Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Fiesta!!

Febraury 22nd to 24th

Party!

The crowds are gathering....



The bands line up....



It' time.....
For Carnival!



True a lot of the floats are glorified beer commercials....



But people are generally more than happy to go along with these less than subtle suggestions. And we are off to a fine start.

And it continues on as the sun sets across the Pacific.



It's a merry affair with marching bands and dancers from all over the region; the parade lasting several hours as it meanders it's way from Mazatlan's old town to the newer purpose built resort in the Zona Dorada some 6kms away. You can see it following the Malecon (beach boulevard) as it curves gently round the bay.

Mexicans come prepared for Fiesta. As the final floats drift by, the road closes behind them like the Red Sea behind Moses as they rush in to set up tables and chairs. Food and copious quantities of alcohol miraculously appear and the streets suddenly vanish under a flood of revelers.

There's singing and dancing in the street, oh - and just a bit of Tequila - it goes on well in to the night. Mexicans party in a tranquilo kind of way but they definitely have staying power.

However, the following night is a much quiter affair as the city recharges with a couple of live bands playing stages along the front. There's a palpable feel of the pause to take breath.

Then the grand finale as the floats retrace their course and the whole process is repeated again...

Apparantly this is a breaded products advert not an annotation...



Once again the streets are packed with song and dance til the last man staggers home. 
Carnivals are cool!


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