Festival of San Miguel

Last weekend we attended part of the festival honoring the birthday of San Miguel. There were fireworks starting at 4:00 am (yes, that is a.m.!) on Saturday morning - skipped that. We went for the parade at 5 ish in the Jardin, the large plaza in front of the main church, La Parroquia. There were crowds of people, vendors of food and little folk art thingies. The parade was of dancers from the native tribes in the area, including the early natives conquered by the Spanish. Also the parade brought flowers to adorn the church. The flowers were mostly woven into ladders which were brought to the church and leaned on the walls. A large display of flowers was brought to adorn the gate of the church. There were also floats from local organizations. Some brass music but mostly drums for the dancers. Another feature of the day that we witness was the flyers or birdmen who fly in circles upside down from a pole while another man plays a flute atop the pole - very dramatic. More fireworks followed that as did the rain, which we walked through to get to the car. All the taxis were busy and so we walked. We arrived home dripping wet and cold at about 9 p.m. There were more festivities on Sunday, mostly masses and a smaller parade and more fireworks.