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Published: October 16th 2008
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Before we moved to Mexico, there were several fiestas that I was particularly looking forward to experiencing...one of them being the celebration for Archangel Michael, that rad angel that lead the army of angels against Lucifer. Michael is always seen here wearing armor with a helmet, holding a sword and usually stepping on the devil's face. San Miguel de Allende is named after this protector and so when the day comes to honor him, it is not only to celebrate the angel, but to celebrate the town itself.
Ronnie and I had been looking forward to this event for weeks. Finally, in the local newspaper, the schedule of festivities had been released. So dancers start at 6:00pm,
okay good, we can get dinner afterwards and music starts at 8:00pm. 10:00pm- the larger than life puppets enter the Jardin, midnight- more dancers, 2:00AM- Traveling Mariachis, 4:00AM Fireworks for an hour to announce the day of Michael has begun, 5:00AM--WAIT A MINUTE! 4:00 AM!!!??? This was going to be a long night....
Thanks to our friends at Casa Luna, we were able to book a room to take naps at in between partying. We dropped off our overnight bag and
walked to El Pegaso for some dinner. Near the end of our meal, Ronnie went to go get our sweaters from our room so I decided to practice Spanish with our waiter. He was very patient and we actually got a good conversation going. When Ronnie returned, the waiter ask me something quickly in Spanish. (I find that once a someone sees you understand a bit of Spanish, they get excited and speak faster and faster...) I did understand the verb "to see," so he wanted me to come and see something. He was holding an opened bottle of wine and motioning me to come with him. I got up and walked to the door and when I looked outside, there was a group of about 12 musicians and a crowd of people, all standing in the shape of a half moon around the front door. The waiter handed me the bottle of wine and the band started to play loudly. I soon realized that I was dancing in the street towards the lead singer, holding a bottle of wine to give them while the crowd cheered and clapped. Not letting me off the hook so easily, the main singer
started to dance with me. He was about 5 inches shorter than myself, but that didn't stop him from spinning me to and fro on the cobblestone street. We danced and danced while the crowd watched happily. I felt so full of joy!
This was a fiesta!! Once the song ended, all of us laughed and cheered....but I couldn't help but wonder...where was Ronnie? Short of breath, I went back to our table and sat down. Ronnie looked very confused. "I was dancing in the streets! Didn't you hear the music?" "I thought you were talking with that waiter still...I didn't know you were outside or I would have come and watched." We both laughed knowing this was quite a start to our fiesta night.
After paying the bill, we strolled through the Jardin, listening to all the bands playing. The wind started to pick up so we decided to look for cover...in a rooftop bar. We were there early for a bar (10:00pm) so we got a great seat overlooking a main street leading up to the town square. In the distance, there was a constant stream of fireworks. It was just perfect. We stayed at this spot
for a bit too long and after 4 (almost double) tequilas each, we thought it would be best to walk around. It was now 2:00AM and we knew we had to hold out for a few more hours. Music was still blaring in the streets from the various bands...and best of all, couple were dancing together. I think it was partly to stay warm and since I was cold (and almost never turn down a chance to dance) I grabbed Ronnie and made him dance with me. We quickly learned that the band moves after a couple songs to another location in the Jardin and those that want to stay with them follow. Being that there were about 7 bands, this made for an amazing spectacle of quickly dancing bodies to fast musica mexicana! We danced until about 3:00AM but by this point, we were having a tough time standing or walking straight. We made the bad decision of going back to our room to take an hour nap. It felt like I was asleep for 5 minutes when the fireworks started to go off. We climbed to the rooftop of Casa Luna to watch them, but by this time
we were both so drunk, we were having a hard time standing. We stumbled back to the room and slept. That next day I had a terrible hangover and it felt like those bouncing couples that were dancing around the Jardin at 3:00AM were dancing directly on my head.
After a bit of recovery time and food, we were finally ready for more. We went to the square to watch the parade. There were so many dancers from all the states of Mexico represented in this grand parade. The drum beats of the Aztec dancers were unforgettable and the little boy stilt walker dressed as Satan was the cutest little devil I have ever seen. The parade finished in only three hours. That's right...3 hours. The people down here really have stamina for their fiestas.
The days have passed by peacefully. I am almost done with Level 3 Spanish and then it is on to 3A...then 4 and then I am done with school. Aye Chihuahua! Speaking of dogs...in other news, RC and I went to a dog show this past Saturday. We have never been to one and since it was free we thought why not? Well
it is not for us and we barely understood what was going on. So much primping for those pups! I did get one neat thing for Byron...for holidays and special occasions....a tie.
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Carolina
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Fellini-esque!
I feel like you both are living in a Fellini film!