Early December happenings

Early December is the start of the holiday season in Puerto Vallarta. Believe me, the stores here are full of Christmas stuff. Actually, some of them are getting pretty thin on lights and things like that. In November, the grocery stores had real Christmas trees.
Beginning December 1 through the 12th is the festival for the Virgin of Guadalupe. She is the patron saint of Mexico and the main church in Puerto Vallarta is a Guadalupe church. There are processions every night and they go all day on the weekend.
Kelly and Deanna were here from Texas for two weeks. We went with them to the processions one night and found out we had it all wrong. As Kelly said, it’s all about the food. The parade is just a backdrop for eating! That's Kelly and Deanna in the picture.
While they we here, we joined the Villa del Palmar party central a couple times. They have a group of friends from the years they have been coming to the Villa del Palmar. Of course we also went our for dinner a few times with them. Ernesto’s still has excellent ribs and tortilla soup. One afternoon Kelly and Deanna came to Bucerias to visit and we ate lunch at Adauto’s.
On December 12th, we decided to go into PV for the festivities. Some of the large hotels had very large floats and bands. The whole procession is amazing. Every group has it’s own Virgin, usually it’s own band and they all sing/play the same song, La Guadalupana. The square and area around the church were very full of people. We missed seeing the fireworks because they went off before the processions ended.
As we were coming home one evening about 7, we passed the group from the Royal Decameron Hotel which is near our house. It is probably 15 miles to the church from here. They had a band playing and many of the people had lit candles. We figured they wouldn’t get downtown until around midnight.
We have decorated our house for Christmas. It’s plenty warm enough to have poinsettias outside. We also have some large decorative poinsettias on the gates and balcony.
We have volunteered to help with Toys for Tots which will be January 6. There are several families who will go out together to distribute toys. It should be lots of fun.

Thanksgiving, Santa Cecilia and Revolution Day

Revolution Day is a holiday in Mexico. On November 20th, every village, town and city has a parade in honor of the revolutionaries. We went to the Bucerias parade. First we went to the square because we thought the parade would be there. We found a crowd gathering and many vendors setting up shop. We also saw school groups preparing for the parade. We wandered up to the highway and saw the parade. I think every school child in Bucerias was in the parade. There were lots of little Pancho Villas and other revolutionaries. There were school bands, gymnastic groups, horses and of course a parade princess. Each group was accompanied by moms and dads, teachers, and coaches.
The parade route was lined with many people. Back in the square, food vendors were busy preparing tostados, tacos, tamales and other yummy snacks. We had to go work on the food distribution so we left before the parade was over.
Later on, we returned to the square for a dance contest. We arrived early so we wandered around the square. After the loteria was over, the dance contest was on. It was a local version of a TV show similar to Dancing With The Stars. A singer named Felix Chaivez performed as well. He was sort of like the Mexican version of Wayne Newton.

The Dia de Santa Cecilia is the day devoted to the patron saint of musicians. Harold and I went to the square in Puerto Vallarta for the special mariachi mass that was held outdoors. We met Patricia, Joann and their friends Cecilia and Gabi. In the plaza there was a norteno band entertaining the crowd. After the mass, we walked along the Malecon listening to about four different mariachi bands. People often honor their friends on their “saint day.” We all took Cecilia to Mezza Luna for dinner after the music. Harold and I had never been there before. It is a very nice Italian restaurant a few blocks up from the Malecon.

Joann and Patricia had a Thanksgiving get together at Casa Tranquila. They cooked the turkey, dressing and potatoes. We brought a corn casserole and rolls. Others brought pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes and appetizers. It was lots of fun. Some guest who just arrived at Casa T joined us all for dinner. We didn’t watch football on TV, and there were no newspapers full of Friday bargains, but otherwise it was a typical Thanksgiving.

The ExpoFeria Ganade

I saw in the Bay Vallarta magazine and heard on the radio about the Expo-Feria Ganadera (Livestock Fair). It was in a distant area of town called Las Mojoneras. It is on the road to the Vista Vallarta golf course, between El Pitillal and Ixtapa.We arrived at the fair about 9 p.m. and it was not too busy. We parked the car and went to buy our tickets. The admission was 20 pesos per adult and 10 pesos per child. Included in the price of admission were tickets for 12 rides and activities. Mostly they were kids rides, but we did go in the haunted house and on one ride. Had we gone during the week, the tickets were two for the price of one.There were plenty of food stands with tacos, hot dogs, popcorn and more. We got some french fries, but decided against the salchi-pulpos. For those who are not into this culinary craze, it is a hot dog (salchicha) that is cut in such a way that when it is deep fried, the ends split apart and look like a little octopus (pulpo).There were midway games. We played several rounds of ring toss. For 5 pesos you got a bowl of 20 rings to toss at bottles for money prizes. We didn't win, but it was fun.We walked around the livestock area and saw some cattle, goats, horses and a John Deere tractor. There were pony rides and an animal display with ostriches, rabbits, chickens and other farm animals. Whip, we thought of you while looking at the cattle.At the Expo-Feria there was also a palenque, which is a chicken fight. We didn't go to it. Maybe next year - not!Like all good fairs, there was entertainment. In the lienzo charro (rodeo ring) there were a few bull riders. Some of the bulls seemed pretty docile but others more feisty.We saw two bands. It is a wonder that fair-goers across Mexico are not all deaf. The speakers in use were about the size of a 75 Cadillac! I think you could hear the music downtown! The bands both played banda music which we enjoyed. A few couples danced at the top of the stands.While listening to the music we talked to some local folks from Las Mojoneras. Just as English speaking folks joke that their Spanish improves after a few beers, these guys English improved after a few beers. We talked to them for a while and they invited us to their home, but we had to decline because it was getting pretty late. They offered us a beer or soft drink, but it was so chilly I had to decline.I would bet a couple pesos that we were the only gringos at the fair last night! We had a great time.