Ahhh...3...2...1...VIVA MEXICO! Give me the danged match! I can't wait. I just hope we don't set the roof on fire!
MY FIREWORKS PARTY!
Originally published in Western Outdoor News the Week of Sept. 12, 2010
Some guys grew up always wanting a Harley or a Daniel Boone musket or a jet plane. We get some of our dreams. Some we don’t.
Others…well…they fall by the wayside. Somehow owning the Batmobile isn’t as realistic now that I’m older either. My wife always wanted a pony as a little girl. She got a little ceramic statue.
I’ve always had a fascination with fire…well, specifically fireworks. I mean, didn’t you? Sparklers! Pin wheels! Fountains! Those “Piccolo Petes” that you could make blow up if you pinched them off with dad’s vise grips. I even liked those “snakes” that looked like something your dog left in the yard!
I’m always going to be a little boy at heart!
Well, I guess I’m finally going to have a dream come true. We just bought a full-on professional fireworks show to blow off in front of our Tailhunter Restaurant here in La Paz.
I’m not talking about some bottle rockets and a string of firecrackers. Eight hundred bucks just bought us 90-exploding-seconds (yes…that’s right a minute-and-a-half for 800 bucks!) of full mortar-blasting-boom-rockets-red-glare-fun.
Talk about burning money. I can only imagine what a full 15 or 30 minute show must cost some of these other places like Disneyland or Vegas where they really put on a show! But, Jill says it’ll be good for business. An investment.
That’s the kind of cost-benefit argument I’d use with my parents when they said no to a bb-gun. You know the stuff you laid on mom and dad… It was an “investment” in teaching me responsibility and safety. Plus…it keeps me out of the house. Blah blah blah. In reality, I just wanted to ping the neighbor kid and shoot the hell out’ve cans and annoy the crows.
We have “professional” rocketeers/pyro-technic guys setting up on the beach across the street from us. I just hope they face them towards the bay since we have a 3 story bar with palm-frond roofs!
Two years ago we saw another “professional” show here in La Paz at a wedding and they ended up lighting the local palm trees on fire! It was pretty comical watching gardners at the hotel trying to put out the 30 foot palm trees with garden hoses that only shot 6 feet high!
There’s no way this little-boy-small-business-guy like me could get away with this back in the U.S.
Anyway, the reason for the celebration is Mexico’s 200th Independence Day Sept. 15th. We hope you’re somewhere in Mexico for it and, if not, we’re sorry you’re going to miss it.
We figure we might as well go all-out for it with costumes and decorations and the afore-mentioned fireworks show.
I’ve always liked how Mexico does it’s national holidays. Unlike say, our 4th of July in the U.S. where we have 24-hours to party then back to work the next day, Mexico starts their parties half-a-day ahead of time. So you really get a holiday that’s about 36 “official” hours long!
Anyway, when someone has a 1/2 day of work who works anyway? It’s a play day. Officially speaking…No work stops about noon. Beer bottles start cracking open. Everything stops except the party. It goes all night and then the next day…EVERYONE has the day off to sleep it off or continue the party! I like how they roll!
In a “normal” year celebration, whole chunks of every city and pueblo close down for massive parades, street fairs and block parties. The preparation itself is massive. Being Mexico’s 200th birthday promises to be even bigger.
Independence Day is Christmas/New Years/ Labor Day and Memorial Day rolled into one and magnified by 10.
A month before hand, buildings were already getting decorated. People were planning parties. Street vendors pushing 4-wheel carts were selling Mexican flags and banners. People buy airline tickets to visit family or to be near the biggest parties just like folks plan to be in Times Square when the ball drops on New Year’s Eve!
Except in Mexico their “GRITO” (the yell) is coordinated. Instead of every location waiting until midnight to yell out like the U.S. does at New Years, in Mexico they do it differently.
When the clock hits midnight in MEXICO CITY, the whole country is in synch no matter what time it is in Mazatlan or Puerta Vallarta or Monterrey. In order to commemorate Father Hidalgo’s brave declaration of independence from Spain, the entire country yells out at one time! All zillion-million Mexicans scream out in time with Mexico’s President broadcasting from the capital…
“VIVA MEXICO!”
“VIVA MEXICO!”
“VIVA MEXICO!”
…and then the fireworks start! And I get to light the big sparkler and see what an 800 dollar fireworks display buys me for 90 seconds!
Some dreams do come true! Heh-heh-heh…
I guess at some point, I’d better start looking into pony for Jill…
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Jonathan Roldan has been the Baja Editor for Western Outdoor News since 2006. He lives with his wife Jill in La Paz where they run the Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet since 1996 and also own and run the Tailhunter Restaurant and FUBAR Cantina. wwww.tailhunter-international.com You can reach him directly via e-mail at riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com
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