CARNIVAL!!

Carnivals are all about Food, Beverage, and various entertainment. This particular one had plenty of all. One of the tricky things to do is to allow your brain to accept all of the fascinating "amplified noise" and think of it is a strange symphony. Vast amounts of Tequila helped.

Who could resist a Burrito with ingredients from these colorful pottery containers, presentation means a lot. Wish I could get some of these containers home. Guess that I will have to get out the pottery wheel and make our own.

How about some Chocolate covered and or just deep fried bananas for starters

This was the Dancing Horse Contest. The Big Brass Band Blared out a heavy beat as the various horses danced in the square. To touch the white line was a automatic disqualification. The best of show, for me, was a Big Black highly spirited Stallion. He took his place in the square and started dancing on Q, after a few minuets, he reared up pawing the air in tune, came down and proceeded to walk on three sides of the line then stepped out side of the line in defiance and completed his dance. Definitely the best of show in my book, with out any explanation, you just knew what the horse was thinking and the rider was just along for the ride.

Back to Food and variety, how about Golden Roasted Baby Goat or hot dogs different than I have ever seen. And I did didn't try the hotdogs but the goat was delicious

How about some roasted Quail or for some strange reason, Rabbits with heads on, Barb said that was so you could tell that they were not cats.

Talk about a bunch of Screaming kids. The activity in this shot really deserved a video. Most of these activity things would be illegal in the over regulated USA. What a pleasure to go back in time to the "unregulated times" when people were responsible for their own actions and there were still such things as accidents.

A big part of the thrill of this whole carnival was watching the work progress in the week previous to the opening. Barb and I do a morning walk in the park that is literally on the shore of the lake. You can imagine our wonderment as we watched this Arena being set up in Two days by 8 men. These guys were hustling and moving every minuet. We also wondered how this Carnival could last from the 9th to the 20th of Feb. Well last it did and with the Grand fanelly coming last night with "Fat Tuesday" We left for our house, two blocks away at 10:30 and there were still lines of people waiting to get in. Sat on our front balconey and the people were still streaming toward the Park at midnight. That is when the main attraction started, Marko Solis. Would have loved to take it in but know one is going to keep me up that late.

This photo was taken on the morning of the third day. As you can see, the arena is complete and will seat 3,600 people. We seen it filled to capacity on two of our visits. The roar of the crowd in this perfectly round setting is truly amazing. I am certain that the roar of the crowd is a compelling force for most entertainers. I know that the matadors seem to thrive on it.

And of coarse there was the nightly chicken Bouts, but I won't get in to that again. Got too much static from the last description. However, it is a highly regarded activity and in the final rounds, the purse was for 50,000 pesos. Very serious business.

And of coarse there was an ample supply of beautiful young girls and you just know that they all loved Santa, and why just hug up one when you can hug up two.

How about a Night Cap. Tequila anyone, The popular exotic drinks were $3 and we had our share.

A popular serving was this vertical BBQ. They would stack this marinated steak on this skewer and slowly roast it in front of the charcoal fire. The would continually shave off the cooked outer layer and serve it in tacos, Yummy and again, what a great presentation. Actually we thought that it dried it out a little more than we would have liked it but the flavor was sure there.

What is a Carnival with out a parade? So for starters how about a real Unicorn and a Elegant White Angel. A great costume and a wonderful beginning for a parade. A big change from the fire trucks and politicians at home.

Rides, Rides and more Rides, I thought that this one depicting the Statue Of Liberty was very interesting. We were there this evening with hundreds of screaming children, flashing lights, blaring music "amplified noise" and the ambiance was thrilling and the battery in my camera was dead.

We also found this one of the burning sky scraper surrounded by emergency vehicles, to be of peculiar interest. Not really sure of the message here but none the less interesting.

How about the House of Crazy Women, another peculiar one. I didn't know that they had a house for them. But here it is.

Back to the Bull Fights, These two mounted Matadors are the best in the business and were the featured attraction. The grace and skill of their art was amazing. Moving in such proximity of serious injury of both horse and rider, was a true display of some amazing horse man ship. Horses were the main theme of the carnival and there were over 200 on the grounds, some worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And what is a parade with a giant Clown. you should have heard the children squeal as this agile clown a full 8 foot tall ambled up the street dancing to the multitude of music.

How about two Giant Clowns. How they walk/dance on these rough streets, is more that I will ever know.

Then you have to have a bunch of young copper skinned beauties shaking there round little butts to the rapid cadence of this hot salsa music. Iee carumba

Not sure but I think that this group was advertising for a local night club. Great act with live jazz music.

This colorful group really knew how to "shake that thing" to a lively Percussion beat.

And then you have to have the Legendary Tiger Queen of the Jungle, looked powerfully convincing to me. Didn't see Tarzan but I know that he was near by.

This sure looked like a Float from Hawaii but I think it actually represented an indigenous Ritual. It sure was precious. We sure could use a bunch of these grass skirts at the Holler.

A real princes on wonderful float of young people, what a wonderful site and what poise for young children.