The Second Parade

Let's see, where were we before I was so rudely interrupted by health and other personal issues? Oh, I remember! In Merida for Carnaval. There are two big parades (and many lesser ones) during Carnaval. The second one is called the Regional Parade and features lots of local folks from Merida and surrounding neighborhoods/communities strutting their stuff. This was undoubtedly my favorite of the two parades. Despite a rather unpleasant personal encounter that I quickly got over. The crowds for this parade are no less abundant or enthusiastic than the first one. In fact, I think that more people may have turned out for this one. Like the previous one, we had reserved, box seats right on the street. There is something about being at street level with the marchers that cannot be equalled. Waiting for the parade to start. Finally, the first group appeared on the horizon and slowly made their way towards us. The whole parade took 3.5 hours to pass us by. (hint: go pee before you get there!) I believe these people are supposed to represent some sort of Mayan royalty.

Or warriors.

There was much dancing and performing. Although the groups at this point kept getting rudely interrupted during their performances by the people in the window who there throwing HARD candy at them. Much to the dismay of the crowd, who were getting quite viscious in their condemnation of these people interfering with the performances.

I'm not sure what the signifcance is, but most of the troups walked with their arms held up. Tiring.

This is just delicious to watch. A dancing group with the women wearing the formalized version of the huipil, the official dress of the Yucatan.

Some serious trumpet blowing was going on!

Toy story float?

Like most people, I do not particularly enjoy clowns. They just bug me and I want to slap their fake noses right off their faces.

One of my hosts plays a mean drum. I forget the kind but it is sort of like a bongo. One of the clowns thought it would be fun to help him. Get your fake nose away from me while you still have it!!!

The Coca-Cola float made another performance.

They were throwing those liter size plastic bottles to the crowd again. But unlike Friday night (this parade was Monday night), you would have thought the float riders had to pay for each one of them. Man, they were stingy with throwing them to the crowd.

Along comes one of my favorite groups. It is a Special Needs school, or organization. These kids (and adults) had such a good time. Their joy was contagious and the crowd went wild as they passed by. Smiles reached from ear to ear.

One of the city sponsored floats.

With a local rider.

This is very tradional Yucatecan formal wear. Including the hair decoration.

This group of drummers was really good. They really had the crowd going.

Lots of these kinds of costumes.

This float was unique. And fun. They had a bubble machine aboard and the street was filled with bubbles, reflecting the lights from the floats and the colorful costumes. It was magical.

A lot of the local area villages showed up demonstrating what their village/locale is famous for. Displaying their wares, if you will.

Tomorrow will finish up this parade and maybe return to Isla later in the week. We'll see how it goes.

Let The Festivities Begin!

I actually had a much better time at the parades in Merida than the above picture would lead you to believe! As you can see, we were busy making masks to wear prior to the parade. My host (rightfully!) believes that if you wear a mask, the people on the floats will throw more crap down to you. It must have worked because we sure took home a boatload of souvenirs. We also had made a bunch of extras that we traded to float people for more valuable items. The basest of barter systems!

One of my hosts had to park the car so he arrived after we were settled in. He plays bongos and some other drum and was a big hit with the parade marchers. You'll see more of this later.




I'm afraid my beloved little camera is giving up the ghost. I had a hard time with it. Even new batteries will only allow me take about 10 pictures before giving out. Plus a broke the dohickey mechanism hinge on the cover for the battery compartment. Time to start doing some research. What this means is that I did not get very many, or very good, pictures of the parade for you. But a few.


We had to arrive in our seats two hours early. Not by law, but by choice. The crowds on the streets are incredible and it is best to get in ahead of them. Merida's finest were out in full force that night also.




While the crowds are waiting for the parade to start, vendors work their way along the street. I would have like to have seen something more substantial being offered, like hot dogs or something. We had a ton of marguesita salesman, kivis and peanuts. Not much selection. And nobody was selling beer, water or soft drinks. I guess they didn't want the crowd having to go pee during the festivities. It would have been impossible to get out of our seats anyway.






A view down the street to my left. The reserved seats had not totally filled up yet. But you can see how we are all going to be packed in like sardines.






Lots of cotton candy vendors.






OMG! The parade finally rounds the first corner and we are on our way!

Friday night's parade was mostly composed of sponsor floats with a few walking groups. Coke, Corona and Sol beers, Burger King, all the big names.

I wish this picture had turned out a little better. There were lots of stilt walkers. This guy saw me lift my camera and this is the reaction I got.

Not all of the stilt walkers were content to wear regular type clothing. Can we all say Ballenciaga pants?

I like this. A picture of the picture of a float. It was incredible how colorful....and loud....these floats were.

The parade lasted for about two hours and I was glad to see the end of it. Not because I wasn't enjoying it. Just the contrary. I was hoarse from shouting and my hands hurt from clapping so much. But this was Friday night. The regional parade, which I enjoyed even more, was yet to come on Monday night. Stay tuned!

Meandering In Merida

I'm not altogether sure that my blogger's block has left me, but at least I feel I have a little something to say again. Maybe because I am currently in Merida and everything is somewhat new and fresh to me.

My first full day here, I decided to walk to the center of town. That is 12 dog leg blocks from where I am staying. Quite the adventure for this little Isla boy who NEVER walks anywhere. The main reason I am visiting here is to take in a real Carnaval festival. I am so tired of that tired one on Isla, I needed something bigger, more vibrant.

My route to town takes me through a little park connected to the church of San Juan. Of course, it, like every other of the hundreds of city parks here, was ready to receive the Carnaval crowds. So what was the first thing I saw upon entering the park?


This.






It is my new, must have junk food. Kind of like Taco-in-a-bag, Mexican style. It is a dorito like chip, smothered in the bag with that fake cheese like you get in airports on nachos. Plus, they add a gob of chopped jalapeno peppers to it!




It has surpassed my love for salchipapas. Something I thought would never happen.


The lovely little church of San Juan. Merida is dotted with churches like this throughout the city.





And it seems every little park has some kind of statue or fountain.






Making my way to centro (slowly!), I entered the large park across from the Cathdral. I never get the name of it correctly. I'm sure a Meridian reading this will note it in Comments. Here is the clock spire on City Hall, as seen from my perspective in the park.






And directly opposite is the spire of the Cathedral itself.







The usual number of dirty hippies were out and about, hawking their clumsily made goods but finding few takers. The vendors from Chiapas, on the other hand, seem to have been elevated from street vendors to market stall holders in this park. Their hand work makes for a vivid display. Although this may be a display of Guatemalan hand work. I didn't ask the ladies their nationality but they looked Chiapan.





As I left the park and started walking the main streets, I came across this enterprising salesperson. No store? No problem. Just dump everything out on the corner and let people scrounge around for themselves. At 15 pesos a pair, I'm surprised there weren't people all over this pile.

Mexico is nothing if not original in their display of goods for sale. Here they are advertising panty hose. Heck, even I would wear these if they made my butt look this good!

Among other things I was looking for, was a store that sold Carnaval glitzy craft items. We had a parade to go to the next night and we wanted to wear masks. People on the floats throw more shit down to you if you have on a mask. I quickly decided that I did not stand a chance at getting a thing from these stores. Look at the lines! And they probably knew what they wanted and how to say it too.

I decided that I would be better off just heading over to Michael's Craft Store (called Michaels Fantasy here) and see what I could find.

I passed by this fabric store on the way. Their windows were full of costume ideas for the crafty among us who know their way around a sewing machine. This was the best I could do on a sunny day through the glass.

Heading back home, the quickest way was for me to cut diagonally through the central park. These Carnaval signs were posted everywhere. Each one sponsored by a different company. Any guesses as to whether or not I sought this particular one out before taking a picture?

For the big parade the next night, we had reserved box seats along the parade route. These were not ours but this shot gives you a fairly good idea by what they mean when they say box seat.

Eight people are crowded into each section. Once in, there is no getting out until the parade is over. If you have to pee, do it before. Another tip. Only allow 6 people max in your box. That way you can fold up the chairs and have more room to jump and dive for the crap being thrown to you. Great fun!

Some of the crowd starting to line up for the afternoon Kiddie's Parade.

I had a heck of time getting into the park. The entrance I needed was blocked by all of this.

While walking down this border street, I noticed a section that had not been enclosed by fencing. Thus allowing the unsuspecting to enter the park. I needed to get in and then exit diagonally on the other side in order to save myself almost 2 extra blocks of walking.

Once in, I started to freak out a bit. Every exit/entrance was blocked just like this one! No way out!

I ended up retracing my steps and going back and around anyway. Heavy sigh. I made it home safely though and ended up having a great time just meandering around.

More to come!