taking the kids to the fire station, and concerts

Visiting the bomberos (firemen)
Harold arranged for the kids at the RISE shelter to visit the fire station. They were out of school for Easter vacation and the madres were happy to have an activity for the kids. There were 5 cars available to transport kids, volunteers and madres. The kids and madres enjoyed their tour of the station, climbing in the ambulance and sitting on the fire truck. The firemen gave the kids a lesson on fire safety. Each kid also got a cardboard cut-out fire truck to put together. At the end of the presentation the firemen planned on making popcorn for the kids. They were somewhat embarrassed when the microwave would not work. One of the guys went to a nearby store, popped the corn and brought it back for the kids. The firemen seemed to enjoy having the kids visit. As a result of the visit, the fire department scheduled a visit to RISE for a fire inspection.
After the fire station we took the kids to Burger King. Just like kids everywhere, they got kids meals with toys and wanted to ignore their food in favor of plying in the play area. I did get quite a look from the cashier when I ordered twenty kids meals. He rang it up as one kids meal, I repeated 20 kids meals. He had a questioning look on his face, I just told him I have a big family.

The concerts
We have never lived in a resort area before so we aren’t used to the number and variety of things going on. We saw an ad for a big concert on the beach so we went to check it out. I think we were 30 years or so older than their target audience. Even on a Friday afternoon there were lots of people on the beach. On stage when we arrived was a bikini contest. Next was a Mexican rap group. We saw a police officer in riot gear on the beach. When we were there everything was pretty calm. Apparently the next afternoon or evening there was a big fight that took many police officers and firemen to control it.
That same day, we went to a concert at the Los Arcos amphitheater on the Malecon. It was sponsored by WOW Records and featured artists from Vallarta. The concert was form 6 until midnight. We heard quite a few very good local groups. It was crowded but we found good seats. They were selling CDs from the participating bands. A percentage of the sales went to a scholarship fund. We bought one CD.