Last day of Pinal's annual fiesta

Today is the last day of Pinal Villa's annual fiesta for Our Lady of the Rosary -Talpa. The fiesta is nine days long with fireworks starting at 5AM every morning. Today it went on for 2 hours. Usually, we have a Castillo but enough money wasn't raised to pay for one.

Someone came up with money so we'll have a Castillo after all

Down from the clouds

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Just descending into the clouds over Los Angeles

Down from the clouds in more ways than one.  Mexico is down and on the ground is down. There seem to be clouds everywhere.  Seattle was overcast and raining much of the time.  There are plenty of  clouds here in Melaque but no rain yesterday or today. 

The annual week long Pinal Villa Fiesta starts tomorrow and our little church is a favorite of many in the area. There will be a Peregrinación (religious parade) tomorrow afternoon but our road is a real mess from past rain and lack of attention from the Municipio. After a heavy rain it is almost impassable. I just gave enough for 2 loads of road fill and the guy will donate his front-loader for smoothing it out.  That is if it does not rain tonight or tomorrow morning. Road improvement will make my daily bus driving into school a lot easier.

Feels good to be back down in Mexico even if  under the warm humid clouds. 

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Starting decent into Manzanillo

Fiesta San Patricio

Fiesta San Patricio officially started a few days ago and we went the first day because the kids wanted to go on the rides and we wanted to see what was new. The only thing really new is the carnival equipment is newer, larger and more expensive this year. It even spills into the adjoining street behind OXXO. Fiesta San Patricio lasts about 10-12 days but the carnival rides will be here through Semana Santa.

We parked on the corner of the plaza early and after 3 hours the car was in the middle of a traffic and people jam.   Decided to make our escape early before we were totally trapped.  We'll go again tomorrow night to see the castillo fireworks between 11 and 12.   Thursdays usually have less people and we'll park by the highway to avoid traffic.

Big Ferris Wheel (Noria ?)

Little Ferris Wheel

The crowd in the plaza

Fiesta ends with a bang

Monday night was the grand finale of Pinal Villa's annual fiesta - Nuesta Senora del Rosario Colonia Pinal Villa. It's been a fun and interesting 7 days with dancers, parades and fireworks (cojetes). Groups of dancers from local communities would converge on our little church almost every evening about 7PM to be blessed by the Padre.

Sunday had a lot of activity, food and fun for the kids ... but Monday was the big one. A Banda Band, lip-sinking drag queen doing Jenni Rivera and finally a very talented pre-teen boy with a great voice. Of course the finale was the Castillo. I left before the Toritos showed up and I hear they were pretty crazy. End of a great party.

The carnival 

Castillo

Finale

Pinal Villa Fiesta

Last night was the finale of the annual 7 day celebration in honor of the local patron saint. All week long surrounding communities paraded into Pinal with a small band, dance group and maybe the town princess. Each parade rather small and non-impressive. All that ended this weekend with music, dancing and food on Saturday and well over a thousand last night for the castillo.

I've heard polka like music in Mexico before but never seen anyone dance to it. Last night there were 4 couples looking like they just dropped in from Bavaria absolutely dancing a very energetic polka. They were followed by 4 folklorico couples with the usual swirling of colors. Not sure why but the local female impersonators showed up and lip synced too many songs. Oh well!

They actually lit the castillo a little after 11 when it's usually midnight or later. Very impressive display and nearly as large as the ones in Melaque. Not quite as ornate but still a great show. What was different was the "errant" rockets that flew thru the crowd making us glad we had moved to the other side of the plaza.

Horse dancing to the band

The amusement center

The crowd

Putting together the castillo

Another fiesta

This was a dual baptism and birthday to make it easier for the families to afford it. They rented the local party hall, provided food, tequila punch, party toys and then managed all the activities. They served the food and punch and managed all the kids games like musical chairs and the Pinata. Lots of energy spent on the kids !!!

Hugo didn't even want to go after working six days a week. He'd prefer spacing out in front of the Tele and having a beer or two. But no, kids wanted to go and mom insisted. Not that many people showed up probably feeling like Hugo on a Sunday afternoon

All parties are different and I'm usually willing to give them a try. This one was just a little too long. No problem, we have another next Sunday for the Grandma who will be 87 years old ... but this one only a few blocks away

Large party palapa rental for Melaque

Musical chairs

Pinata

The diablita that mom can't wait to put in Kinder

Muchos babies in Pinal Villa

Yesterday was the fiesta of chicharron and carnitas of the pig seen on the previous post. Also lots of beer and loud rancho music. Saturday we quit work at 2 so we showered at my place and headed over with 4 buckets of beer. Jimmy, Sandy and I were the only gringos. Lots of dancing and playing with the kids. A bunch of great people whom I'm lucky to have as neighbors.

Early on with about half the crowd there

Hugo's baby with mom in the background

Hugo's brother and baby

Neighbors

Grandma and baby

Pig Pile

There's gonna be a fiesta and feed this Saturday in my neighborhood and what do country people do, kill an animal and cook it. This guy was listed as missing a few days ago and somehow ended up in a fenced lot behind my neighbors. The call went out to everyone to help corral this screamer (they do scream and snort) so we took a work break and I took the camera.

I actually thought this was slaughter time and had ruled out video to avoid the gore ... but this was just a pig chase. Could have made a good video but maybe next time. This chase lasted 15-20 minutes

Cornered ... I don't think so

Someone on the tail and someone on the ears

Tying a harness on him

Where he will spend his life until Saturday morning

Fiesta de Bautizo

Mi Bautizo (baptism) is what the card the neighborhood kids gave me because one of their moms would have a baby in a few days. At least that's what they used for an excuse for a fiesta. The card was actually from last May for another Bautizo at the church.

Why me? Because I have fruit for the pinata, maybe a gift and some money for globos (balloons). I let the kids in the yard to get some limones (limes) and guayabas then they noticed the ciruela (plum) tree. We had to place a ladder against the wall to get the ciruelas and nobody fell!! The ciruelas were just turning red so this is the first time I tried them. Very large pits.

They needed the balloons for decoration but also for the game of gallina where everyone ties a balloon around their ankle and take turns trying to stomp on the other persons balloon. Kinda like chicken fighting.

They also needed me for duct tape to make the pinata. Problem was it was so strong it wouldn't break so it was decided to throw the prizes off the a neighbor's roof. Not good for the fruit as they exploded on impact except for the limes. They did make a good cleanup crew using every broom in the neighborhood.

Neighborhood fiesta in Jocotepec, Jalisco Mexico

Chris turns 5

My friends asked again if they could have a fiesta at my place since their place has no garden and not a lot of space. Yesterday was Chris's 5th birthday (cupleaños) so the fiesta was here. Small, not much of the family, just mom and sisters and 2 neices and a nephew.

Salad, nice cake and a beautiful gelatin (gelatina de mosaico) ... but now I get to ask ... why would you make a gelatin with no flavor or sugar. Is this a Mexican thing or a family thing.

Cleaning up in the morning I decided to wash off the kiddy pool and because we had water for a change, filled it. Of course the kids were not dressed for water play like kids might be at the beach ... so we decided to do it again today with bathing suits (trajes de baño). Marilyn brought over belated presents - two squirt guns that were prefect. This being the first week of a two week school vacation we decided to do it again tomorrow.

The party

Chris cuts the cake

Gelatin

Not dressed for the pool

So they came back today
Birthday party in Joctepec

San Cristóbal Zapotitlán Fiesta

Well not quite a fiesta but good food, beer and people. Rene's place is big enough for a fiesta and there's even talk of making a restaurant out of it - we'll see. Trouble is not many in that small town could afford it, they have one beach restaurant, it's a 25 minute drive from Jocotepec and a long way from Ajijic/Chapala.

San Cristóbal is on the south side of Lake Chapala but not far from the west end and Jocotepec. This was a 2 pm party which is perfect to be back before sundown. We ran into an 87 year old gringa who had lived there for 10+/- years (she wasn't sure) and invited her. She moved after living in Ajijic for 10+/- years (she wasn't sure) to get away from Gringolandia.

Mom was out back by the squash patch cooking Tilapia in a wok. Surprisingly only one young person. She was sitting out back by herself next to the tramoline (brincolin) and I told her she should use it and she spent the rest of the day there. She wanted to be serious for the foto but opened up when I said 'dice queso'. Fun day and good conversations.

Ajijic Fiestas San Andres

Lots of first time things to do in the Lake Chapala area and last night was my first to this Ajijic Fiesta. Elke and Vern came up from the beach for a day of business and their yearly visit to these festivities. We drove down to Ajijic from Joco before dark, walked around a lot, had tacos on the plaza and then found a plaza bar to watch the parade and drink Micheladas while waiting for the Castillo around 11pm.

The plaza parade is fun. Not the courting types of parades you may have heard of where the boys go in one direction and the girls the other. Just a mass of people pretty much going in all directions while a "cuban-latin" band plays from the kiosco.

My only experience with Castillo fireworks has been in Melaque and I do have to say these were more professional and the structure more solidly built. Lots of rockets going off next to the Castillo and real large fireworks were being fired from a block away. There also were no Toritos here which I didn't miss at all - dangerous and scare the kids. The excitement level in Melaque and Ajijic was the same and after all - that's what's important.

This is the second day of celebration (Lady of Pursisma) of our local Templo (church) here in Jocotepec (not the whole town) and I'm anxious to watch it through the eight day period. Starts every night at 7pm except for the bombs which can go off anytime. The cats love them