Grito from Valladolid

I’ll keep typing as long as I can feel my fingers but I can’t be held responsible for typos as I’m typing from a FREEZER. Jamie and Pike keep the A/C set to “FROZEN” and when i’m in the trailer it works as Ellen and I simply load up the sleeping bags and wool caps and we’re set. Here in the hotel, however, we have a sheet and a thin bedspread. Add to the fact that Valladolid has a monopoly on the rainy season and you end up refrigerating a room that is cold (due to rain) to begin with. Last night Ellen and I wore all our clothes to bed and I am happy to say we have survived another night in the arctic temperatures of our room.

My monkey brain is going everywhere with events and memories so I’m not even going to try to be c

My previous memories of Valladolid were of dragging the trailer through town, one of many small towns we got lost in and dragged our monstrosity around, so the memories weren’t exactly happy. Mainly me yelling at Jamie asking WHY he directed me this way (he’s the navigator) and him yelling that signs and sinage in Mexico are nonsensical and I don’t think we even noticed it was colonial. But it is and it is absolutely LOVELY. Maybe I’ll get some pictures this morning as we get the sun in the morning. The hotel is nothing really to speak of – room is ok – but we have THREE beds (the main reason I got this hotel) and room for everyone. Of course, of the king, the double and the twin that the room holds, Ellen decides, after 6 years of sleeping ONLY with me, that she wants the twin. To herself. And then Sissy says the same. At home neither girls would ever consider sleeping alone but they love little beds in hotels. She realy needs the room, though, as she takes the entire middle of the king and has Jesse and myself clinging to the sides of the bed hoping to keep from falling off.

This was our first grito and as such, we enjoyed it immensely. We have spent a good amount of time in Dolores Hidalgo and have seen Hidalgo’s childhood home as well as the Aldondiga in Zacatecas, so the history was very palpable to the kids. I don’t think I’m wrong in supposing that they know the story of Mexico’s independence better than that of US independence from British rule.  The kids and I popped in and out of the zocalo most of the early evening, but the rain really either kept attendance down or this is a really low-key Grito.  There was a footrace around 8pm that I really didn’t get the significance (if any) of and there was a serious partay going on in the Casa de Cultura.  I supposed, due to our experience in Cozumel at Carnaval, that the action would probably be at the Casa de Cultura with their gracious balconies and all evening I kept expecting bead necklaces to come raining down to us peons below.  Pretty quickly a stage was setup (in the rain) and chairs put out in front of it (in the rain) and all the little food stands put tarps or plastic over themselves to protect from (yes) the rain.

Around 10pm the festivities began to begin, but people were still siting under inside areas and even those setting up left many plastic chairs out of the rain as it didn’t seem to ever let up.  I finally enticed Jamie and Pike out of the hotel room for the actual Grito.  It was definitely Low Key with 2-3 firework displays and not everyone in the crowd joining in the “Viva Mexico” shouting.  We happened to be savoring the most amazing pierna de puerco tacos ever presented to man during the actual grito and not one person stopped eating, taking orders, drinking or talking to look or listen.  I did hear one guy tell his date/wife that she was going to miss the Grito if she made another order, but she did, and they did.

The ayutamiento brought a great band in from Mexico – their best stuff was Cuban-infused and they really wanted EVERYONE On Their Feet Dancing and would call you out or “encourage” men to dance with willing partners.  The girls joined us for last of the band, we ate cotton candy, amazing tacos, cheese filled crunchy crepe like things and watched fireworks exploding directly over our heads and raining debris down upon us.  Unfortunately, since we’d gotten up at the imposible hour of Nine O Clock, we were exhausted by midnight and went to be early.  With our hotel directly on the zocalo and bordering the libre running directly through town, we were able to wake at 1am, 2am or 3am and still enjoy all the music and noise of the celebration.  At 9am the next morning, we were all JOLTED from deep sleep by the military beginning their desfile (parade) RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR WINDOW.  We were quite happy to be awake though and ran down to the sumptious breakfast buffet and occasionally outside to see the parade.

We are LOVING Valladolid and will definitely be back!