Fiesta Patronales de Mérida

I wrapped up what seemed to be a really good week with the North Group on Saturday and prepared to relax a little bit yesterday and today. This weekend was the town festival of Mérida. Apparently, Francisco is the patron saint of Mérida, and the festival corresponds with his recent birthday. There was a rodeo and a big dance party on Sunday night. I went over to the rodeo to check it out. It was amazing how this little town transformed itself for the festival. There were many tents set up with people selling food and drinks, and there was a makeshift area for the staging of the rodeo. They had constructed a viewing area—a rickety wooden platform with no back, that was shaded with palm fronds. It cost 10 cordobas (a little more than 50 cents) to view the rodeo, so I paid my entry fee and went up. The platform was hot and crowded, and it was difficult to see much. I stood up there for about an hour and a half, thinking that I was watching them “practice” for the real thing. There appeared to be a bunch of wiry men milling about on horses, and every once and a while, a bull would briefly enter the pen. A couple of times, someone would attempt to ride one of the bulls for a few seconds. The whole thing seemed to be quite disorganized. There were 2 speakers, each blaring different music, and there was also a “band” playing (2 trombones, a trumpet, a snare drum and cymbals), so the musical cacophony added to the confusion. Finally, I looked at my watch and saw it was 5pm—that meant it would be dark in about 20 minutes and this had been the real thing. Having had enough, I edged my way off the platform and walked back home.

In the evening, I had been planning on going over to the fiesta with Alejandra (an Argentinean girl who is working here for a while—not to be confused with the other Alejandra from Chile who was left Ometepe about a month ago) and the girls who work in the kitchen. We got all prepared to go around 9pm, and then it started raining and the power went out. Daraysi announced that if there was no electricity, there would be no fiesta, so we all sat around waiting. Eventually, the power came back on and rain let up enough so that we could go. Walking on the dirt road into town, we were up to our ankles in water at times. This made the jagged rocks all the more slippery—a factor which proved to be quite difficult for Daraysi, who had chosen to wear high heels to the fiesta.

We finally arrived and entered the makeshift discotech (which was the same place where the rodeo was held earlier in the day). It was a strange mix of the rural and urban. We were dancing in the mud under a roof made partially of tin, partially of palm fronds. But there were several disco balls, a strobe light and a sound system blasting music that could probably be heard all the way up the volcano. At the party, we met up with some of the other girls from the kitchen, and we all danced around in a little circle. It was a lot of fun; Nicaraguans sure like to dance.

There was also a sort of beauty pageant during the night. The contestants were vying for the role of the Queen of Mérida. They came out onto the “stage,” wearing rodeo-type clothing, and sort of pranced around. Then they each gave a little introduction about themselves, and I was surprised to learn at how young they were. The one girl who seemed to be the most glamorous said she was only 13!

A little while later, Alejandra tired of dancing, so she and I decided to walk home while the others stayed. I don’t have photos of any of these festivities because I didn’t want to stick out like a picture-taking tourist, so hopefully these descriptions will suffice. Tomorrow I’m going back out to try to find the South group and get a few more days of data with Uno and his pals this month. Until later then.