Thanksgiving and the day after

My friend Craig and I went to Salvatore's restaurant for their Thanksgiving buffet. We went there and sat outside. The buffet turned out to be really good and we were satisfied. It cost 200 pesos.

After the dinner Craig took his pickup truck and we drove to a new bar called the Iron Horse in a neighboring town. The place is actually pretty nice and had several motorcycles inside of it. Craig is an ex Marine and also a member of the Bandidos motorcycle club. He also likes to drink a lot. I had told him before we went there that I needed to go home early because I had to get up at 5:30 in the morning. Well, he got into drinking and was unable to give me a ride. The bartender offered to call me a cab. But since it was still before 10 o'clock I thought I could catch a bus back to my place. So that's what I did.

This week has been the San Andrés festival.  San Andrés is the patron saint of Ajijic. Each day the events of the day are sponsored by different guilds of workers. This is the third year that I have supported the farmers and ranchers guild. They had a poster made for the San Andrés festival and my name was on it for each year. It was listed as Gary (Papa Chango), my nickname here in Ajijic.

The reason that I had to get up at 5:30 in the morning is that as part of the San Andrés festival, a band is sent around to serenade patrons.  The band arrived about 6 a.m. just before sun up.  It was about a 15 piece Banda. There are several people that follow the band, some on horses carrying big jugs of carnitos (sp) which is sort of like a hot spiced wine which you can get spiked with grain alcohol if you wish. So, I followed along with the band to about 20 different houses in Ajijic.  It was quite a hike but I need the exercise and it's a lot of fun waking people up.  Afterwards, we went to a house for menudo and refrescos.

After eating, we went to a tienda on the western outskirts of Ajijic.  We hired the band for another hour and stood around drinking tequila and listening to the band.  Now, most of the Mexicans in Ajijic know me as Gary or Papa Chango.  I was sitting on the hood of a car listening to the music when a person sat beside me and I was introduced. The person drove a brand new high-end BMW.  Later on, I was informed that the person was the head of the Mafia lakeside.  Here in Mexico, Mafia means organized crime or cartels and has nothing to do with Italians.  I am not sure that I am happy to know a person with that kind of reputation or have them know me.  In any case, I'm not going to mention anything more about that.

Viva México!

Thank you sharing your adventure! It sounds like a lot of fun.