Cinco de Mayo Parade

We got up bright and early on Cinco de Mayo to go watch the parade. I had asked a lady in my church what time it was going to start and she told me 9 am. We got there right at nine and got a pretty good spot. There were already a TON of people and hardly and decent spots to sit in with a good view of the street. We ended up buying a few wooden fold-up chairs from a street vendor. We were raring to go! 

The many street vendors. They were selling wigs, fake mustaches, chips, drinks, fruit, fake spiders, puppets, headbands, tamales, coffee....and lots more.

The parade was supposed to start at any time. Helicopters, airplanes, and even a drone flew over head, getting the crowd pumped up.

My first time to see a drone...it looks like a spider, but sounds like a giant beetle.

 Just when you think it can't get any more crowded.....THINK AGAIN! In Mexico, you can always fit one more!

Here, my parade neighbor is practically sitting on my arm :) Apparently she liked to snuggle as well lol! 

 

Our spot in the crowd

 

 At one point Austin and I escaped from the sidelines and went to stretch our legs, and see what there was to see.

 

We found blaring loud music and people on stilts. 

 

 

 After over 4 hours of waiting and cooking our skin in the sun (!!!) the parade finally started! (I am sure I was badly informed on the time...lol! But at least we got a good seat!)

 

 I did not take a ton of pictures, but here are the few I did get!

The army

 

The nurses

 Whenever a group of women would pass by, the ladies in the crowd would chant, "Mujeres! Mujeres!" (Meaning "women".) To me, that is strange! It seems like they should be going crazy for the men in uniform, but hey...that's just me. Mexicans looove women in authority.

 

 

 This dear little girl was responsible for showering me in confetti. Augh.

The virgin of Guadalupe....apparently she has very large hips!

 All of the floats in the parade were absolutely outstanding!!! They were awesome! This one honored the USA and had Lincoln riding on the back. Pretty cool!

As you can see, the horses were our favorite part of the parade. There were tons of them - so beautiful. 

After the parade, we went to Italianni's for lunch. 

 

 Our yummy dessert deserves a picture...some sort of apple pie with vanilla bean ice cream. Yum!

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Cinco de Mayo. Honestly, I do not really understand why the US pays attention to this holiday when even the country of Mexico hardly does. The only reason why Puebla celebrates it so grandly is because the battle was fought here. But, oh well! Any reason to have a party, right? 

~Bethany~