Category Archives: Events and Holidays

Rocio IV’s Coronation, El Buki and Combate Naval

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Queen Rocio IV and El Buki sing together on stage!

The biggest night of Carnavál 2015, Sueños de Momo/Dreams of Momo, was last night, Saturday. At what a night it was!!! The realest and most relaxed queen we’ve seen in our eight years here (did she ever enjoy her coronation!), an incredible show by Marco Antonio Solís (El Buki), and the best Combate Naval fireworks show EVER!

The coronation this year was only an hour long—a huge improvement, in my opinion. A few years ago when David Bisbal came, he was only allowed to perform in concert for an hour, because the pomp and circumstance had gone on so long. This year rocked! The dance numbers were crisp, we met the 25th and 50th anniversary queens (both of whom look unbelievably good!), Maestro Jorge González Neri was feted for his 25 years with Carnavál, and we were able to crown a queen, all in about an hour. Queen Rocio IV’s court had the theme of the Phoenix bird, and she was greeted by dancers representing Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. Click on any photo to enlarge or view a slideshow.

Momo, icon of this year’s Carnavál theme
Rocío Uribe becomes Queen Rocio IV of Carnavál 2015
Libia Zulema Farriols, celebrating 25 years since her coronation as Queen of the Floral Games
Libia Zulema Farriols, celebrating 25 years since her coronation as Queen of the Floral Games
Maestro Jorge González Neri, receiving Carnavál’s Award for Artistic Merit, for his 25 years of service designing our floats
Dance performances were crips
María Elena Rodríguez, celebrating 50 years since her coronation as Queen of the Floral Games
María Elena Rodríguez, celebrating 50 years since her coronation as Queen of the Floral Games
Rocío IV, Queen of Carnavál 2015
Governor Malova and Mayor Felton greeting Rocio IV
Fireworks from inside the stadium
Queen Rocio IV of Carnavál 2015

After the gorgeous ceremonies and the fireworks, we were introduced to Marco Antonio Solís, who sang for a little over two hours. He seemed sincerely thrilled to be in Mazatlán, and confused when the crowd booed our Governor Malova and Mayor Felton. And they booed them twice during the evening! I was impressed that El Buki knew the names of the Queen and her four princesses, as well as the Governor, though he flubbed Mayor Carlos Felton’s name. Oops.

El Buki sang, played guitar and drums, and danced a few numbers as well—one a cowboy-type number and the other with Carnavál dancers. His voice has aged very well and is still wonderful; we truly enjoyed the concert. I have always loved his music, and that he is such a popular composer as well as performer. It is an incredible feeling to be in a stadium with 15,000 people all singing along to a performer! Many thanks to our friend Jeanette who purchased tickets for us and got us such great seats!

If you read this blog you know that our friends Cathy and Bill have a good friend who impersonates El Buki here in town. We were thrilled that last night they gave him a huge cameo on the video screens—he was sitting right up front! Very cool!

El Buki is introduced
Rocio IV gets her first of two kisses (plus a hand kiss) from Marco Antonio

It rained on and off all evening, though it seemed to be drying up by the time we got home around 2:30. Fortunately it was just a persistent drizzle, and didn’t impact the concert or the fireworks.

Here you can see the rain
You can see the rain through the lights and smoke

You probably know as well as I do that if you want to see Combate Naval, do NOT attend Saturday night’s coronation. Unless, of course, like the Queen and other dignitaries, you have a police escort. It has always been very difficult to get through traffic and then through the security lines, in time to get into the party zone to see the fireworks after the coronation events in the stadium. With the new highway and Carnavál’s increasing popularity, however, it is next to impossible.

Last night a good friend was waiting to drive us straight to a friend’s house downtown. We were to watch the fireworks from their roof. We didn’t make it, despite our planning and best efforts. We still saw the fireworks, but not from our friend’s roof nor from inside the party zone. They were spectacular. I can only imagine how great they were on the ground in the zone!

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Here is the Noroeste video, taken from the party zone:

In my opinion the crowds and the traffic during Carnavál have really gotten overwhelming. Carnavál de Mazatlán has long been one of the world’s most terrific events, accessible to the public and family-friendly. However, it has outgrown its historical spaces and ways, and we sincerely hope it will be re-envisioned a bit in future years. Olas Altas can not hold 35,000 people comfortably or safely. Last night people entering the party zone were refused admittance several times during the night, as the crowds inside were at capacity, forcing those outside into long, long lines of waiting. The crowds got upset so the ticket booths temporarily shut down. The Plaza Machado was also very crowded, and with a distinctively young, twenty-something crowd.

We can’t wait for the parade today! As usual, we have our chairs set up on the malecón, right at street level, so we can dance with the dancers as they come by. We had a visit from the Oficialia Mayor, who wanted to make sure we weren’t renting out chairs. We showed them our rental receipt, and assured them the chairs were all for friends and family. More on the parade later. Have a wonderful first parade, everybody!

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Rocio Durcal and Jenni Rivera in Mazatlán

Rocio Durcal impersonator

Rocio Durcal impersonator

God bless the drag queens! The Miss Universo Carnavál Mazatlán beauty pageant was last night, and we thoroughly enjoyed attending. I had no idea we had so many queens in Mazatlán! The Diamond Show Center in Olas Altas was filled, the huge lineup of judges included several of our expat favorites, and past, present and future queens were on hand—as were Rocio Durcal and Jenni Rivera (impersonators in drag)!

A past queen
The event center was filled
Some of the judges
Some of the judges

I have long wanted to attend this event, but 2015 is the first year I’ve been able to do so. It was much more serious/low-key than similar events I’ve attended in Tokyo, Frankfurt, or San Francisco, and naturally so.

I was warmly accompanied by a bevy of non-drag beauties, who hung out with me prior to and during the show. Ms. Ginger wrangled us primo seats as well, between the dressing room and the stage. Sadly for me, my camera battery died very early on in the evening, so many of the photos you see are taken with my old cell phone.

My grrrrrl power partners last night
Luis is back!
Our seats were between the dressing room and the stage
Our seats were between the dressing room and the stage
Our seats were between the stage and the dressing room

We had a drink at Copa de Leche and were able to watch as many of the show’s stars arrived. It felt like being on the red carpet!

Candidates and performers arrive
Candidates and performers arrive

“Beauty with a Purpose” organizes this annual fundraiser. Last night’s pageant was in benefit of this beauty, who is suffering facial paralysis. Past fundraisers have supported cancer and HIV patients, as well as those with heart conditions. P1250723

The Diamond Show Center is spacious and comfortable, and our service was outstanding! Thank you, Ramón!

Winner of the competition last night was Ms. Puerto Rico, center in the photo below. She had a huge crowd of very loud fans, who waved flags and giant letters spelling out her name, Fany.

Photo credit: Sandy Hill Pool

Photo credit: Sandy Hill Pool

Our table’s favorite was Ms. Colombia, in the photo below. She won “Ms. Personality.” You can see why. Thanks to Sandy, a talented photographer who had front-row judge seats, for permission to use both these photos!

Photo credit: Sandy Hill Pool

Photo credit: Sandy Hill Pool

The winner of the evening, to me, was the beautiful queen who, in the midst of her song, started to strip off her garments, her wig, even her bra, to reveal the man’s body beneath! God bless him for the confidence to do that on stage; it brought tears to the eyes of many of us in the audience. I unfortunately do not know his name to share with you. Thanks to Susie for the pic below, which she was able to catch from her cell phone.

Photo credit: Susie Morgon Lellero

Photo credit: Susie Morgon Lellero

Bless Mazatlán for all its diversity, beauty, and incredible people! It is a privilege to live here.

Annual Schedule for Carnavál de Mazatlán

Those of us who are privileged to live in Mazatlán either look forward to Carnavál as the best event all year, or hightail it out of town as the tourists pour in to enjoy this most wonderful event. Carnavál here is a festival of the people. Teenagers rehearse their dance moves for months, and joyfully don their costumes for the big parade days. There are events for children, for adults, and for the whole family to enjoy. Each year the party zone includes dozens of live bands playing each of the six nights of Carnavál, plus four main concerts/coronations.

Each of the coronations involves the pomp and circumstance of the coronation itself, dance performances and music, a concert by a major national or international performer, and a gorgeous fireworks show. Attendance at at least one if not several of these is a must!

The schedule of the main events for Carnavál doesn’t change year-to-year, although the dates do. In 2015 Carnavál de Mazatlán is February 12th through 17th. It is always the six days prior to Ash Wednesday.

PLEASE NOTE: In 2015 on Monday night it appears there will NOT be a second fireworks show on the malecón as in prior years, but instead a concert by Espinoza Paz in the Olas Altas party zone at 10 pm.

In the past, I’ve published a schedule to help people remember what happens when and where. In this age of infographics, it’s now possible for me to create and share one with you. I hope you’ll print it off for easy reference, and that it will help you plan your very busy and fun-filled week! If you click on the infographic below, it’ll take you to a page where you’ll see it larger, and you can view it even larger again in “presentation mode” on the upper left of that screen. This is my first time to make an infographic, so thank you for helping learn to do it as well as possible.

Don’t forget that we have loads of posts about past Carnavál events, as well as numerous videos on the VidaMaz YouTube channel. Here’s the infographic; please share it around!

See you at Carnavál!

Carnaval Schedule 2015

 

 

The People You Touch

DSC_0808 Faces and Places of Colonia San Antonio

Every year we are privileged to be able to help the Medina family and all the others who help out with Desayuno de los Pollos. This year, thanks to help from so many of YOU, we have already been able to purchase 2500 whole chickens and pack up 1500 packs of despensas, or 10 days worth of food. This should feed about 13,000 families this year. We also take gently used clothes, toys and candy to share. In the slideshow below are photos of just a few of the people you touch. And, of course, they are people who very much touch us back in turn, making our holidays bright. (Click the arrows in the slideshow below to view photos more quickly. Please let me know what you think of these portraits! Thanks!)

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Yesterday I went out, as usual, with Yolanda and Jorge, to meet with community leaders of Colonia San Antonio. We handed out about 900 (!) tickets for food to members of the community. Why is this important? Because Colonia San Antonio, as so many other colonias on the outskirts of town (we give out food along 7-9 routes every year; San Antonio is just one of them), is an invasión. This means that the land on which the houses are built is privately owned, and the people living there are squatters. Normal procedure in these circumstances is that poor people move in, “squat” on the land, build homes out of pallets, recycled tarp, or even cardboard or metal. Eventually they band together and string electrical wire for themselves, and lay pipes for water. They have now done this in Colonia San Antonio.

Five or so years ago, when we first started going there to hand out chickens, they had neither water nor electricity. Now they do. I don’t see any transformers or breakers or anything, pretty much just a very long extension cord running from house to house. But, they do have electricity. Once the community grows large and successful enough, the city, or municipio, decides to access the colonia. The city pays the landowner for the land, and the people living in the invasión are required to start paying taxes.

The good news is, the squatters get to own their land and their homes. Some of the people who occupy the land in these invasiones, however, do not live there full time. Some come out to visit the homes they have only on the weekend, like a (very basic) country house. Others farm the land, but live in town. They basically squat as a way of making (a bit of) money, eventually, when the city decides to give the squatters a deed to the land they occupy.

Yolanda, Jorge and I go out here to meet with community leaders, so that they can take us around, home to home. They can tell us who lives here full time, and who only happens to be here once in a while. The community leaders tell us which families are most in need (maybe they need two chickens or packs of food, or extra clothing), and which are doing better than others. In this way, we can be as equitable as possible in what we hand out. This week, we were there from about 10 am till 2:00 pm.

It is one of my favorite days of the year. I am able to meet with incredible community leaders, people who themselves have fallen on hard times, don’t have much in the way of money, but who have the caring and the fortitude, the vision and the sense of justice, to better their communities. I also have the privilege to meet the people I’ve met with over the past five or so years that we’ve been going to Colonia San Antonio. I get to visit with people we know, and get a glimpse into how people there live.

This year, I made a point of taking photos of two things: the faces and the places of Colonia San Antonio. The first slide show, above, is of some of the faces of this invasión. You can see the joy, the dignity, and the difficulty these people experience every day. I have so very much to learn from so many of these people. I am so grateful to be able to meet with them and, hopefully, share with them a bit of joy and ease their burden just a bit.

The second slide show, below, is of the places: the homes, stores, and plazas of this colonia. It amazes me how simply people here live, how hard they work for what they have, yet how clean they keep their homes, the care and love they bestow on their children. How, despite the dust EVERYWHERE, most everyone has clean clothes and skin and hair. Nearly every home is decorated for the holidays, and many of them have beautiful demonstrations of religiosity as well, especially for the Virgen de Guadalupe. (Click on the arrows in the slideshow below to view all photos more quickly.)

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You are most welcome to join us on Christmas Eve morning, Wednesday this week, to caravan out to the 7-9 routes we’ll go on and hand out chickens, food, clothes, toys and candy. We’ll meet at Quince Letras downtown, 6:30 am if you have a pickup truck, 7:00 am if you are coming to help out. We should be finished by noon. Merry Christmas and see you Wednesday morning!
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Part of the #MyGlobalLife Link-Up.

Santa’s Here Early!

1.P1220988I know many of you wonder why we live on the malecón. Isn’t it noisy? Yes, it is! And we love it! We get a parade at least once, sometimes several times a week. It is wonderful. Certain seasons of the year, we get several parades every day.

This evening, just as we were winding down from work, who should show up but Santa himself? I guess he got cold at the North Pole! It was a few Pepsi trucks, and Santa and his elves were handing out soda to those along the malecón. Now I hate that sugary sodas are causing diabetes and obesity in this country, but it sure was making everyone happy to see the jolly old man, and it sure was a nice transition from the work day to the evening for Greg and me. Bless you, Santa!

By the way, have you been wondering where the city will be holding the Feria de Navidad/Christmas Fair that they’ve held the last few years in the Bosque/city park? It will be December 19th through January 6th, 6:00-11:00 pm, at Salon Bacanora on Rafael Buelna. Entry, all rides (10 child rides, 9 family rides, and 3 “extreme” rides) and artistic presentations are completely free of charge. Refreshments will be available. Take the kids and grandkids! It’s always been a lot of fun.