¡La Fiesta!

If you have guessed that a fiesta at the school means a mariachi band, you have guessed correctly. After work on Friday, we all met in the covered area and partook of some amazing food and incredible music. There is nothing quite like a mariachi band playing and singing while they are right next to you and interacting with the group. I suppose the idea was to welcome all the teachers, although it just occurred to me that perhaps no one here feels a need to justify having a fiesta. Anyway, whatever the reason, I enjoyed the tender lamb used for the tacos and of course the various side dishes like black beans, rice with veggies and of course, the different salsas. A drink that is ubiquitous here is horchata. It is made from rice, sugar and there sometimes is cinnamon. It is strangely refreshing. I had copious amounts of it.




Of course, sometimes the best parties start when they finish. I had a bunch of the guys over to my place for cerveza afterwards and we talked and laughed for hours. My vocabulary in Spanish has swelled considerably, but since I was with the guys, it is safe to say that the words I learned probably aren't ones that I would be using around the school.



Here is an update on the excitement that took place a few days ago (Mucha Policia - Aug. 8). Apparently the overwhelming police presence was to arrest a guy who had been in a fight and when an officer came to arrest him, he had hit the policeman. Strangely, when Roberto told me this story, he used the same word the other guy had to describe the police presence - bastante. As far as I can tell it means sufficient. To describe 30 heavily armed policemen coming to arrest one guy and describe it as 'sufficient' seems absurdly inadequate to me. Of course, I am not even 20 feet away from a guy with a massive automatic rifle. He is probably guarding the bank that I am next to. He also looks like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I am not planning to find out if that is true.