Another week of Celebrations!

Carnival was in full force this week in Progreso as these are the last few days before Lent, and they know how to party!
The beginning of the week was Constitution Day so the flags went up and many businesses, schools and banks were closed...

This is the flag at the end of the Malecon just around the corner from us.
Most every day and evening there were special events and parades held around town. We tried to partake in many of them as we like to get a sense of the way the Mexicans live here.
One night we went to a celebration that involved much dancing...

Do you recognize the dancer?
Lots of monkeys...

And more monkeys...

The little monkey was a cute dancer!

Kings and Queens...We were impressed that they were of all ages such as this beautiful older queen and also the inclusion of people with mental challenges. This culture is very family oriented and inclusive of all members of the family in their events.

A very cute younger King...
And the burning of the OLD MAN which is meant to get rid of all the bad omens...

One of the Queens lit the fuse and then the guy exploded since he was packed with fire crackers. Dangerous!
We also went to Chelem, a smaller town a few kms from Progreso to take it a Carnival Street Party geared to the ex pat crowd.
We took a combi there and had a good laugh at how many people the driver attempted to fit in...

We were in the back seat and we counted 16 people besides the driver.
It was hot so the driver having no air conditioning and non functioning windows tried his best...

On the way to the bus I saw a guy selling these on the sidewalk so of course I asked for a free sample, not bad with a little chili! Though my companions weren't interested in the taste test!

There was good crowd on the go...


Great bands... this Mexican band had lots of energy!
And they brought their fans...

We also had some of the people from Chelem who came off their float to show their dancing skills...

Also did some teaching this week and finally got some pictures of the Grade 6 students...


And my group of mostly boys...

The guy on the right is Henri and he is a keener!
We hold the classes in the library which is really that in name only,very few books and none of the computers work.
Also had a great meal of maro this week which we bought off the beach just in front of us. We were walking along and the fishers were just landing their catch. We chose our fish and they filleted them right there.

Cleaning our fish

A half hour later and it was good!
And finally this was Shrove Tuesday and the last big Carnival event, a parade on the Malecon...
The place was packed...

Many families and a party atmosphere...

The shady side of the street was lined with families who came to enjoy the day...

This family graciously let me take their picture as they enjoyed their picnic.

This float was sponsored by SOL which seems to be one of the more popular cervazas here.

Didn't quite get the meaning of this one,it looked like it was sponsored by a disco.

The kids were waiting on the side as people on the floats were throwing candy and other treats.The little girl in the hat was dancing to all the tunes as the floats passed.

Some kids on the float in their colourful costumes.

Some of them had fancy headgear.

This little girl was sitting by me taking in the sights.

The Canadians here hired a bus to be in the parade.It was full of red and white!

Another Canadian lady who lives here and hoopla hoops everywhere. She has classes on her front porch and a lot of the local people enjoy the activity.It looks like fun,doesn't it?

Some more Mexican beauties...
And these is probably my favourite picture of the day...

Now aren't they just so sweet! They were in the parade but when we walked back they were on the sidewalk dancing.Love their costumes and their smiles.
So another week has passed and another one to look forward to as we continue our Mexican adventure.

Location:Progreso,Yucatan, Mexico