Merida - The Regional, part 2

For me, it's not the floats that make a good parade. It's the people. And this parade has more than its' share!

Here we see a re-enactment of the Mayan culture.





Complete with the Mayan God, Choc Mool. They were even doing fake sacrifices whenever the parade stopped long enough. At least I think they were fake.




I'm not sure what speciality she is advertising for her village. Moonshine in twine wrapped bottles?






This beauty was displaying skeins of henekin, or twine, which was produced in the Yucatan on huge plantations.






Imagine the hours he spent putting this together.

I think the above guy and this girl were supposed to be some sort of Mayan deity. Just a guess on my part.

Here we have picked henekin "drying" in the sun on racks.

Irish Mayans?????

Look at the joy on these faces. Priceless.

I've saved my two favorite people for last.

The Corn Princess.

The Everyman's Princess.

So, as the tail of the parade passes by and the crowd falls in behind, we leave Merida and its' celebration of Carnaval 2012 behind. But there is always next year!

Merida - The Regional

If I counted correctly, Merida celebrates Carnaval with a total of six different parades. Without a doubt, my favorite is the Regional Parade.

People from villages and towns all over the Yucatan state come to parade and show off their hometown pride. It is a joyous event, guaranteed to make you smile like a child with delight.

The national dress of the Yucatan is the huipil. It can be plain, it can be fancy, but it must always be adorned with flowers top and bottom. For the fancier occasions, flowers are also placed in the hair. Lots of flowers.






And a colorful ribbon or two.





But not everybody is dressed in a regional costume. The Mayan culture is well represented in this parade also.







Not all warriors are necessarily what one would describe as "fierce". Unless you are using the gay vernacular.






I loved this little boy. I had a close up of him, looking me square in the eye. But, alas, too blurry to post.

Every village brings with it what they consider to be representative of their town. Baskets of fruits or vegetables, henekin, ears of corn. Some of them are quite creative.

I'm not sure about these bits of cloth hanging from the poles. They are constantly being twirled but I have no idea if they are a regional thing or what, if anything, they represent. Other than be pretty to look at.

Maypole dancing is a popular item. Judging from the number of people participating in it during the parade, it almost seems like a national past time of every village.

Without a doubt, my favorite parade group. Displaying what their town is famous for.

Didn't quite understand it? They are paper mache turkeys being carried by their feet. Hilarious.

Tomorrow we'll see the end of the parade and then move on to Progreso later in the week.

It's Not Only Hurricanes

Hurricanes get a lot of attention here. And rightly so. But there is another natural phenomenon that occurs that hardly ever gets mentioned. Maybe because, thankfully, they do not happen very often.

I'm talking about waterspouts. Which are actually tornadoes over the water. They have been known to come ashore and do devasting damage. Several years back one went ashore at Lake Chapala and caused a lot of damage.






I always get a little nervous when we spot them. Unlike a hurricane, there is just no way to prepare for them. On this particular day, we saw six of them develop and disappear quite close to shore. The one pictured above actually got so close that we could see the funnel spinning. It was just a bit scary.




I remember back in the '90's, while a tourist here, that one came ashore. We were not on the beach at the time, having left about 30 minutes earlier for lunch. Thank goodness. I clearly remember the powerful wind and rain that came with it. We had no idea of what was happening. It was quiet and sunny one minute and all Hell broke loose the next. We found out later that there had been several of them that day and they did cost the lives of several fishermen. We were here and saw the funeral procession. A very sad day.

If you have visited the island, you have no doubt seen the statue at the end of the road across from Jax's Restaurant. It is a fisherman with a net, a woman and, I believe, a shark. No idea why the shark is there. Anyway, this statue was commissioned to commerate that day that the fishermen were lost at sea to the water spout.





My advice to you, if you are here, sitting on the beach, and see one of these things on the horizon, is to run! Take shelter and don't stand there stupidly taking pictures of it. I was fairly safe because I was on my porch and could retreat quickly back into my house. You won't be so lucky if you are on the beach and one comes ashore.

Merida - The Floats

I had a lot of problems with my camera during the Merida parade. There are just too many options on it to find anything without a manual. A quick reference manual at that. As a result, a lot of my pictures are blurry and unclear. I would never post them. The Merida parade seldom slows down like the one here on Isla. These are the best of the sponsor floats.

In pursuing posts, we will see the people that make up this wonderful regional parade.

Tranquility

This is one of the lakes one has to pass by on the way to my sister's house, where I stay in Michigan. It is a favorite among local fishermen. It is quite comical to drive by and see an Amish buggy parked there with a boat trailer attached to it!





There is also a golf course on this lake and there is a sign as you enter the boat launch to watch out for flying golf balls. They can cause serious injury or death. I'm not too sure I would want to go fishing here.