3pm Parade

Now, had I been smart, I would have worn my new runners when I went into Maztalan city. The ones specially fitted to my wonky feet.

But no, I wore my sandals.

At first, I didn’t make much of a difference. I just began to walk down the paseo.

I looked at all the vendors getting ready, ice being added to coolers, flats of beer cans stacked on top of each other, sooty stoves being started, gigantic bags of cheetos ported atop people’s head. This was going to be some party. There were block after block after block of vendors setting up.

As I got closer to the actual starting point, I saw people setting up chairs along the route. Others were grabbing good vantage point seats but still, only a few pockets of people. This made me wonder if the 3pm thing was really valid. Or did they all come at 2:55?

I walked past huge stages set up with speakers blaring music so loudly that my ears not only hurt but my jaw vibrated and my teeth rattled. I shit you not. It seemed there was only one volume and that was LOUD. The noise was incredible. Plus, there seemed to be a stage every ½ kilometre.

All good. Part of the ambiance, right?

I did my best to ignore the noise and focus on what was to be seen. Pelicans squatting on craggy rocks. A fisherman repairing his net (in an amazing display of dexterity). Another fisherman feeding a cat some fish innards. A loco weirdo dressed as a pirate (black head scarf, black pirate shirt open to the navel, black leather pants, black boots) shouting at the bands or the scantily clad beer girls. A man selling retriever puppies. An old man dancing to the music, his bare feet slapping on the concrete.

I looked up at houses perched on cliffs and down at the pounding surf. I stopped to even listen to some of the music. I peered up strange alleys and stood by while truck loads of police roared by on the empty street next to the paseo. (All the police seemed to get around in pick-up trucks with roll bars in the back. They were all piled in, holding onto the rollbar and trying to look cool.)

It was a good long walk. I came upon one of the cliff divers and just as I moved closer to watch him he jumped off a steep outcropping and into a part of the ocean barely larger than a kiddy pool. Dead impressive and I sat down to see him do it close up. But he came out of the water and hit (everyone who had been watching him) up for a tip. Me included though I had just arrived. He wanted me to tip him, “always tip the diver” and I agreed with him but tried to point out that I had not been there when he dove in. However, my Spanish and his English didn’t work too well together and I don’t think he liked me much.

I stayed in hope he would go again and I would be happy to tip him but he towelled off and went to chat with his buddies. He was a short fellow, ageless but heavily wrinkled and tanned, meth-addict lean, and with a very mayan face, long nose, high cheek bones, sloping forehead. Brave as hell to do what he did. Too bad I couldn`t get close enough faster.

Finally made my way as far south as I was willing to go. Saw white-hatted grandfathers gathered around a park, smoking and glaring at me while I took their picture. Bought a Gatorade and sat on the seawall. The smell of fish was strong but competing with it was the smell of cooking. Yummy meat cooking. Families had begun to arrive and they set up mini BBQs behind their banks of chairs.

My mouth watered but as I looked at the vendors who had set up off the main paseo, I thought to myself, dare I try a hot dog, 3 for 20 pasos? Or a hamburger? Or something called a Mexicana? I sauntered over to check out the food vendors but when I saw a burnt hot dog burst and the insides flopped open like strips of wet, red Kleenex, said to myself, self, do we really want to chance having to go the bathroom here? Seriously?

So I didn’t eat.

Instead I sat on the sea wall and watched the world go by. More people began to gather and I was surprised at the sheer number of children. Not that there were a lot more parents than in Canada but these parents had three, four, five children.

As well, the number of people under 25 is astounding. I think at least 1 in every 2 people who came was under 25. A nation of young people, all the woman dressed in tight, tight jeans (and not a lot of them should have been) and the few young men that I saw, stood leaning against walls and looking bored or were pushing baby strollers and looking like they would have rather have been leaning against a wall.

I watched a big eyed child blow bubbles and giggle like crazy. Not far, a mother chased her child around a lamppost upon which had been hung banners for the Carnival 2010. On the other side of the seawall, a sailor snoozed in the shade of his boat, while a dog, (his dog?) lay nearby. Away from the fisherman, young men did flips and handstands in the sand in hopes of attracting the one, soul female who had decided to lie on the beach.

Margot would have loved this atmosphere here. Festive. Family. Fun.

I looked at my watch. 2:30. Decided it was better to get back to where I had started. My thinking was that when the parade ended at 5, I would be right by where the driver had agreed to pick me up. So back I walked, shadowing a small, middle-aged man in a shiny grey silk suit. He had the same camera as me and every time he stopped to take a picture, l looked at what he would be shooting and, as often as not, took the same picture. Hey, the guy had expensive taste in clothes, surely his pictures would be good too!

By now the sun was out and it was hot and my feet had blistered and my stomach was saying, hey dude, really, those hot dogs might be good, but I soldiered on back to my rally point. Made great time even though I stopped to take pictures.

By 3, I was set up in the perfect place, having been forced to move from another perfect place by a HUGE family who set up a smoking BBQ right by my head. Yikes. This new spot had a great view of the whole paseo and a slow curve towards me that would allow me to see the sides of the floats as well as the fronts (before they passed me).

I looked at my watch. 3:05. I had plenty of room around me. A few people sat on the same wall as me, but not too many. This was going to be great.

Just great.

Any time now.

Any. Time.