Groups

Sue and I picked the kids up from school today, and had decided to do a nice in-town day. As usual, they were ravenous, so we went to Hecho en Mexico for lunch, then afterward to the local playground at Parque Juarez. There we met a group of Gringo moms, and we quickly made friends with them. (Update: Sue called this the "Mother Lode".) One family from Baltimore - Sam and Ann - brought some wine later on. All these families had moved here, and had kids in the various schools, and we connected with them instantly. Bryce and Laurel made new friends too. We stayed for a while, and then decided to go to the Jardin next, and our new friends would meet us there.

Apparently, today was the 300th birthday of someone who founded a church here in San Miguel, and you know what that means: Fiesta! When we got to the Jardin, there were two big music stages set up, and lots of people milling around. The kids played tag, and Bryce bought a yo-yo (all by himself - in Spanish!). We met another mom also named Ann - who moved here with her three boys. Turns out she is Griffin's mom. She also has a soon-to-be-8-year-old named William, who played well with Bryce and Laurel.

At 8 PM, Sue and the kids went home, and I stayed around to check out the festivities. One of the bands took the stage, and they were pretty fun to watch. Then I noticed a bunch of people dancing in another part of the Jardin - on the street. I went over there, and there were about 80 people - all in masks - dancing behind a pickup truck with a DJ and huge speakers. Around the corner from them, another group of people in masks and costumes were dancing behind another pickup truck and DJ. The taxi driver later told me these are called "Groupos Locos" - or "crazy groups" - and they often take to the streets to dress up and dance during various fiestas. Apparently, there are as many as 50 such groupos here in San Miguel. Sometimes they travel to other towns, and sometimes groupos locos from other towns travel here. June 14 is apparently a big day for the groupos locos.

As I was getting ready to leave, I walked toward a street where I could get a taxi, and I heard a loud explosion. Someone had just set off a firework about 60 feet from me, and it went up into the sky and made a huge flowery light show directly above me. A couple more went off a minute later. This was the first time I had ever been so close to the launch of fireworks. It was really cool.