Photo Op with the Virgin
I promised to let you know if anything interesting happens, and something happened today. Chrissi took me to the Virgin of Guadalupe Festival in the Cabo Corrientes county seat, El Tuito. It’s about an hour’s drive south from Puerto Vallarta, up the mountain and into the jungle. Here there were very few tourists. The Americanos we saw were mostly folks who live in Yelapa. El Tuito is famous for raicilla, the local mescal moonshine. I don’t think it is part of the Virgin of Gradalupe Festival, but at a certain time of the year there is a sophisticated event in El Tuito called “The rush for the raicilla”:
This event begins on a Saturday when men crowd into town and begin upending bottles raicilla around mid-day, without even bothering to sit down. For a given individual, this cannot last too long, so the fallen are continually replaced by fresh arrivals all weekend.
Caminando por la calle en El Tuito
If this happened today, we arrived too late. Also, we left too early for the parade, which Chrissi tells me features representatives from all the towns and villages in the county, as well as dancers and the occasional caballero. The streets are lined with vendors, but, for the most part, they are not selling items like fancy jewelry, trendy art or souvenirs. Instead, we saw vendors selling pots and pans, everyday clothing, inexpensive toys for children and school supplies. It seems to be a local festival for locals. It’s warm and sunny here. I am actually sitting by the pool, though not basking in the sun. But it’s a step in the right direction.
