September 16th is Mexican Independence Day. To be completely honest, I was a bit apprehensive. Fireworks seem to go off throughout the year and all night long, so I expected lots of boomers and some very scared dogs. But the fireworks were minimal.
The festivities started on Saturday, September 12th with the Globo Regatta. I've got to to say that was one of the most fun times I've had in Mexico. A globo is a hot air balloom made from tissue paper. They range in size from as little as two feet high to huge ones maybe 12 feet tall. And some are very elaborate. Some are made by individuals, but most seem to be made by teams. From the beautiful designs we saw, I can only imagine how many hours went into building them. Each globo has a cage underneath that holds a kerosene soaked rag. Once the rag is lit, it (hopefully) generates enough hot air to fill the globo and powers it for flight. If there are any design flaws, the globo burns up instead of taking off. Matt and his friend Vern made a globo together and then they each did their own separately. I guess there is something to be said for team work, because the globo they collaborated on launched perfectly, while the two individual ones didn't fare as well. Matt's burned off during take off and Vern's probably only made it about 10 or 12 feet into the air before burning up.
The soccer field in Ajijic is crammed with people watching these globos. When a globo burns up, it often showers down burning tissue paper and the kerosene rag. Some people rush away from it; others (including the kids) rush TO is so they can stomp out the fire. No one ever said this was totally safe, but was lots of fun. Check out the video in my previous post. I snagged it from Youtube but couldn't figure out how to imbed it in this blog post. This really captures the excitement of a bad launch!
 |
| Here's a pretty one! |
 |
| This one was a team effrt - check out the guy smoking while trying to launch a tissue paper balloon |
 |
| Part of Our Team |
 |
| Like this pick of Ceci, Vickie and Anna |
 |
| Matt preparing to launch his KC sports masterpiece |
 |
| The broom girls have an important job...to help keep the balloon upright. But sometimes we caught them goofing off |
 |
| Here it goes! |
 |
| Oh, there it went! |
 |
| Fire crew rushes to stomp out our fire! |
 |
| Junior fire crew help as well |
 |
| This one is really pretty! |
 |
| But didn't fly too well! |
 |
| This one was pretty, and it flew! |
 |
| Vern's globo |
 |
| Kids had so much fun with their foam fights! |
 |
| Matt's new friend....and he tried to swap his taco! |
 |
| Anna checking him out! |
 |
I think she got his phone #!
|
We've also been busy this month preparing for the Barkeritaville fundraiser for the Ranch. The menu was brauts, german potato salad, home made pickles and of course lots of margaritas. My job was to cook the bacon....about 30 pounds of bacon! Was a long day, but lots of fun as I worked with Diane and Vivien and the other potato peelers. The day of the fiesta was beautiful. Matt manned a grill cooking brauts and I dished up plates. We had a great turn out, about 125 people, and made enough money to help keep our dogs fed and cared for.
 |
| Kevin and Bob were the other two grillers! |
 |
| Good pic of Paul and Ceci |
 |
| We had great support from our Chapala friends! Here's Vickie, JC, Ron & Jan |
 |
| Christa & Jack |
 |
| Making important decisions! Do we have enough Margaritas! |
 |
| Gudrun recovered from making 120 pounds of her famous potato salad and looks great! |
 |
| We had our youngest, and cutest, volunteer Isabella selling 50/50 raffle tickets |
 |
| I got to take a break long enough to dance with Paul |
 |
| After party...hanging with Nacho |
 |
| Me, Nacho, Dryden & Paula |
So after this busy month, I'm heading to the US on the 23rd. Going to spend some time with Ryan and Brandee and then head to South Carolina to visit Mike and Karen for a few days. Matt is on dog duty here...hope that goes well for all four of them!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=e6dInJXM
