Viva!

Celebrations started early for the bicentennial, which is officially the 16th of September. After teaching a conversation class for three dedicated students that, to be honest, I was not expecting to show, I made my way to the plaza for my first look at the Independence Day festivities. Walking to the plaza, Mia and I walked past flea-market-style shops block after block selling everything from Mexican flags, mustaches (a must for men celebrating in the plaza), and sombreros to beautiful dresses, shoes and purses.

Once we made it to the plaza entrance we waited in the security line, which to be honest, was more reassuring than disturbing , and began our 200-years-in-the-making experience. I feel so lucky to have been able to be in Mexico for this once in a lifetime event. We were in the square for no more than two minutes we got our faces painted and joined the hundreds, probably thousands, of people taking in all the sites and smells. It was reminiscent of the Taste of Chicago in that there was food and people at every turn, but it also had the intense patriotism and sense of community felt at a small town 4th of July parade. After we made our way through the plazas, we headed back to the Posada to meet the rest of our classmates.

Dinner at La Chata was probably the nicest meal I’ve had since arriving in Guadalajara. Don’t get me wrong, the food in Mexico is delicious. But, I eat most of my meals at taco stands, a standby ahogada lunch spot, the café or my hostel kitchen. This restaurant graciously accommodated our group of 16 gringos better than most restaurants I’ve been to before. The server was extremely friendly, the food came out with no errors and all at the same time, and it was delicious. Before making it back to the plaza for El Grito (a speech during which the crowd parrots the mayor’s cries of Viva Mexico!) we shared a couple cubetas of beer (buckets of 10 bottles of beer) at Kronik. Unlike the afternoon, the security line at 10:30 that night was more than four blocks long. It was worth it to make it to the center, and the line gave people the chance to buy celebratory flags. It was crowded, but not as bad as expected. I was expecting Times Square on New Year’s Eve, but we could move with more than enough room and push forward to the closest screen.

We were a part of the crowd, waiting not so patiently for the mayor. It is amazing how so many anonymous individuals, with different stories, different backgrounds, can come together with a common sentiment to create a crowd bonded by pride and joy. Everyone cheered, chanted Viva! and sang the national anthem. After El Grito there was a spectacular fireworks display. I don’t think I’ve ever been that close to fireworks before, I’m pretty sure I felt the sparks on my arms a couple times. I’m usually not one for fireworks, but this was an exception. The music was perfectly set, and the catherdral and federal building provided a beautiful backdrop and the cheers of the crowd made it impossible not to smile and enjoy the show.

We came across mariachi on the way out. Well, we saw a stage and crowd waiting for a show at first and decided it must be something worth watching. Like many of the shows I’ve been to in Mexico, there was a long, drawn out build up to the main act: music and a recording of snippets of the 200 year history of the country and finally an introduction by a local celebrity and finally the main act. The main act has always been worth the wait. We used this build up time to meet our fellow concert goers. It was quite a melting pot. In our group we had Americans, Brits and Canadians, and next to us were Koreans and of course, the friendly Mexican from California rounded out our united nations of mariachi fans.

After we got our mariachi fix, we met up with the rest of our group who headed straight from El Grito back to the bars. And like most evenings out in Guadalajara, we danced, we drank and we wound up at a gay bar at the end of the night (or really early in the morning). The DJ even incorporated sound bites of El Grito in his techno spinning.