El Grito de Independencia! The Cry of Independence!

Los Eventos de el Bicentenario 2010 have come and gone and boy did we have a blast! The kids enjoyed a 5 day weekend and every inch of San Miguel de Allende was in a festive party spirit. Of course we participated non stop! Days filled with parades,  concerts, dances, re-enactments of historic events (Insurgents galloping on horses in force down the cobble stone streets of town...extremely hair raising and exciting with just a thing flimsy packing twine between my boys and the galloping insurgents), bullfights (We hated it- very upsetting and walked out after the first bull was killed- augh, so barbaric), fireworks,  and lots of good food, face painting, outlandish wigs, clothing, flag waving, limonada and cervezas!

Our most exciting events were Los Fuegos Pirotechnicos- Yes fireworks!! Todd and I  are thankful that everyone still has their eyesight, can breath and have all limbs in tact...(my eye did sting for minutes after an ash fell like a meteor into it) Days before the big night we noticed these huge scaffolding like structures being delivered to the jardin (center of town where everything important happens) and with some explanations of local friends we learned that these hand tied, popsicle stick like structures would later be assemble to stories high and be the launching point for thousands of fuegos (fires). It beat KFOG KABOOM by leaps and bounds not because of the technology (no match for that) but because the excitement and fevor in which the people enjoyed this crazy event! one  torch started a stream of events, fireworks, whirligigs, whistles, explosions, color, smoke and flying embers up to 150 feet high! While the traditional huge fireworks were booming  higher overhead (like our July 4th show)  I have never seen the kids so excited. They ran around free as monkeys in the jungle, laughing, screaming and completely blissed out! It was a crazy site to behold.  Rules don't really seem to be that strict and people take responsibility for themselves. To our amazement, we did not see anyone get out of control, witness one foul word said or belligerent bystander. In fact with our gaggle of 8 boys, the Mexican folks around us offered shoulders to perch on for a better view with a  jovial playful nature during times where we were in the middle of sardine like situation with boys whining
that they couldn't see anything! 

These are memories that will last forever.