Perspective

Forest Camouflage




Desert Camouflage



Caribbean Camouflage

Enticement

There's a new flower shop in town. Located on the town square in the building that long ago housed Robert's Restaurant and more recently the Federal Zone office.

I think the display of flowers that they have out front as an enticement to enter says more about the quality of their merchandise than I ever could.

Seen Around

While out and about recently, a few things caught my eye.

Avenue Hidalgo, our main pedestrian/entertainment street, has new street signs. They are located at the junction of every corner. Since they are metal, I don't expect them to last long.



These signs are cropping up everywhere around town.




Isn't this about the cutest planter box display you have ever seen?

Carnaval - The Parade

To me, the highlight of the carnaval festivities is the parade. Everybody all together, strutting their stuff as one unit. A chance to see the participants and costumes up close and personal. Not always a good thing. As I mentioned earlier though, everybody was just so joyous and happy this year, I couldn't find a single thing I didn't like. So if you are waiting for snarky comments, you won't find many this year. But a few. I just can't help always being the critic!

So let's start the parade.

It was led off this year with the Coca-Cola truck. They build a wall down the center and have participants on both sides of the wall. Truthfully, I hardly even looked at the other side.




Here we are featuring the Jr. Miss Queen and the Jr. Miss Queen wannabe. (told you I couldn't help myself!)





The toucan girls from behind. Those headdresses were fabulous. I got a chance to see them dance also. They were very, very good.

One of the younger units. I love the kids. They are just so enthusiastic.

Remember the girl with the shoulder headdress? I told you to remember her. Well, here she is while the parade is moving. She was so busy waving to the crowd, she totally did not see that palm tree coming up! It almost knocked her off the float.

One of the more popular places for Gringos to view the parade and imbibe at the same time.

You may need to enlarge this one to see what I am talking about. Somebody should have noticed that their placement of jewels was a bit provocative. Or maybe they intended them to be.

A little bit older troupe, but certainly not seniors.

Pink was a favorite color this year.

Like I said, I love the kids. It's hard to get a good picture of them. There are just too many doting parents running around amidst them.

Such grown up costumes for such precious little kids.

Look at the detail on these headdresses.

Although not very precise in their formation, they carried off the costumes with grace.

And who can resist a cutie begging for her picture to be taken! I showed her this picture on the camera and her smile got even bigger!

One of the more poorly designed costumes. It required that these poor girls keep their arms extended in order to show off the costume at it's best. The head gear was great though.

"Do you like this pose best?"

"Or is this one better?"

I'm not sure, but I think this was Carnaval Queen. At the last minute, some cow put her hoof in front of my camera. I finally had to give up my good curb side position to get away from her.

Our Mayor, who spared no expense on dressing for the Carnaval parade. She's the one with the pink boa.

A better view of the Mayor.

This was the second most interesting thing on her float. The other one is in the first picture of her.

As always, the gay boys did an exceptional job with their float and costumes. There's my nemesis, either following me or heading back to the barn. Not sure which.

These girls certainly knew how to shake those tail feathers!

Although not a tremendously large parade this year, they managed to tie up downtown traffic for hours that Saturday afternoon. The important thing was that they had fun. And you know what? So did I!

"Pop" Quiz

I love midway, sideshow and carnival art. It is usually delightfully tacky, amateurish and always colorful. And it doesn't seem to matter where the midway is...the Minnesota State Fair, here in Mexico or even Europe..the artwork is amazingly similar in nature. It's like there is a course offered somewhere called Midway Art 101.

But once in awhile, you will encounter some really professional looking art. Which brings us to today's post.

Remember that tilt-o-whirl I featured last week in midway rides? Well, it was totally covered with air brushed portraits of Pop and Rap singers. (although I include the latter category with reservation!). I tired to identify all nine of them but required help for two of them. So my score was 7 out of 9.

So, without looking at the answers, see how many of them you can identify. Ask your children if you help!


A.



B and C




D.




E.




F.





G.

H.

I.

Check your answers below....

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A. Dady Yankee

B. Eminem

C. Fifty Cent

D. JZ

E. Avril Levigne

F. Christine Aguilara

G. Rihanna

H. Shakira

I. J-Lo (Jennifer Lopez)

So, how many did you get?

Carnaval - Getting Ready

Sometimes the best part of any parade is the behind the scenes action. I love watching everybody trying to get organized and lined up. Most of the time it resembles more of a circus than a parade! So let's take a look.

I loved the driver of this truck! I could tell he had just been waiting for the perfect opportunity to wear his wrestler's mask. And he wore it well. Scary.




Gotta make sure the butt crack is covered.




I bet she is Daddy's Little Princess.




A last minute cinch up. Those costumes have to be tight!




I loved this girl. Her "helpers" had just attached the headdress portion of her costume. Except they did it lopsided and she was having trouble keeping her balance on that precarious perch. Remember her. She will be around again later.




Dudes in waiting.

All most of these girls need do is see a camera and they immediately strike the pose.

Remember the theme this year was Birds of Paradise. She was the leader of her troupe who were all dressed like toucans. The headdress reminded me of one of the costumes in the final scene of "Priscilla. Queen of the Desert". Very clever though.

Pure pandemonium.

The obligatory last minute make-up check.

So now that we're all ready, let's start the parade. Tomorrow.