El Dia de Independencia #2

Los Raices



At 7:00pm the races began! There were 3 races in which anyone could partake. The first was the potato sack race. In the picture above, the kids line up to start the race. They jumped, fell, and laughed their way to the finish line!



The next race was the bottle race. Waiters carried trays with bottles, glasses, and other dishes, and ran for the finish line. The winner cannot spill his tray or drop any of the dishes. The photo below shows a waiter at the tail end of the race. He didn't win but he didn't drop his tray either!

The best race was the last: the burro race! Burros ran, walked, stopped, turned around, and were urged on by their riders until there was a declared winner! There were 3 "heats" and finally the winners of the 3 ran against each other! What fun! The burros wore blankets and decorations for the day!

And the winner is......!!!!

I couldn't resist taking this picture of the folks standing next to me watching the races! Aren't the kids cute, all dressed up for the special day!

After the races were over, there was to be a program of dancing etc. over by the arches. We went over there about 7:40pm, sat down to wait for the dancing when a few raindrops began to fall. We immediately got up and crossed the street to the plaza, and walked across the plaza to the municipal building which had a covered porch. Before we got to the building, it was POURING rain! And it continues to pour for 1 1/2 hours. We sat on the steps of the porch, listened to the music which was playing, and waited and watched the rain.

The roofs of the buildings are tile so there are no gutters and the rain pours off the buildings in a waterfall. People waited for a while hoping the rain would abate, but finally gave up and began to run or walk wherever they wanted to go. People were drenched. Even those who had umbrellas were wet. Carla, Fernanda, and Daniela got out in the rain and danced. They had such fun and we enjoyed watching them. They were soaked and happy! What else can you do?

The rain stopped as quickly as it started around 9:30pm. Of course the program of dances had been cancelled but we went back to the Malecon and I bought a large limonada to drink because I was so very, very hot, and they bought tamales and tacos to eat. After eating we went back across to the municipal building to wait for "El Grito" (The Cry) which would take place ast 11:00pm.

I will describe that in the following blog.

Hasta luego.