Saturday, September 16, 2006
Viva Mexico!
Last night we crowded into the Jardin (town square), with several thousand rambunctious, flag-waving locals, to witness the opening ceremonies of the Mexican Independence Day celebration. Holy crap! It began (at 11pm) with the Mayor stepping out onto a balcony to recite El Grito, the speech Father Hidalgo delivered in 1810, which incited a peasant uprising that ultimately led to Mexico's independence from Spain. What immediately followed was an hour or so of non-stop, out-of-control fireworks like we've never seen before. Not just the usual starbursts in the sky, but fifty foot towers rigged to whirl and dance and scream, and utimately launch fiery, spinning discs that rocketed up into the night sky, exploded and then plummeted into the cheering crowd. Shortly thereafter, we saw one guy carted away in an ambulance with a minor head wound. He may have taken one for the home team, but then again, it might have just been an olf-fashioned drinking injury. The most amazing sight? An apparent fuse malfunction caused the display to come to a sudden, momentary halt. Seconds later, in a feat of astounding bravery, or stupidity, a worker ascended the swaying tower, lit what appeared to be a string of firecrackers, and was immediately englfed in a ring of fire, noise and smoke, out of which he calmly descended. The crowd went wild! I'm sure it took a lot of guts for Father Hidalgo to challenge the nearly invincible Spanish armies, but I'm telling you, he had nothing, cojones-wise, on the little fireworks guy. This afternoon, I'm attending my first bullfight. More later.
# posted by goots @ 10:56 AM 
