Monday p.m. – It’s later in the afternoon and we’ve been into Huatabampo and found a wireless mouse for the laptop – thank goodness. The only problem is – when I’m using my wireless mouse it wants to interfere with Bill’s wireless mouse. Hope they’re not trying to make little meecies.
And today the fog didn’t burn off until around 3 o’clock.
When we were in Yavaros one of the fishermen told us that that the little town of La Savila (between Huatabampito and Huatabampo) would be having a fiesta to commemorate the Virgin of Guadalupe that afternoon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe
So Saturday afternoon at 5:00 we drove up to the little town to check out the festivities. Driving through town over the eight [count them – 8] topes we didn’t see any gatherings. So stopped and asked an old man sitting beside the road under a tree where the fiesta was. He told us to back tract to just after the canal. Back we went and found a roadside shrine honoring the Virgin Guadalupe. (It was nearing dusk so my pictures and video aren’t real bright but I hope you enjoy them anyway.)
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| The roadside Shrine |
Just as we got there a white pick up truck with a couple of musicians in the bed with their drums and big speakers came up the dirt road towards us. It was followed by a large group of people.
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| Flower trimed picture in back ground |
Some were carrying a big banner/flag and others carried a large elaborate painting of the Virgin that was framed with flowers. They stopped at the shrine and a prayer was said. Then they continued down the small dirt track that ran along the road.
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| The begining of the procession |
We fell in line behind several other cars. And several cars driving along the road pulled off and in behind us. We were made to feel very welcome.
As an aside I have to mention the pickup in front of us with the two guys riding in the bed. From time to time they would bend over and pull a can of liquid libation out of a cooler and refresh themselves. And from time to time those empty cans would fly out of the truck.
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| Joyous Occasion |
The procession wound its way through the entire village. Gathering more and more people as it followed the twists and turns of the narrow roads. Some homes had put out tables with flowers and pictures of the Virgin. At each of these the procession stopped and prayed.
We continued on past the humble homes with their big vegetable gardens, the chickens scratching in the dirt and the cows penned up next door.
A lot of the yards also had beautiful rose bushes and bougainvilleas growing in and around them.
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| Multi-colored bougainvilleas |
The entire way was decorated with colorful paper flags.
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| Colorful paper flags lined the route |
Wish I had taken a picture of the teenager who was following the procession and filming it with the web cam on his laptop. Streaming video! The old and the new. Most of the people were older women but still lots of men and younger people too.
There were 15 people in this truck – most of them young boys.
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| Fully Loaded |
We stayed with the procession until they stopped a home and honored the woman of the house. We really couldn’t tell what was going on but it seemed very joyous – especially when they started to sing.
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| Our last stop was here |
We slowly drove away. It was a very moving event for us.
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