November 23, 2008

Well, if it's November 23rd and you're in Tlalpujahua you'll be celebrating Santa Cecelia festival with us tonight. We can't believe our luck!! Caught the bus this a.m. in Toluca and arrived in Tlalpujahua an hour late but arrived none the less. Interesting trip with scenery resembling much of BC interior minus lakes. Are the only guests in Hotel Villa Minera tonight and seems that we are also the only touristicas in this pueblo as we've become a local attraction for the area residents who have come to celebrate this festival tonight. Hard to say how may people live here year round but probably a couple of thousand.

This pueblo is built on hills and all the streets are narrow and natural rock cobblestone. Hard to walk on but sure looks nice and adds to the charm of the place! In settling into our room we discovered a broken toilet so had to change rooms which entailed Lynda and I helping to move a bed, mattress and headboard to another room so we'd still have two beds and a banyo that works. Accomodation is really clean and people are super nice (no english but owner's brother lives in California and we can phone him with anything we need) Right from the start we felt like family and things only got better on the street when we met a family from Toluca who are here for the festival. We were gathered round a food stall where they were selling Chicharrones. We each bought one (7 pesos each or approx 70 cents) and they were delicious. One of the favourite things I've had on this trip. It's just some kind of giant cracker with a very mild sour cream and hot sauce spread on it all topped with lettuce, tomato, some kind of veg or something that is a bit gelatinous, avocado and grated cheese. Absolutely delicious and reasonably healthy to boot :) We made friends with the family who were explaining what we were eating and practiced english with the kids. Toured the pueblo this afternoon and visited the cathedral that sits at the top of the town. What a church for such a small place!!! Highest part of the ceiling was at least 70 feet tall and every square inch of the place was ornate. Either painted, covered with gold, sculpted plaster, and stained glass. Toured the open market that is very much a local market, mostly food and household items.

We're currently sitting on our rooftop deck (remember we're the only ones in the hotel so have it all to ourselves) with our bottle of tequila and one of squirt (better explain that is a kind of lemon lime pop like 7 up or fresca), 2 glasses and a mind to make a dent in it all. We're going to the festival tonight where we watched the local men set up the fireworks display that is like nothing either of us could even imagine we might see. It is all on wheels and I think the fireworks are home made explosives. We've selected a spot that we think will be safe both from the fireworks and the hoards of people who will be running once the fireworks begin (or so we've been told). We pretty sure it might look a little like Paploma and the running of the bulls but we'll know better after we've experienced it. We're both in shock at the amount of insane luck we've had this past week. There is no way that we could have planned things any better if we had tried. I guess it's another lesson in the value of just going with the flow and letting things come as they may. This little town (also known as magic town) is where most of the glass Christmas balls you all have on your trees come from. Everyone here seems to be attached to that industry and according to the literature the majority of the ones that are exported all over the world are made right here. We won't be bringing any home though - way too fragile! They're beginning to talk from the stages (four of them) that are set up with bands around the area that the fireworks will be lit. As it turns out....one of the bands may be someone Lynda knows. If thats true - you'll hear about it tomorrow. How small is this world. If it's the guy she knows....she met him in Troncones last year when he was performing at Robertos. We're excited to experience this festival and feel so lucky to be here and to be the only tourists in the entire town to boot. It is really a special feeling to be here tonight.

Till tomorrow.....
Lorrie

p.s.
Before I begin with the main feature of the evening I must tell you all that we've been blessed once again. We attended outdoor mass in the town square tonight (along with about 250 of our closest new friends) and the priest came by to bless the crowds and the stages where the music would be performed later in the evening.

We're just back in our room and can't go to sleep till I write some of this down. What an unbelievable experience!!! We were the only non Mexicans and attracted a lot of attention (all good). There were over 600 in attendance all squished into the main square where there were 6 stages each housing a different band. As it turns out....Montana is not the same band Lynda knows from Troncones but.....even better than that - we ended up being special guests of the main stage band. We didn't know they were even in the band as we just met them on the dance floor...well....it's not really a dance floor....it's cobblestones and concrete and well....it's a town square. Once they were on the stage (their name is LATINDO and they're from Mexico City) Conception (yes that's the leader of the band's name) introduced themselves and then dedicated their first song to their new friends who are so much fun - Lorrie and Lynda from Canada. Once he had done that even more locals came by for a look at the fun muheres from Canada. Some of them just wanted to hear us talk, others of them wanted to dance and we danced all night while giving English lessons. Seriously though.....you have to get this picture....most Mexican men are about 5 feet tall so they see us as some kind of Amazonian creatures that stand out in their crowd. Conception did tell us that we stuck out in the crowd which is one of the reasons he came over in the first place...he could tell we weren't from there. What an amazing bunch of people we have met and all of them super gentle and kind and interested to know what we think of Mexico. No one can speak english here - the odd person knows a few words but that is it. I'd say that our spanish is better than anyone's english by far. A highlight of the evening was the fireworks display. We watched the men of the town putting it together this afternoon. It is all homemade fireworks on huge metal wheels that are then put onto a metal framework that is at least 30-40 feet high. Each of the "wheels" end up being a shape (like a star or an angel etc) and they go off when the kids ont he ground pull a rope to begin the spinning. Once the spinning begins flames shoot out and then giant firecrackers begin to go off and shoot bullets of fire into the area around the square all over the people (including us) but no one was burned that I know of but the tarps over the stages have to have holes in them. At the same time as all of this is going on there are also normal major fireworks going off high in the sky. It's too much to describe. At the end of the metal framework display the top piece actually lifts off like a flying saucer that continues to shoot flames and sparks over the square like rain falling from the sky. I can't beleive we had the opporunity to see and experience this amazing event. It is the only event this town holds each year and we were here to participate in it. Bottom line....this has been another incredible day and we're both so tired that we almost couldn't make it up the stairs into our hotel tonight.
L.