I’m not big on huge crowds of people in the middle of a big town watching parades so when Mazatlan had their big ‘Carnival’ parade I hung back and waited for them all to come to me. The La Posta RV park where I’m staying is at the end of the 4-5 mile long parade route. The parade is very much like the one in New Orleans. Here in Maz it’s mostly young people that get all dressed up and either dance in the streets or ride the hundreds of homely truck pulled floats. The parade went right by the front gate of La Posta so we got to see all the floats. Problem was that after 5 miles of walking & waving most of the kids had lost their enthusiasm for that charade but when I pointed my camera at them, they would perk right up and dance or wave with a huge smile…keeping the dream of the gringo alive I suppose. No, wait, that’s too cynical…they really seemed to be enjoying themselves in the parade but were pretty tired when they got to us. Lots of pretty girls dressed in funny outfits. Many of the kids, nearly all, were teenagers, high school and college age and it didn’t take much to get them to stop and dance while others or I took pictures. During the entire parade there were fireworks going off from the beach two blocks away.
Here they come!:
Well, that was the Mazatlan ‘Carnival’. Great fun. A few nights later, they did it again! The music really gets your feet taping.
Nice pictures!
I know! I should get a prize or something!
Hey,
Fellow USN…..I was a HM 2 back in 1969-73…..but went East not west,
I spent 3years 5 months in Italy. So, all your Navy experiences are interesting. We also spent the $$$ for cameras, stereo, Reel/Reel tape decks……I still have most of it…….about 50 of 51/2 reels.
I drive an RV as well —but still have to work for a living and maybe in a few years my wife can retire and we will travel too.
I enjoy your style and memory recall also.
Norm
Thanks for the input Norm. Happy to hear from a fellow sailor. I kind of regret not staying in longer. When what would have been my 20 year anniversary came by I was kicking myself in the ass for not being able to retire and draw pension…because it came up so quickly!
I got all my stereo stuff in ’65 and although I kept it for years, it finally came time to junk it in the mid ’80’s and move on. I moved whatever I could from the 5 & 1/2″ reels to cassette. One of the beni’s of having two Sony TC-250’s. One of them always worked.
Maybe we’ll meet up on the road some day. Keep reading my blog and let me know if I screw up any details…