory progresses to a repressed one. First i will set the scene (which looking back sounds a bit sad!!). After much research and welcomed nerd help i found my self an online channel broadcasting the game, stocked up on way to many coronas, a big bag of cashews and relaxed in my big recliner. Ill emphasize i was alone, strangely no one seemed to be interested in watching a small computer screen with a bunch of guys wearing very short shorts kick an odd shaped ball around, while i scream and simultaneously empty my beer all over the floor (or them) with a drunken hand ball action. So there i was, waiting for the best, but as some of you know it never came. The connection crapped itself so the radio was my only link to the football world and that was depressing enough. Im sure my ozzie readers can relate, but i went to bed too drunk pondering the hows and whys.

It is at this stage we say the only thing we can........its only football.......yep true, but that phrase would be the last in my mind after a win while dancing around the streets with my face slightly resembling a cat after a blue and white paint job.

Well moving on (repressing entire memory now), the next day needless to say wasn't pleasant. I was very groggy and Pau directed me to the car at some ungodly hour because we were off for the perfect hang over cure, fried pork tacos, some more beers and the releasing of 7 grown male bulls into the main streets of a town close to home. They had sectioned off the 'running' area into a circuit and just for the record there were no bulls maimed and brutally killed.....well in this part of the blog anyway.

Not in the state of mind to run, let alone with a bull snorting at my heels, i was happy to sit back and observe the chaos. After alot of waiting and jostling for primo position the action begun thanks to the impatient crowd expressing there boredom and expectations with head splitting whistles. The first spectacle on the track was quite bizarre with a grown man running around with a paper mache structure over his head in the shape of a bull. Attached to the colorful 'bull' were numerous metal circles with taped on fireworks, which once lit, spun the circles until they flew off in random directions, mainly directed at the people he was chasing. This was just a taste of things to come. In the mean time the 'brave' runners dressed in white and red were strutting their stuff back and forth like a rooster in an all female chook yard. The humorous rooster strutting was quickly dissolved when the words 'torro' where announced from someone up track, then faces turned from macho to the look of 'shit there is a bull, with big horns charging at me', and the crowd went wild. Hundreds ran past, jumped and slid under the barrier until the beast came trotting though, who was obviously a bit confused with his new found stardom and expressed his wish of being returned to his field by directing his horns to the fleeing masses. A few minutes later the roosters returned, strutting there stuff after escaping the poor taunted animal and it repeated again. After the forth round the novelty had worn off and it was time to move on, this decision was reinforced by the surging crowds (not enjoyed at the best of times) and the large pot belly of the gentleman behind me, which he felt the need to press upon my back/arse/legs through out the last 2 bulls......not recommended!!

So we had a look around town accompanied with a couple chilli tainted beers and the numerous 'guero' calls from the locals who i'm guessing don't see to many of my type around town. With the bulls returned from this odd tradition back to there kingdoms it was time to head home. After a couple more monotonous weeks with classes and the like, another festival i was really looking forward to was being held in San Miguel which is within an hour from 'home'.

This celebration is for the saint with the same name as the town, and man they know how to honor a saint! The main square infront of the church was full of people with numerous bands playing for the dancing masses. We met up with Pau's dad and watched the 'Danza de los Voladores de Papantla' or in english the crazy people who jump off a massive stand erected in the square and spin around it with a rope tied to the feet accompanied by flute tunes played by the guy perched ontop of the pole. Very impressive act which has meaningful connotations explained in the vallarta blog.
After witnessing the dancing, singing and general merriment it was time for a nap in the luxurious hotel matiz (Pau owns a Pontiac matiz.....its a VERY compact car!!) only to be woken with the bursts of fireworks above our heads. The real party had started.....and yep, it was 3 in the morning. The streets were full of dancers clutching the star shaped candle holders in the photos, headed by the firework man who blasted his dream destroying fun into the air by hand. The procession headed for the square, blasting fireworks off the whole time, for the main event.....the firework show. We have all seen fireworks before right? The times standing down at Cunningham on new years or Australia day watching the bright explosions far above our heads seemed pretty dull compared to this chaotic display of light. Not being restricted with harsh fire rules fire crackers were lobbed over the church fence, spinning and crackling above (and occasionally into) the masses of people, supplemented by the big fellas exploding just over the square. This went on for over an hour!!! My ears were ringing by the time they lit the grand finale, a 5 meter high representation of jesus christ on the cross, entirely constructed from fireworks.

A couple more hours in the hotel matiz and it was all repeated once over, except this time the streets filled with aztec costumes, dancing and the general random madness you would expect from a mexican celebration.

And this is the point my animal loving readers should leave a lovely comment and commence with their work, which they should be doing anyway!
Some sick desire directed me to the ticket office to buy a ticket to the bullfight conducted as part of the festivities. I love animals but not enough to stop me sitting down to a fat juicy piece of steak that i kind of hope it was killed in a dignified way for my culinary pleasure. Well, the following 'sport' i witnessed cant be placed in such a justifiable category, but curiosity got the better of me. Yep we saw a few bulls slayed in a slow brutal manner, but i innocently thought they had a slight chance of getting their own taste of blood, but this hope proved to unfortunately be unfounded. Me and the 7 year old boy next to me were going for the bull, with the lil fella screaming for the matadors blood, but the majority of the crowd loved the 'skill' and when that final blade went in they were intoxicated with joy. If the matador put that final blade in with skill making a clean kill they were rewarded in an odd way, with the bulls ears......which they pranced around holding up like an olympic gold medal in there blood soaked hand. On one occasion a young fan in the crowd received the bounty as repayment for his enthusiasm, needless to say his hands on experience turned his face to look of horror after receiving the blood soaked ear.

After my blood lust and curiosity were satisfied we headed off to leave the remaining bulls perish away from our now tired eyes and it was time to head back home for some much needed sleep. I'm glad i went to witness this cultures idea of sport and fun, which i still don't quite understand, needless to say i wont be returning again!

Well thats all ive got for this time. There will be few bloodless fiesta updates in your mail box soon, now im off to enjoy my dinner.....which will be steak free for while!

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