16th Sept. 2016
One of the highlights of our previous time in Mexico was happening upon the Independence Day parade in a small town by Chichen Itza. Although, is disrupted our travel plans, we loved the way they closed the main street for the schoolkids to parade up and down in school uniform or national dress. This time we know a little more about what to expect.
The parade today is scheduled for 10am, so we head off promptly after breakfast into town. We are amazed that the tables and chairs have all been cleared away from the streets following last night’s festivities and even the stage has been dismantled and taken away. All the rubbish is gone but that is less surprising as we have noticed that the streets are frequently swept in Mexico. More construction was going on and it turned out to be a boxing ring!
It is easy to identify which way the parade will be coming as the locals are already sitting on the curbs and on folding chairs along the route. I bag a spot while Dave heads for coffee and after waiting about 40 minutes we hear the drums of the oncoming parade. First to appear around the corner is a military band followed by armed men leading the Guanajuato flag and dignitaries.
What seems to be the children from every school in the area follows with drums and all marching (mostly) in time. The children’s expressions are fascinating – ranging from the serious ones concentrating on their marching to the bored or just cheeky. Their ages range from about 5 years to 13 years all very smartly dressed in their uniforms and the girls all have ponytails while the boys have been at the hair gel. The teachers too have dressed in their smartest suits. Some of the ladies wear the most enormous heels on which some struggle to walk let alone march!
After the schools come various clubs including scouts and finally the military soldiers are at the rear. I took so many photos that the battery died on my camera which left me free to just people watch for the remainder of the time it took them all to march past. Afterwards, the crowds quickly dispersed as many of them were parents who headed off to collect their children. For the rest of the day we see various of the children but not looking so immaculate with ties removed and hair let down.
We headed back to the historical centre to continue seeing the sights. As the Teatro Juarez is said to be spectacular inside, we headed that way. It was built around 1900 and lavishly furnished in red and gold in Moorish style built by the then dictator.
Next stop was Plaza de Allende with statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza where Ollie our mascot from the 2012 Olympics who travelled around the world with us makes an appearance. Plays by the author of Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes, became popular in town, which in time became an annual festival with International importance – we had to research the connection as we were sure that had to be one with the numerous statues of Don Quixote in town.
After all this activity would could not resist the cake shop and we head back for a siesta as we want to return to town for some night photos later. We research the restaurants that our friends have given us and they all sound good so we cannot decide which one to head to. We wander the streets and fight our way through the crowds to try and get some decent photos. In the end we find ourselves close to La Taula restaurant so decide to give that a try. It was nothing to look at but we trusted our sources and went in.
The restaurant had a special menu for the Independent Day holiday so we thought why not (I think it was the accompanying Mezcal which swayed Dave). With our limited Spanish we vaguely knew what to expect but it was an interesting menu. Sliced tomatoes and limes in a sauce, yummy pork and bbq sauce and a choice of desserts all washed down with three glasses of different Mezcal – firewater to my uninitiated palate. We had a great meal of food and drinks that we would not normally choose but thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you ChrisB for the recommendation, we would never have gone there without it. We meandered home, still amazed at how many people there were out and about. Thank you Guanajuato and Mexico for another great day.