Here Comes The Rain

Mid June in the central mountains of Mexico is the beginning of the rainy season, and here in Ajijic it seems to follow that pattern, which lasts until some time in mid-September. All of the locals welcome this time of year, which follows the hot and dusty days of May. As soon as the rains begin the daytime temperatures drop from the mid 90's (F) to the mid 70's, humidity is, surprisingly, not high, and the days are delightful. Oddly enough, the majority of thunder and lightening storms that accompany the heavy rain, occur mostly at night. That is not to say it never rains during the day, but most days have sunny skies with puffball clouds. We are relishing this weather as we read of the high temperatures that are happening NOB, as well as an early start to the fire season in Oregon.
You may remember that I ended the last blog post depicting a few images from the fiesta in San Antonio in tribute to their religious patron,  Saint Anthony of Padua. This fiesta also marks and celebrates the beginning of summer's wet season. As in all fiestas there are lots of fireworks, at planned and seemingly unplanned intervals. I was particularly impressed with the casual manner in which fireworks are handled, see below.

Each day of the thirteen day celebration sees the construction of a castillo fireworks display in front of the church.

The castillo is assembled horizontally on a tall pole and then manhandled into a vertical position, ready to be set off at the culmination of the evening.

As can be seen from the above image, the castillos are complicated and quite large.

Before all of the fun and fireworks can begin, there are a variety of parade events that end at the church, and most seem to go into the church for the day's service. The above group was all drums and quite a sight.

Many groups of local bands including the "beginners."

And Indian dancers.

Young boys dressing up in friars robes to emulate Saint Anthony.

Once the church service is completed and more rockets, or cojetes, are let loose into the skies, the dancing and stage performances can begin. It is quite a carnival atmosphere with multiple food and drink booths as well as games and typical carnival rides for all to enjoy.

Dancers in front of the stage

Roast corn of many varieties are available.

The Indian dancers were quite spectacular and danced to a VERY loud drummer.

The young children are a delight, they all dress up and all want their photo taken. Here they are posing with David Winston, a friend and photographer from Oregon who now lives here full time.

Cute children are everywhere and all are full of fun.

Just before we leave this fiesta, I am trying to add a video of the castillo firework display, might be a bit long so skip if you are bored!

We were fortunate to be here when the World Cup was underway. Football (or soccer in the USA) is wildly popular here and especially as Mexico was playing in Russia.

The coffee servers are all set to watch all of the matches!

 Two TV's at our favourite coffee shop, Pranzo's.

One weekend we spent some time at a local wine and food tasting with a number of vineyards offering tastes of the local wines. Additionally, there were a number of booths sampling and selling local food products. Galo de Allende is our favourite  producer of a range of goat products.

Much to my surprise there were two examples of the latest Tesla cars on display!

Bite size pastries were just delicious and a significant challenge for me.  I was trying to resist, but couldn't!

It was a lovely day, much enjoyed.

The rainy season began promptly as predicted at the final day of the fiesta of Saint Anthony. Now the forecast is always promising thunder and lightening, as well as lots of rain. So far the storms are occurring during the night, just as we had been told they would.

Because of the storm clouds and rain, we are also treated to glorious sunrises and sunsets.
Stay tuned for more of adventures in the Sierra Madre.