El Carnival

Here goes nothing, post number two! Marissa here, wanting to share my amazing day with you! This very day, Andrea, her boyfriend Obed, and I ventured to the nearby town of Jiutepec. Beginning this past weekend is a series of traveling carnivals throughout the Mexican state of Morelos (also where Cuernavaca is located, don't-cha-know!?). 

The festivities celebrate historical and religious aspects of Mexican culture. From what I learned via Obed (and the Internet), the carnival takes place in various towns and cities, up until the week before Ash Wednesday. Many people attend to dance with 'los chinelos,' which are people dressed in elaborate costumes meant to represent and mock the early Spaniards who came to Mexico. It blends the image of early Europeans with the colors and embellishments of indigenous traditions. In Jiutepec, the carnival took place in it's plaza, beautifully adorned with colorful 'papel picado,' as you can see below:

As you can see, it was an unusually cloudy and cool day! This made for gloomy pictures, but made the dancing much more bearable! 

Here is a statue of un chinelo in the plaza,

followed by the real life versions! 

These cool costumed cats had a roped off area of their own to get down and boogie! 

But there was plenty of room for everybody to dance! The parade was followed or led by a local marching band, and everyone packed in like sardines while they moved their way down the street. 

My favorite were the dressed-up kids, so dang cute!

Two great videos above!

Another popular feature of the carnival is this! It's a liter of beer, with a smear of 'michelada' around the rim. Michelada is a spicy and sweet chili sauce, that mixes in with the liquid as you take many, many sips! It was obvious to see who had drank the most by how red their lips and teeth had become! Don't worry, we shared one of these three ways! 

Check out this makeshift cotton candy machine! 

Not only was this the biggest balloon of cotton candy ever...

...it was also blessed by the overlooking Our Lady of Guadeloupe! How could we pass that up?!

The Wisconsin State Fair is really behind on this human hamster mechanism! 

My goal is for no blog post to be published without the mention of food. This is 'elote,' corn on the cob (boiled, but even better roasted!) and smothered in a lime-mayo, rolled in grated cheese, and sprinkled with chili powder! Don't knock it 'til you try it, trust me! 

 Finally, due to the readers' requests for more pictures of myself (actually, it was only my mom who asked that...) here I am, dimple aglow, with some chinelos! Too bad I am almost as tall as them, even with their hats on! :) 

Wish you all could have been here!