Another of the incredible sites we visited in Sahuayo was the family garden.  (Remember that we are with Jesus’ family) We walked through the door of this seemingly normal house, and were greeted with a huge garden.  It was like a little tropical sanctuary in the middle of a house.  I just couldn’t seem to find a picture that captured the scope of the place, or that seemed to do it justice.  Instead, I decided to do something completely opposite and take some extremely close-up pictures. 

Ok.  So I am positive that I mentioned that fact that we were in Sahuayo during their festival.  The festival includes many traditional activities such as mask-wearing, bonfires, eating, drinking, drinking, eating, feasting, and drinking. And feasting. And drinking.  The traditional drink of the festival is simply called ponche (punch).  This is made by combining a mash of sour pomegranates, cane alcohol, chocolate, coconut, almonds, walnuts, apples, and cinnamon.  They let the brew sit for 24 hours, and then serve it up in mass quantity.  Mass. Quantity.  This is a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff.

It might look like vomit… but, it smells like a sweet White Russian, and tastes great.  There’s just one problem though; they never let the glass stay empty.  I don’t know how many cups I proudly polished off, hoping for respite from the esophageal burning.  Each time they filled my glass with more ponche and each time I choked it down with the determination of a physical therapy patient leaning to walk again.   After a few glasses, we started to munch on some duritos, and potato chips.  I foolishly shoveled them down with hunger, unaware of the trial they had planned for me.   Later, we gathered in the street in front of Jesus’ family’s house to build a bonfire which symbolizes lighting the path for the coming of Patron Santiago. I again foolishly assumed that we would just be sitting there hanging out, so I scarfed down some more duritos.  Little did I know, that a half an hour later they would bring us a Banda to celebrate Steve’s birthday.   With the banda came several pots of Tamales!  zOMG!  By this time, I was so full that words cannot even begin to describe the pressure I felt coming from inside of me. That’s when I was served two massive tamales.  Maybe it was the acid reflux, or maybe they actually were that big.  Maybe the tamales had been plotting this for days.  Sitting in the pot, slowly steaming to rich tender perfection, all the while plotting their attack on the middle third of my body.   Finally, the edible assault had ended… for the day.   The next morning, we looked to find rest from the continual onslaught of food.  However, we found none… we were served a breakfast of fresh tortillas, refried beans, and carne asada. 

After breakfast, we were really starting to gear-up for the fiesta.  The fiesta involves dancing with HUGE masks.  These masks are made of cardboard, and covered in paper maché. (Yes there should be a little hat over the “a”… I know.)  They are then covered with decorative fabrics, glitter, and feathers.  Thousands of people dance with these masks from babies to adults.  Here we are with an adult mask… it’s taller than I am. 

Here we are with a 9 year old member of the family and her mask. This girl danced all over the city with this mask from 1 in the afternoon until midnight. 

Here are some more masks from another group.  This group was huge, and was one of more than thirty groups that would participate in the festival.  I know that it’s strange the the font changed right now, but I don’t know how this happened or how to fix it.  Damn CSS….

Here is the crow gathering around Patron Santiago in the streets.  Thousands of people would flock to be near the statue of the saint today.  It was amazing to see how many people came to greet the saint and shower him with perfume and offerings.