Life's a Parade
Despite the Malecón having
a bad case of psoriasis, dog-eared by stacks of ladrillos
and suffering margins torn apart by untimely civic renovation
ambitions, this year's Carnival parade went off with
acceptable levels of mayhem and confusion. Cars driving
into town where stopped at the glorieta and left to
either find alternate routes to their destination or
skulk about the neighborhood to find a place to park
for the festivities. Vehicles that drove up to the pumps
of the Pemex were offered an exit directly into the
flank of the assembling dancers and parade floats.
The parade, scheduled to begin
at 1PM, swung into action just after 2:30, which was
almost a local land-speed record for punctuality. The
theme for this year's colorful procession was 'The Jungle'
and there were lots of grass huts, tropical foliage
and costumes-gone-native surging down Avenida Chetumal.
An odd addition to the collection which generally held
to the chosen theme, was a Chinese Dancing Dragon.
Some of the trucks parked along
the avenue's curb could pull your attention away from
the passing floats. Many of the truck beds were converted
into mini-patios, complete with furniture, coolers with
food and beverages, and even sun umbrellas. Whole families
were huddled in comparative luxury to watch the festivities
from these verandas-on-wheels.
The weather was sunny and although
a little breezy, not unfriendly to the afternoon's rolling
tropical forest.
Hopefully the Malecón
will be ready for next year's celebration. As you can
see from a few of the photos, it will certainly not
be ready for this year's Baja 250 Technical Inspection.
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