As we found out, the week-long Festival of Santo Tomás should come with a few warnings–or at least ear plugs.

Happy crowds at the Festival of Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

Members of the cofradia, or honorary council of community leaders (you can tell by their clothes), at the Festival of Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

Most towns in Latin America have a patron saint which they honor annually with a festival as large and grand as the town can afford to put on. The full name of Chichi is actually Chichcastenango de Santo Tomás since, you guessed it, Santo Tomás is their patron saint. Every December Chichi pulls out all the stops and throws one of the biggest, loudest and most colorful saint festivals in Guatemala.

Though the festival honors a saint, the Festival of Santo Tomás is really a melding of K’iche’ (or Quiché) Mayan customs and Christian traditions which explains the party atmosphere and elaborate, vivid costumes and lack of grindingly long church services.

Plumed head dresses in front of the Iglesia de Santo Tomás during the Festival of Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

Elaborate floats carrying effigies of saints emerge from the Iglesia de Santo Tomás before being paraded around town as part of Chichicastenango's annual Festival of Santo Tomás.

Most of the festival events took place in front of the Iglesia de Santo Tomás which was built by the Spanish in 1545 on top of a pre-Columbian temple mound. It now anchors town’s main square (where most of the festival action took place) with a smaller church facing it on the other side of a large open area.

Costumed dancers representing Spanish conquistadors strut their stuff during the annual Festival of Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

Dedicated dancers

Guatemala is already a colorful country with a vibrant textile tradition and day-glow clothing that’s still part of daily dress in many areas. During the festival, hundreds of participants put on even more elaborate outfits involving intricately decorated clothes and fancy masks which transform them into representations of Spanish conquistadors. Called the Dance of the Conquest, it traditionally re-enacts the subjugation of the local people by the Spanish. All we saw during the festival in Chichi were conquistadors dancing around minus any subjugation or historical story telling.

A dancer dressed as a Spanish conquistador takes part in the annual Festival of Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

Costumed dancers representing Spanish conquistadors strut their stuff during the annual Festival of Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

Stranger still was another group of dancers wearing huge sombreros and masks and toting live snakes. The Dance of the Mexicans started off as the Dance of the Snakes, a serpent-based fertility rite that was banned by the church. In order to keep their ritual alive, indigenous groups kept the snakes, dropped the more sexually explicit elements and added the Mexican costumes. Why Mexican? Because there’s a giant snake on the Mexican flag.

The Dance of the Mexicans is a tweaked version of a snake-based fertility dance that the church banned.

The Dance of the Mexicans is a tweaked version of a snake-based fertility dance that the church banned.

The Dance of the Mexicans is a tweaked version of a snake-based fertility dance that the church banned.

Though we kept asking locals (and even the tourism representatives who occasionally wandered through the crowd) we could never get a clear answer about when the valadores were scheduled to perform.Therefore, we completely missed this impressive spectacle which involves costumed dancers climbing to the top of a 100′ pole then tying a rope to their ankles before rolling off a platform at the top and slowly spiraling down to the ground head first.

Valadores in costume before their amazing head-first spiral off the top of a 100' pole--which we totally missed.

No matter which costume they were wearing, the dancers were expected to perform all day long. In heavy, stifling costumes they shuffled and jumped under a blazing sun.

Our video, below, captured a lot of the dancing action.

Parades and processions

When folks weren’t dancing or spiraling off the top of very tall poles members of the cofradia (a kind of honorary committee of community leaders) were parading slowly through the streets carrying three enormous elaborately decorated floats with representations of Santo Jose, Santo Sebastian and, of course, Santo Tomás inside. As the heavily decorated floats were carried out of the Iglesia de Santo Tomás, the technicolor feathers, inlaid mirrors, satin and sequins reminded us of Mardi Gras costumes.

Members of the cofradia, or honorary council of community leaders (you can tell by their clothes), carry floats during a parade at the Festival of Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

Members of the cofradia, or honorary council of community leaders (you can tell by their clothes), carry floats during a parade at the Festival of Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

Members of the cofradia, or honorary council of community leaders (you can tell by their clothes), carry floats during a parade at the Festival of Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

Women taking part in a procession during the annual Festival of Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

Check out one of the processions in our video, below.

Frightening fireworks

As we’ve mentioned before, Latin Americans are obsessed with fireworks. It’s just not a party without an enormous cache of things that make loud noises and/or explosions and/or sparkly colors in the sky. The Festival of Santo Tomás was certainly no exception.

Fireworks go off in front of Iglesia de Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

From morning ’til night gangs of men worked diligently to make sure that something was exploding somewhere at all times–usually within 20 feet of where you were standing.

During the day they focused their efforts on laying down miles of mats studded with firecrackers, then lighting one end creating a startling machine gun effect of noise and smoke. Another day time favorite involved an ominous metal tube which was placed on the ground (in as densely populated an area as possible). Then a croquet-ball-sized bomba was placed inside before its long fuse was lit.

Fireworks go off in front of Iglesia de Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

Even the fireworks boys ran from this one before the ball was thrust up into the air where it (hopefully) exploded before falling back down into the crowd.

At night they turned their attention to huge castillos–elaborate wood structures with spinning wheels and  other moving parts all loaded with sparkling, hissing fireworks that ignite in successions until the entire display goes off, revealing the overall design of the castillo. The well-funded Festival of Santo Tomás also featured full-on fireworks displays in the sky that were as solid as many July 4 displays.

Ear plugs in? Check out the fireworks in our video, below.

Of course, there were drunks…

A borracho passed out amidst the shredded paper remains of a series of firecrackers that were set off right beside him.

The Spanish word for drunk is borracho and it’s not a festival without a few around. The borrachos in Chichi were world class: lurching, lunging, falling, sleeping and not even flinching when they ended up passed out in the midst of a pile of exploding firecrackers which locals seemed to intentially ignite almost on top of them. Not even the pounding bass lines and thumping speakers from the live band stage could rouse them. Impressive.

World’s best fried chicken?

All this festivaling worked up a pretty serious appetite, which was amply satisfied by equally serious fried chicken. Guatemalans love fried chicken and the golden, crispy, juicy, fresh stuff served up out of roiling caldrons of hot oil by overworked and slightly cranky hordes of women in Chichi took the dish to new heights of deliciousness (25Q, or about US$3, with tortillas and a soda). The Colonel’s got nothin’ on these ladies.

Members of the cofradia, or honorary council of community leaders (you can tell by their clothes), carry floats during a parade at the Festival of Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

A masked dancer shows us how it's done during the Festival of Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

Our hotel haven

Luckily we were being hosted at Hotel Santo Tomás, a regal two story whitewashed adobe and wood building with a landscaped inner courtyard featuring gurlging fountains and a mildly disturbing collection of caged birds.

All of the 30 rooms are slightly different, but they all have fireplaces (it’s 10Q, or about US$1.25, for a bundle of wood) and the WiFi signal even reaches the rooms closest to the front desk.

Run by Doña Inés, the place is full of antique furniture, religious sculptures and pottery. Even though the hotel was just a few blocks away from the festival madness, it managed to maintain a relatively serene environment..

Women watch as one of three elaborately-decorated floats (each bearing the effigy of a saint) is brought out of the Iglesia de Santo Tomás.

As if there wasn’t enough going on, a total lunar eclipse took place in the middle of the final days of the Festival of Santo Tomás. Eric shot it and made this cool montage of eclipse images.

A child dressed as a Spanish conquistador during the annual Festival of Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.

Related posts:

1. Troubled but Trying – Guatemala City, Guatemala
2. Tikal Basecamp #2 – Flores, Guatemala
3. Lake Life – Panajachel, Lago de Atitlán, Guatemala

And so it was in Mexico this past week as the people marked 200 years of independence from Spain with celebrations that honored the past and, we hope, emboldened many Mexicans to face the future with the power of pride.

We were lucky enough to be part of the goings-on in Mexico City and here we present some of our Best-Of moments from the parade, the crowd, President Felipe Calderón’s ode to the Grito de Dolores (watch our video) all the way to the mind-blowing spectacle of the finale fireworks (watch our video).

Check out our video compiled while we walked through the performers and the crowds across Mexico City and then from the press box in the Zócalo on the night of September 15, 2010, followed by photos of key moments from the festivities.

Eerie Dia del Muerto (Day of the Dead) figures in the parade down Avenida de la Reforma in Mexico City marking the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain.

Women representing the colorful arts-and-crafts culture in Mexico march in the parade down Avenida de la Reforma in Mexico City marking the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain.

Dancers in Aztec costumes march in the parade down Avenida de la Reforma in Mexico City marking the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain.

A woman representing the colorful arts-and-crafts culture in Mexico march in the parade down Avenida de la Reforma in Mexico City marking the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain.

Larger-than-life Zapatistas march in the parade down Avenida de la Reforma in Mexico City marking the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain.

When we saw our first bicentennial countdown clock in Mexico it showed more than 600 days until the celebrations. Here's what the clock said as we entered the Zócalo.

The Presidential Palace on the Zócalo all dressed up for the bicentennial party.

The Zócalo, Mexico City's main plaza, was decorated from tip to toe.

A float version of the sacred serpent Kulkukan entering the Zócalo during celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain.

The parade even took to the sky with this floating Angel of Independence.

This gold and silver inflated dragon reminded us of the floats above the streets of Manhattan during the Thanksgiving Day Parade, only better.

The Coloso, that huge man standing by the flagpole, was not our favorite part of the party but he does represent the strength of the nation.

Mexican President Felipe Calderón waving the flag after a rousing ode to Hidalgo's 200-year-old grito.

VIPs packed the balconies of the Presidential Palace including (from mid left) crooner Vicente Fernandez (white hair), the new Miss Universe Mexican model Ximena Navarrete (in the sash) and in the blue mask, Lucha Libre icon the Blue Demon Jr.

As a warm up to the fireworks, the Presidential Palace roof was turned into a stage for choreographed fire balls.

A massive fireworks display over the Zócalo in Mexico City marked the end of a night spent celebrating the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain.

A massive fireworks display over the Zócalo in Mexico City marked the end of a night spent celebrating the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain.

A massive fireworks display over the Zócalo in Mexico City marked the end of a night spent celebrating the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain.

One pooped parader.

1810-2010: 200 years of Mexican independence from Spain.

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Related posts:

1. Bicentennial Build Up – Mexico City, Mexico
2. The Mind-Blowing Museums of Mexico City – Mexico City, Mexico
3. World Class Centro Historico – Mexico City

It’s being called the biggest fireworks display in Mexico’s history and we believe it. For more than 15 minutes the sky lit up and the ground shook as hundreds of well-choreographed pirotecnias were let loose. These included a bunch of fireballs that turned into spinners which were mounted on stands affixed to the façade of the massive Catedral Metropolitana on the Zócalo, turning the historic building into an architectural version of a castillo, the fireworks towers normally made out of bamboo which are part of almost every celebration in cities and towns across the country.

About mid-way into the fireworks show, the wind shifted and began carrying smoke and ash created by the massive display right over the crowd, at times obscuring some of the light and color. But even that didn’t really dampen the effect. See for yourself in our video, below, beginning with the “concert of flames” from the roof of the Presidential Palace.

You even get a glimpse of the brand new 2010 Miss Universe, Mexico’s own Ximena Navarrete, who was on a balcony just above us. Look closely near the end of the video and you’ll also see the distinctive white-haired Vicente Fernández on the balcony too–one of Mexico’s most iconic living singers.

And if you haven’t already seen it, watch our video of President Felipe Calderón delivering the traditional ode to Hidalgo’s Grito Mexicano which sparked the Mexican War of Independencein the first place…

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Related posts:

1. Bicentennial Build Up – Mexico City, Mexico
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Despite a sizeable (and growing) population of gringos, Ajijic retains a healthy Mexican population and they retain a healthy regard for the Virgin of Guadalupe, especially during the festival held in her name every December 1-12 throughout Mexico. It’s a time for Mexicans to honor their own unique religious icon, also known as Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, which was tolerated by the Spanish conquistadors who figured turning a blind eye to a miracle-working Mexican version of the Virgin Mary was a small price to pay for converting an entire country to Catholicism.

It all began on December 12, 1531 when the image of what has come to be accepted as the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared on the cloak of Juan Diego, a peasant who, earlier in the day, had encountered an odd teenage girl who had requested that a church be built in her honor on the hill of  Tepeyac. Mexico’s virgin was eventually invoked by revolutionaries and honored by Popes (there’s a shrine to her in  St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome) and today she is perhaps the most ubiquitous symbol in all of Mexico (left).

December 12 was decreed a feast day for the Virgin of Guadalupe in the early 1800s by Jose Maria Morelos, a priest and rabble-rousing leader of Mexico’s War of Independence against the Spanish. Today, in typical Mexican fashion, the Virgin of Guadalupe celebration has been expanded to encompass the first 12 days of December and her festival is marked with  both the profound and the not so profound.

On the one hand you can buy a car freshener with the Virgin’s image on it and hang it from your rear view mirror (we did). On the other hand, millions of devoted pilgrims and followers swarm Mexican shrines and temples devoted to the Virgin every year during the annual festival commemorating her miraculous encounter with Juan Diego. Mexico’s Basilica of Guadalupe,  Tepeyac hill near Mexico City, is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage destination in the world. In 2009 more than 6 million pilgrims traveled there over December 11 and 12–many of them walking for biking long distances.

Ajijic’s festivities don’t include millions of people, however, those who do take part make sure they have a good time.

The faithful pitched tents for the 24 hour mountain-top Virgin of Guadalupe fiesta above Ajijic. That's our orange Coleman tent in the lower left hand corner.

We were lucky enough to get invited to one of Ajijic’s celebrations of the Virgin which combined some of our favorite things: a good stiff hike, good friends (new and old) and the chance to take part in Mexican hospitality and ritual. But first we had to get there.

On December 6 At 6:00am we (along with our great friend Tom from Ajijic) met up with Renee at the local Oxo (think 7-11 but without the creepy parking lot lurkers). Renee is a Mexican resident of Ajijic, an avid hiker, a big-hearted guy and an artist and it was thanks to him that we were headed to the top of Mount Chupanya, 6.5 miles and 3,000 feet above us.

We began the steep steady climb in the dark and slowly wound our way up the desert scrub hillsides of the Sierra Madre for about three hours before we reached our destination, a saddle in the mountain with a small shrine to the Virgin that’s been hand-chipped out of a huge boulder.

This small Virgin of Guadalupe shrine has been carved out of a huge boulder on Mount Chupinaya above Ajijic.

The trail takes us past a few stations-of-the-cross markers, through someone’s small hand-worked corn field and in and out of many different types of vegetation ultimately passing a cluster of crosses, then the summit shortly thereafter. When we got there around 9:30 we were shocked to discover that we weren’t the first arrivals. Already hard at work was a group of Mexican men and it was a pleasure to watch (and try to help) as these guys, not necessarily even friends on any other day, worked seamlessly and resourcefully together to turn a narrow, lumpy bit of hill into a party pad.

It was amazing what they accomplished with a few tarps, a knife and some fallen logs. And as we watched them build a campfire, create makeshift benches, string up tarps, collect firewood and literally unearthing buried treasure, we thought MacGyver’s got nothing on these guys.

For month these men and others had been hiking up the mountain from Ajijic and neighboring communities with enormous bottles of purified water, huge soup pots and other cooking utensils,  bottles of tequila and many other necessities that were the makings of a party which was expected to attract 200 people–not to mention an entire banda band (typically at least eight musicians) which would hike up with their instruments some time in the wee hours when they were done playing at parties down in town.

The early arrivals (including us) warmed up by a never-ending campfire between trips into the woods to dig up party necessities that had been cached in the ground over the previous months.

Two vital ingredients that couldn’t be cached in the ground ahead of time were fireworks and noise makers. Virtually no celebration in Mexico is complete without setting off copious quantities of bombas (extremely loud creations that look like giant bottle rockets) and fireworks or cuteras that come with names like vampiros. During the 12 day Guadalupe Festival even priests set the things off at their churches.

It wasn’t long before other men began arriving up on Chupinaya, huffing up the hill carrying huge baskets full of bombas and cuteras on their backs. All told, about 300 of the things were ultimately amassed at the top. Almost immediately one guy began lovingly sorting, piling and covering them. Then he began lighting them–usually four or five in a row from extremely close range.

By noon it was drizzling and Tom was sorry he hadn’t bothered schlepping his tent up the hill. All said, however, he kept miraculously dry under a crudely strung up bit of plastic even after the drizzle turned to a true rain. We’re just saying.In large part due to the rain, this year’s Chupinaya Virgin fiesta attracted far fewer than 200 people and the banda band arrived late and in reduced numbers. But by dawn they were set up gamely in front of the shrine where they belted out loud, rollicking, slightly-circus-like banda tunes on their drums and cymbals and tubas.

OK, the weather kept the Tuba-man at home, but someone walked up to the top of the mountain carrying a bass drum.

At some point in the soggy night the party crew had begun simmering an enormous pot of menudo (a slow-cooked soup made with tripe) and a equally impressive pot full of cafe olla (a Mexican spiced and simmered cowboy coffee). We’ve had menudo before and have we’ve made peace with the fact that we just don’t care for tripe (cow stomach) but we do like the broth so we breakfasted on a couple of bowls of rich broth (puzzling our fellow revelers by politely refusing the tripe), then we packed up our wet gear for the hike back down.

In the morning the rain stopped long enough to allow Karen to go on a successful orchid hunt.

As we began our descent the weather cleared and we were treated to this view of Lake Chapala and the village of Ajijic 3,000 feet below.

The sun finally came out when we were about half way down the mountain. Here Karen and Tom push on.

 A few days later we found ourselves at another Virgin celebration, this one slightly more urban, in the viollage of San Antonio next to Ajijic. It was December 12, the culmination of the 12 day festival, and San Antonio–like virtually every other city, town and hamlet in the country–was marking the day with a big fireworks display at the entrance to the church. As if to enhance the experience, the power miraculously went out in San Antonio, plunging everything into darkness–the perfect backdrop for the huge castillo or intricately built tower of spinning wheels and fancy shapes which would be brought to life with one flick of a match.

The Virgin of Guadalupe Festival in San Antonio on Lake Chapala culminated, as so many Mexican festivals do, with a castillo (fireworks tower).

The fireworks finale of the Virgin of Guadalupe Festival in San Antonio on Lake Chapala included this castillo (fireworks tower) and a larger-than-life fireworks Virgin.

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As we celebrate Independence, we decided to take a look back at the awesome places we’ve found ourselves on July 4th over the past three years of the Trans-Americas Journey.

The first 4th of July of the Journey was in 2006 and we spent it gawking at fireworks over Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

July 4, 2006: Fireworks at Mount Rushmore.

On July 4, 2007 we were back in NYC briefly.

July 4, 2007: At Nathan's in Coney Island Brooklyn for the 92nd annual Hot Dog Eating Contest. Near the end of the 10 minute competition, Joey "Jaws" Chestnut (chipmunk cheeks far right) gained a narrow lead over six time champ Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi (with yellow cup) with 56 hot dogs to Kobayashi's 55.

Joey Chestnut beat six time winner and reigning hot dog eating champ, Kobayashi, by eating a record breaking 66 hot dogs versus Kobayashi's 63 in 10 minutes. In case you were wondering what 66 hot dogs looks like take a look at the platter. On the right is the 98 lbs. female world champion Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, who set a female world record with 39 hot dogs.

July 4, 2007: Fireworks from Eric's parents apartment in Fort Lee, NJ with Manhattan in the background.

Last year we met up with some friends and heard lots of great music during our third visit to the High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy, CA. Unlike previous years, we did it in style in our borrowed Airstream.

July 4, 2008: Stylin' at the HSMF in our Airstream with Miss J, Dave Driewitz (Ween, Bustle in Your Hedgerow), Francie, Karen, Tom Hamilton (American Babies, Brothers Past) and Scott Metsger (RANA, American Babies, Bustle in Your Hedgerow).

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The Barra de Navidad,/San Patricio-Melaque beach.

A mariachi band in front of a heavy metal bar in Barra de Navidad. Of course.

The neighboring town of San Patricio-Melaque had a big fiesta for its patron saint on March 17th (San Patricio=St. Patrick). Weirdly, the color green was not a big deal but fireworks certainly were.

A large scorpion (about three inches long) that we carefully swept out of shower drain and out of the house.

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Related posts:

1. Mountain Bliss – Tapalpa, Jalisco, Mexico
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3. Day Trip Bliss – Around Mexico City