Feria

According to the newspaper here, there are a few big events in September that the government is willing to fund with ever-decreasing pesos: The Independencia, the San Miguelense (birthday of San Miguel), and the Feria (the fair). Apparently the Feria is supposed to bring 150,000 people into town, so I figured it would be worth checking out. The Feria is running for two weeks, sandwiched by the Independencia on September 15, and the San Miguelense on October 2.

So tonight, we got to see what a real Mexican county fair is like. We were there almost two hours, and as often happens, we approach this from the standpoint that if the kids have fun, we have fun. So in no particular order, here's what Bryce and Laurel did:

1. Rode in kid sized toy cars.
2. Went down the inflatable slide several times.
3. Played some sort of gambling game with pictures on dice and a pad to place bets on. We watched for a bit, and the man running the game flipped some 1 peso coins to Laurel to play. She eventually won (payout was 5 to 1), and kept playing for a bit until her money was gone. Bryce played some too.
4. Did a ropes course.
5. Bryce jumped on a trampoline with a harness and a springy rope support.
6. Did a maze of mirrors.
7. Went into the Espejos Locos (crazy mirrors) to see themselves as fat, skinny or otherwise deformed.
8. Laurel rode on a merry-go-round.
9. Did another mini car ride. (Laurel is definitely getting too big for these.)
   
10. Bryce and I did bumper cars.
11. Finished the evening seeing the tail end of a seal act.

It was similar to an American fair, with the exception of gambling-lite, and lots of Mexican food available. They had a lot of the standard carny games, but it was nice to see active things like the ropes course, a climbing wall, and a zip line.

As we were leaving, we saw a sign for a Pelenque. I asked the cab driver what that was, and we eventually figured out it was for cock-fighting. There was a pretty big tent set up for this, but it's definitely not something we'll take the kids to see.

Here's some pictures:



Laurel on the merry-go-round


Bryce's kiddie car ride



Laurel on the ropes course


Gambling-lite


House of crazy mirrors. Is this Bryce or Sue?