Where was I....

Ahh… the artisan fair and the banners. Well – I got the two banners, a little late, but I still got them. I sent a few guys to hang them up – at least they said that’s what they were going to do. Truth be told, I haven’t seen them….makes me wonder.

Any who – I had the grand inauguration of my artisan market on Monday….it was ugly. It was as if someone beat it with an ugly stick. We started about an hour and a half late, half the table of honor didn’t show up and I could count on my hands how many people were in the crowd. I think the entire thing lasted about the length of the Salvadorian anthem doubled. That anthem is incredibly long. But, such is life. I was told that I spoke well – and isn’t that all that matters?

The fair is getting better as the week goes on. I’ve had a few more vendors come and rent space…this is awesome ‘cause it allows me to recoup the money I spent on setting the thing up. We’re only charging vendors from outside the community for space – everyone within has space for free.

I guess I should write about what else is going on during our Patron Saint festivals. Sunday was the first rodeo (we have another one coming up next Sunday). I somehow got stuck dispersing food until about 3 pm….that’s when I left to go clean and set up the communal house for my grand inauguration, see above. I wish I could tell you more about the rodeo, but I didn’t get to see any of it - not even the cool horses that dance.

I don’t believe this Sunday will be any better – or only slightly better. I’ll be selling the tickets for the beer! One for them, and one for me, one for them, and one for me……

Monday was my event and in the afternoon, they had a small dance for the kids of the community. It was set-up by an AIDS group – so naturally they were giving out information about AIDS and how to prevent getting AIDS. The gringos in the church weren’t exactly thrilled about that. I won’t go into the conversations we had – but they were precious.

Tuesday was the Tropical Invasion. I know, funny having a tropical invasion in the tropics – but whatever. I didn’t actually check this out – I was too busy sleeping. Man – it was worth skipping.

That brings us to today! I got myself up at 4:30 am to go see a mariachi band sing. It was actually quite nice – there weren’t too many people and the mariachis sung well. We also had the parade with all the queens – some on horseback and some on cars.

I should explain the queens – they have queens for everything down here. The head queen is the Queen of the Patron Saint Festivals, the lower queens include the Queen of the Artisans, the Queen of the Rodeo, the Queen of the Carrera de Cintas….all that fun stuff. I should have been a queen – maybe next year…if I’m still here.

I’ll fill you in on the rest of the activities when the fun is done – quizas Monday.

Alright, time to go check my fair and dance – What are Patron Saint Festivals without a lot of dancing?!