It’s Carnaval!!

Sometimes you get to be in the right place, on the right date. We honestly did not even think about local events when we set the dates we would be here. Our household has followed Ash Wednesday traditions and no meat on Friday during Lent, but we didn’t live in an area where much happened on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras/Carnaval- carne val, or farewell to meat), let alone the whole month leading up to Fat Tuesday. We knew of it happening in other areas, and it seemed pretty fun, but it was a distant event. Not so anymore!! I posted a few weeks ago about the first of the parades, where guys dressed up as (exaggerated) females, threw flour at spectators, bands played and people danced in the streets. This type of parade has occurred each Sunday since then. Today was the grand finale🎉I’m not certain if it’s an official holiday (we didn’t look to see if banks were open), but kids were out of school and there were a whole lot of people involved in the parade, plus lining the sidewalks! I had a brief conversation with the news photographer from the Guadalajara paper and she said it was the best parade around, that ‘s why they covered it. Who knew? The official timeline was for the parade to start at 10:00AM. Later in the week it was changed to 11:00AM…and it started right on time! Mexican time, that is. 11:40AM. Yeah…no worries.

Once the parade began it was controlled pandemonium. We were at the very beginning of the route, so we had a chance to watch everything coming together. And a chance to note that the cabelleros (cowboys) often had a bottle of tequila with them! LOL. In fact, one offered us a swig from his bottle. Other interesting factoid…they like tequila and Squirt. Huh.

So, the parade. The noise. The chaos. The dogs everywhere. Confetti being planted on the top of my head. Big, honkin’ handful of confetti. It was a blast!

This guy had a great vantage point for watching the festivities!

Before the parade began many of the performers were happy to pose for photos

This one was kind of fun because we got to watch the bull being created! It was fabricated just down the street from us. In fact, the last touches of paint were put on as we were walking down to the parade route😁

The cutest little fairy ever! She refused to wear her wings though.

The Carnaval Queen. This is Mexico – where the crowns are BIG

Some of the random Zayacas. The wheel barrow? Full of flour for throwing at people.

The local drill team. I’m guessing they looked a little more organized as the parade progressed…

The handsome cabelleros. Some horses were actually dancing to the music. It was so cute!

The old mattress is about 2 inches deep with flour to be thrown

A group of traditional dancers of all ages. Towards the back of the group is a lovely young lady with grayish purple hair (totally works on her!) who is our regular server at our favorite local restaurant, Teocintle.

And then there was this float. The sign translates to groceries Martinez. Yes, those are Mexicans with black face. They were having a blast, and it was all for fun.

I could have posted another 100 photos at least, but I didn’t want to put anyone into a coma out of boredness. It was a wonderful, unexpected event that demonstrates exactly why we are on this adventure. There is so much life and living to experience!!