Independence Day here in Mexico is technically on the sixteenth of September, but the country celebrates it the night of the fifteenth. Most holidays here are celebrated the night before.
I wanted to go to the Grito - no one else did. I can understand why the "elderly" wouldn't want to go. It's a crazy day, and there are thousands of people all smooshed into a few blocks of space. But these young people need to get out and live a little! Nicole said she was going to be too tired; Abner didn't want to deal with the transportation situation so late at night.
After much begging and cajoling, I finally convinced Nicole to go with me to the Grito.
Abner was required to go by the higher-ups - we are prohibited from going anywhere by ourselves on this day. He graciously agreed to come, after a little bit of bribing.
Nicole and I arrived at the designated meeting place first. Providentially, there was a Krispy Kreme donut shop there, which Nicole took advantage of. She said the main reason she went out was to EAT.
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| First food of then night - Chocolate donut |
I got an apple drink.
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| #nofilter...Lol. My camera was acting up, apparently. I'm actually like...super tan in real life. Ha. Ha. | Ha. |
*skin comparison contest!*
We'd actually arrived way too early in our over-excitement so we walked around the mall looking at the different stores.
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| Found this little guy in the pet store |
Finally we all arrived in the beautifully decorated Zocalo.
We had high hopes for dinner, but ended up just eating at McDonald's. McDonald's!?!
Yes, McDonald's. It turned out okay though because we ended up with the best seats in the house. Second story, front row, looking out on to all of the exciting happenings in the center of town.
I had a deck of UNO cards in my purse so we put those to good use while Nicole ate a McFlurry and we watched the show outside.
The Grito (the yell?) is given at 11pm so a few minutes before then we headed out to brave the crowds.
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| This was as close as we could get, and it looks like a bad view but.... |
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| ...zoom in and there is the governor! |
As a refresher for those of you that don't remember what the grito is -
It is when the governor of Puebla goes out onto the balcony of the governor's mansion on Independence Day and does a serious of "Viva Mexico", viva this, and viva that.
"Long live Mexico!!"
He yells first then the people yell back. He then rings a big bell over and over again while the people sing the national anthem. It is awesome!!
After singing, he rings the bell again and fireworks start going off like crazy. It is pretty exciting.
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| Totally unscripted shot of us watching the fireworks...ha. |
Before having access to the center of town where the governor is, you must go through security. It really is nonsensical. The police take stuff from people that make their whole gig just look flat-out suspicious. For example, no one was allowed to pass with an umbrella. And it was a rainy evening. C'mon!! There were tons of umbrellas everywhere. We went back to get ours afterwards, but someone had stolen it, which wasn't surprising. It was a nice umbrella - from Costco - haha.
We were bent over from laughter during this ordeal and even coaxed some laughs out of the police standing around. We contemplated just bringing an armful back home to compensate for the one we'd lost, but no one really wanted to carry around 15 dollar store umbrellas for the rest of the night.
(and that would have been stealing.)
After coming out on the other side of security, it was time to find some good food!
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| Flans and strawberries and creme |
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| Chalupas - These were the best!!!!! |
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| Carne asada and longaniza tacos |
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| Cemitas |
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| Some sort of chocolate milk, although it was mostly foam and a couple centimeters of acutal milk |
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| Corn! |
After exploring the food options, tasting new things, and walking all over the place, we headed home for the final shabang of the night.
Literal shabang.
The school is definiely "multi-uso"!
Good for many things.
Good for many things.
Instead of throwing a firework then running for cover in the opposite direction, we could just throw them out the window and watch the explosion happen. No fuss, just pure fun - lol!
I don't have many pictures of this...my pyromaniac side had come out and the photographer one had taken a backseat.
Happy Independence Day!
~Bethany~
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