Independence Day/Noise/Misc

Mexican Independence Day holiday is the 16th, but the party is the 15th. We could hear music and shouting until well after 2:00 am. It was raining most of the night, but that didn't seem to stop the party. VIVA MEXICO!!!! All in all, the music didn't bother us much. We went to the parade on the 16th(pictures attached). It was mostly the school children marching, and a few horses and the Queens (Check out that crown). The entire day was very quiet. It was our anniversary (14 years), so we looked around for some place to eat, but most was closed. We did find a taco stand that was pretty good, and the kids behaved well. That is the summary of the holiday.

Noise. I want to mention the noise around here. You would not believe it. After living in the almost country, I thought Glade Road was a bit noisy with the traffic. That place has nothing on here. The roosters are crowing at all times of day. Dogs are kept on roofs as security, so depending on the house, a dog will bark at you from the roof. The trash trucks go rumbling by early in the morning. There are NO inspections of ANY kind here, so things are very noisy. Missing mufflers and bolts are very common. Also, the streets are all rocks, so even the nicer cars are noisy. People drive by with the music blasting. The spirit of the Mexican economy is to sell something. The water delivery and gas (propane) trucks drive by with speakers on their roofs shouting the price of gas and that they are there if you want it. People push wheel barrows down the street full of buckets of corn, tamales, taquitos, and just about anything you could sell. We never fail to be offered watches or baskets on certain streets. There is even a guy that drives around every Wednesday in our town selling litro's of bleach, fabric softener, pinesol, etc. Bring your own bottle, and it is even cheaper. The ice cream guy rolls his cooler down the street, and somehow people know to run out and make their purchase. It is overwhelming, and awesome all at the same time. Most of the stores close up from about 2:30-4:00 pm for siesta, but that is easily the noisiest time of the day. I guess they know people are at home, so they concentrate their efforts.

Joe and I took the kids to the Malecon in Chapala on Friday night. We go there occasionally just for fun. I am attaching pictures of the area. There has been an infestation of hiasynth at the lake. It looks almost like grass in the pictures, but it is the water. Charallitos. Basically just fried sardines with hot sauce and lime juice. Great with a beer! Alan enjoying his snow cone.