Festival Internacional del Globo

PUENTE! (Three-day weekend!) Jess and I went dancing at Mambo Café Friday night with some teacher friends. It was a blast! We danced all night long. It was nice to have a Ladies Night. The first one we’ve had in Mexico!

And what better way to spend the rest of the three-day weekend than traveling? We went to Leon, Guanajuato for the Festival internacional del globo (international hot air balloon festival). We left early Saturday morning to get there around 2. The traffic was TERRIBLE. We pulled into the parking lot at 8:30PM but we also stopped for the delicious strawberries and cream pictured above, dinner and to buy the tickets. You had to buy tickets in advance and most people, including us, bought them at an Oxxo (gas station). Once we arrived, we unloaded the cars and set up a 12-person tent to camp! The festival was around a small lake so we set up the tent next to the water to get a good view of the balloons that would inflate on the other side of the lake. Once we set up camp, we walked to the other side of the lake to check out the festival. They had 3 stages with performers, a food area, and sidewalk vendors. We had some late night tacos. Nothing beats Mexican tacos. Not sure how I’ll survive once I’m back in the states. When we wandered back to the tent, we played cards, talked, sang and Jess played the guitar all until 4:30AM.

Two hours later we woke up to see the balloons take off Sunday morning. There were so many clever designs! There was a darth vador helmet, Spongebob Squarepants, a clock, Angry Birds, a whale, a bumblebee, and many more! We dragged ourselves over to the other side of the lake to watch them inflate and take off. They inflate so quickly! They stretch out the deflated balloon and lay it on its side and blow it up with a giant fan. Then they start the fire to make it rise! It all happens in less than 10 minutes. I thought it would take a lot longer. We had some traditional Mexican food for breakfast then bounced. Leon is known for their shoes so we HAD to stop at the mall. There’s an outlet mall with mostly shoe stores that we went to. I behaved and didn’t buy any. I only bought food. I’m not sure what that says about me… Anyway, my travel buddy, Bruno, and I headed to Guanajuato for the rest of the weekend. But not before rescuing Jess, Manual, Pepe, and Laura. Pepe’s car died. It was a good 12 hours trek home for them because they car they drove home in kept breaking down. When Bruno and I got to Guanajuato, we admired the beautiful view from the parking garage and found some food. We ate at a nice Italian restaurant that is in the heart of downtown Guanajuato. Then we went back to a bar we had been to before to dance! I wish people in the states danced like they do here. We danced salsa, cumbia and bachata. The bar closed pretty early because it was a Sunday night so we called it a day.

We got to sleep in on Monday because no one had to work due to Mexican Revolution Day. It’s celebrated as a 3-day weekend but really it’s on Thursday, November 20. Once we finally got going, we ate at a restaurant on a bridge! That was a first for me. It was a cute little bridge that people could walk under, over one of the side streets in the downtown area. Then we saw the Callejon del beso. It’s a stair that people kiss on because a woman sacrificed herself for her love when her father tried to kill the boyfriend. It happened across two balconies that are less than a foot apart. The father ended up stabbing his daughter and she fell onto the stair, where her boyfriend kissed her for the last time. Then we walked around downtown Guanajuato to see what the vendors had to offer. I bought a handful of flower crowns to prep for future EDCs. They even had a machine with pressed pesos! I didn’t even know those existed. After walking around for a while we headed back to Toluca to start the short week.