The Snowbird
Festival, November 28, 2003
Avenida Mar de Baltico crosses Chetumál,
the main artery of San Felipe, two blocks east of the Sea of
Cortez. For the past three weeks Baltico has been blocked
to traffic. During that time a backhoe has been been gradually
chewing up the road until, about five days ago it crossed Chetumál
just in time for the Snowbird Festival. Now not only is traffic
stopped two blocks
short of the Malecón, but the water supply has been cut
off in the downtown area while a man stands inside a thirty
foot pit with a shovel steadily saluting the air over his left
shoulder, the redolent smell of sewage riding the stiff breeze
to the bladder-challenged crowd gathered a block away.
Of course this means that every toilet and sink
for a radius of several blocks have become caricatures of themselvess,
little more functional than plant stands. While beer and sodas
flow, people walk the sidewalks like mailmen burdened with full
bags, seeing no house for miles in any direction.
It's not as if the Snow Bird Festival is something
that was sprung on the town at a moment's notice. The celebration
has been as regular as the tide for over a decade. And it's
not as if the road at Baltico and Chetumál suddenly cracked
like an unannounced nervous breakdown. Saw horses, yellow tape,
hoses and pumps have been strewn about the intersection for
nearly a month. The intersection of the two events seems more
than synchronous. It points at some kind of arcane planning
ability. Or perhaps it reveals the real dialectic behind historic
clashes --namely, one event is nursed along, nurtured to a high
degree of self preservation, until another event appears and
intersects it. Then presto! --instant chaos.
This year the Snowbird Festival deploys two words
into the breeze above the heads of the crowd. Both are spoken
with a certain degree of urgency and desperation. And both share
a kind of centripetal purpose, so there is no confusion in their
meaning. One is Spanish, the other English. They have come to
replace the usual greeting between a norteamericano and a Mexicano.
This year instead of Hola or Hello, you'll
hear a voice ask Baño? and another, appearing
not to have heard, reply, Washroom?
|
- Free Admission
- Door Prizes
- Exhibits
- Free Food
- Raffles
|
2004
Ucoming Events
November 26th |
Annual Return
of Snowbirds |
- Tourist Info
- Refreshments
- Folk Dancing
- Music
|
2007
| 2006 |
2005