Carnaval Week Here in Alamos

Hola.

To put it very simply........ I have had bog block, so I have read a couple of good books instead.

But I am done with both those books now, so things will be looking up for you to catch up on exactly what we have been doing.

Each Sunday a movie for us extrajeneros is held in the museum auditorium. The gringo guy who picks the movies and shows them has not picked a bad one yet. You would not believe the stuff we have seen, all incredible.

We went down Sunday and saw 'The King's Speech', as excellent as all the rest.

But before we went in to the auditorium we spent a little time on the Plaza. Workers were putting the last minute touches on the stage. Vendors were getting out their wares and food. Musicians were practicing in a corner by the church.

This was the first vendor to begin selling confetti filled eggs. I bought a bagful.When we came out of the museum, the streets were packed. Carnaval night was in full swing.

Carnaval, which began here last Friday afternoon brings parades, music, dancing, colorful costumes and crowns and people. It is a very festive celebration here in Mexico as in other parts of the world. Most of the music happened right in our own backyard.

Friday night's music and dance began at 8:30pm and ended on Saturday at 3:30am.

Carnaval is not quiet.

We siesta'd on and off all day Saturday. We siesta'd so much that we missed the parade.

Saturday night we went to dinner with friends and then drove through to the Plaza. A lot of people were milling around, walking or promenading around the square. That night we heard about 3 different bands competing out in the backyard. The winner played until 4am. I liked the other 2 bands better myself.

On Sunday, the whole town must have been at the tiangus and the mercado and the plaza and the alameda. We went down in new old car to do our shopping and it was so crowded that I had to return later on new old bike to do the rest of our shopping.

Below are some of the fanciful stilt walkers, outside the church.

My night time photos are still not too good, but I am working on the problem. You will still get the idea.

The little girls below are only a few of hundreds of little girls at the Plaza that night who were looking for people to smash their eggs on or had been just smashed themselves by someone else's eggs. Carnaval fills the plaza with kids, all looking for victims to egg smash. Extranerjos, or foreigners, are not exempt from this activity and while I did my share of egg smashing last year, this year I spent my time aiding young children whose bags were empty, but they were still looking to get their big sisters.

The Plaza was filled with confetti and crushed egg shells.

Here are a few of the dancers. I could just not get close enough to the stage for any good photos of the queen and her court or any of the dancers. I got lucky here because these girls were the closing act and enough folks had left.

Then here's my favorite. I snuck behind the stage just in time to see the feathers fall off the back of this dancer's dress. The little girl, while carrying her bag of confetti eggs, is trying to attach the feathers back to the dress, while the dancer, somewhat oblivious to the girl, is texting on her phone.

Music from the baseball stadium continued Sunday night to the early hours. It was good ranchero music and we didn't even have to go down there.

Now Carnaval in Alamos has died down to a quiet whisper so folks can get their siesta on before Semana Santa arrives in April. The streets are all clean again and the only music we hear is from a worker whistling or the music from a car as it goes by.

Ahh, I will miss it, but I will sleep through the whole night again now, for awhile, oh, well at least until Friday or Saturday night.



Senor has had a bad cold. He brought it down with him from our last trip to the states. See, there is another good reason to not go to the states. You catch all kinds of stuff up there.

But he has been feeling better and yesterday he and Umberto finished the 2 columns they had been working on and are now starting to pour a new viga.

This column, by the ladder, will be where the kitchen begins to the left and doors to the right will lead out to the portal.

This column, in the center, will hold the big beam that will then hold the vigas that will run left to right over that end of the big sala or living area.

Very interesting, huh?

So, manana who knows what I might tell you about.........right now, there is a lot of bird music going on. I am fixing to go and see what is making them so happy.

Que le vaya bien!

linda lou