Two hundred years of independance plus one hundred years since the revolution equals HUGE celebration! Except that Mexicans tend to celebrate in a big way on most occasions... September 15th is Mexican Indepedance Day, and this year marked the 200 year anniversay of the revolution against the Spaniards and the hundred year revolution against the people who revolted against the Spaniards.
Despite an obvious outlet for exuberant Mexican pride there was some concern that turn-out would be small; rumours abounded of planned attacks by the narco-traficantes similar to the grenade attack last year, and many people (such as Karla's elder family) said they would stay home and watch the events on TV. However, when all the younger family went the elder family went also and that seems to have been the case on a wide basis: The streets were empty and the plazas and zocalos full. And there were no attacks. The crowds were in all kinds of outfits, from traditional clothes from around Mexico to novelty hats, face-paint and all the rest of it.
Before heading out we pigged out on pozole (which is more Mexican than mole) then headed to the Delegación Benito Juarez for "El Grito". We grabbed some Jarritos (kind of alcholic soft drinks in clay pots with chili) and headed into the packed square. For those who haven't been to El Grito it consists of someone in political authority standing on a balcony yelling "¡Viva México!", "¡Viva Emiliano Zapata!" and so on, while the crowd below yells "¡VIVA!" in affirmation. It's fun standing there yelling VIVA with thousands of other people, waiting until the end when it explodes in confetti-filled eggs and canned foam. That's the most chaotic and awesome part, basically like a giant water-balloon fight but sticky and with dye... the reason why I don't wear good clothes to La Grita anymore.
After that there were the fireworks, generic explosions of light and sound. The Mexicans make them more exciting by sometimes having them explode too close to the ground so balls of burning whatever fly into the crowd and stalls.
After that we wandered the stalls, unable to pass up a chocolate-covered cajeta-filled churro (oh boy!) and then we split up, with the oldies taking Rigel home and the rest of us wandering around the rides and games of "skill" and so on. It's amazing how much more exciting fairground rides are in a country with relatively lax safety laws. The bumper cars were fun in that "get to ram your friends" way, the spinning cages good in that random centrifugal force way, and the scariest looking one -- where you were raised and dropped while going in a circle -- turned out to be like riding a wave-board behind a boat.
We won some prizes at the balloon pop via the fairly simple method of playing enough times that the guy running it felt compelled to give us a prize, and then on the way home Karla and Diana went on the pirate ship. That's the one that spins you upside down in a circle. In this case for about 20 minutes. No-one on the ride enjoyed themselves after the first five minutes, and Karla threw up when she got off.
So, a mostly successful evening on the town...
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