I think it was close to 1 when she told me Lenin was here and that she'd be ready shortly. I knew we were going to a beach, so I wondered if I needed a bathing suit. I asked her what she was taking with her (seeing as how she was in jeans and a tank top at the time), and she said nothing else besides a sweater. Since I was in less than she was, and since I had seen a few chilly nights, I decided to stick in my hoodie.
I'm afraid the next hour gets a bit fuzzy because we literally made a circle. Several times. We went to pick up Karina and Nadia (whom I had not met yet, though she was at Karina's birthday party). Nadia is Jair's sister. Jair is one of the group who bugged me big time the first weekend I was here. But he's grown on me. Like a fungus, but a relatively lovable fungus. As we were picking up Nadia, Jair was coming home (that's right, from the night before, at 1pm). He had not yet been to sleep! Nadia was really mad at him and I can't remember why. Something about needing the car. Sibling stuff. Iván lives next to Jair and Nadia, so we thought it made sense for us to take them to meet up with the other car to pick up Rocio, Iván's girlfriend, but we were already packed (and I was steamy- it was already a miserably hot day and I couldn't imagine needing my sweatshirt). We surveyed the music selection and reazlied we needed some CDs, so we went back to Alma's house. We returned to Iván/Jair/Nadia's house where Iván took his car (with Jair as a passenger) to meet up with Chapo and Karla to pick up Rocio. Apparently Rocio's house is hard to find (it looked like a Brentwood subdivision where all the houses look the same), so we all went together. From there (which was the side of town where Karina lives- Logical Laura is thinking why didn't we plan out all this picking up, but Mexican Laura is rolling with the punches), we were on our way. Finally. At 2:30. 11 am departure time. Ha!
The drive was fun and typical. Music. An Oxxo stop. Eating. Singing. Lots of laughing.
We arrived at Lenin's childhood house or else a family member's house. I'm not sure which. There was ceviche and there were shrimp like we would have for shrimp cocktail- peel and eat. Shrimp cocktail in Mexico is a bit different. It's cut up shrimp and other things mixed with tomato juice i think and eaten with a spoon out of a tall glass. Not my favorite! But these peel and eat shrimp were GIGANTIC. Like, it kinda grossed me out to pop the legs, shell and head off they were that big. They had their little (not so little) red antler/antennae things and they were literally 6-10 inches long. Their bodies were big enough that they hung off the sides of my hands when I held them. I didn't get a picture which is a shame. I think they could win an award. On top of that, they were delicious. The ceviche was really good, too. Alma doesn't like shrimp (What's wrong with her?!) or most foods for that matter. She did fine with the ceviche until someone told her there was shrimp in it. It was fish ceviche, but it had tiny pieces of shrimp. At that, she pushed it aside and stopped eating.
We all got our fill of lunch and around 4:30 made our way to our parade watching spot. Lenin is a Tecate distributor, as are several people in that town. It was probably smaller than Glasgow, so everyone knows everyone anyway, but Lenin seemed to be somewhat of a celebrity. What can I say, I roll with the big dogs!
We all piled into the back of a Tecate truck that was parked on the sidewalk.
The parade left a little something to be desired. It was basically an excuse for little girls (and grown-up girls, too) to put on pretty, tight dresses, get their nails done, and wave like robots. Also for boys of all ages to dress up as women. I read in another Fulbrighter's blog at some point this year that she seemed to think Mexicans found any excuse possible to dress up as women. This parade was my first exposure to that. It was funny, but also got old. I was disappointed in this "carnaval." I probably had set my expectations a bit too high!
After the whole parade had passed us, there was a mass exodus and all the cars drove toward the beach. We found a parking lot and stood around. There were no less than 8,000 mosquitos and at least 7,000 of them found my legs and arms. I promise I applied bug spray. I'm just too sweet.
Apparently, the reason we were in this parking lot was to watch the parade again. I was tired and full from a delicious lunch and being eaten alive by mosquitos that seemed bigger than the shrimp I'd had for lunch. I was grumpy about the situation but kept it to myself.
After the next hour of watching what we'd already seen (BTW, Lenin's niece was one of the parade princesses. She's six years old and had more makeup on and hairspray than I've had in my whole life combined. She also had acrylic nails.), the whole town drove to the beach. More standing around, talking, drinking Tecate.
After awhile, all the girls (though not me, I'm good at keeping my mouth shut in Mexico) were whining to go home. Eventually we made that happen. We were two of the last five cars on the beach. It was around 9 I think when we left. On the ride home, Renato called Lenin and said we should all come over to Liliana's house. We made the plan. As we got closer to Culiacán, one by one, people dropped out. We dropped Karina off and then Rocio and Iván (both cars together). Alma asked me if I wanted to go to Liliana's or go home considering I had school at 8 am the next day. I opted for home. I found out on Monday that everyone had gone home except Lenin/Alma and Karla/Chapo. Renato had called saying he'd been run out of Liliana's house and they were going to go out to eat instead of hanging at her house. So the six of them went to eat. I tucked myself into bed and prepared for a week of 5 classes a day (when I was used to 4) started at 8 every day (when I was used to 8:50).
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