Viva Mexico! Viva Alamos!

Buen dia! Feliz Dia de Independencia from Alamos, Mexico!


Last night I convinced Senor it was not too hot to take a little stroll down to the Plaza and see what was happening on the eve of the great diaz y seis as it is called here by many people.


Well it was too hot and there was not a lot happening. I got a few good sunset photos on the walk down and one photo at the Plaza. I wanted to get the burning oil cans, and as we walked on to the Palacio, my batteries died.

Didn't you bring back ups....................no, i am charging them for tomorrow.......well did you check the battery level before we came down here........no, well, sort of, i mean it looked good to me.................well, i am not going anywhere with you anymore unless you bring backup batteries............... and we were quiet for awhile.

This was the last photo I got in. We are coming out of the 'Kissing Alley' and to the church Plaza. A huge bandstand is being set up right outside the alleyway. A friend told Senor that the most popular band in Mexico will be playing starting at three pm. We will go down later this afternoon and see who it is.

But I think this is one of the prettiest night shots of the church I have taken, even though all the metal of the bandstand stage is in the way.

At eleven-thirty last night the fireworks woke us up. The explosions were huge and there were loud swishing noises before the sky lit up in huge steady puffs of greens and reds and whites, and then what sounded like millions of pellets landing in the streets. The show lasted for about twenty minutes and we stayed outside mesmerized. Each year the show seems to get bigger and bigger and this was as good if not better than ones we have seen in the states.

This morning I was up at five to start making scalloped potatoes for a breakfast we were going to before heading over to the parade. What should have taken an hour and a half of cooking took over two because I kept blowing the fuses. Finally I decided that the hot plate, the oven and a light and the radio were too much for one Mexico outlet. I should know this by now, but I tend to push the cooking to the limit, probably because my cooking situation is limited.

After a wonderful breakfast with many friends we walked up the street to the parade. I had six good batteries and I took over two hundred photos and did not change batteries once.

I have gone through the photos and it is so hard to decide what to show you. So, I am giving you my favorites now and one day I will get the rest on flickr or facebook.

In these photos, you can get a sense of not only the parade, but the beautiful colonial architecture of this town, and the shimmering palms and tropical flowers. You can see the committment the schoolchildren have in their town, glimpses of the four bands we now have, and you can see how the heat took its toll on a few faces.

You can see the mayor in his white suit and his beautiful wife to his right as they start the parade behind the white clad color girl guards and the newest band, the brass one that I you tubed for you during one of their practices.

And lastly, another youtube......horse dancing, which is about the most spectacular thing I have ever seen in Mexico. Watching the rider gently coax his horse into movements that are intricate and woven like a story, it is a thing of beauty to see.

Viva Mexico! Viva Alamos!