Fiesta Time!

We officially commenced fiesta season here in Cuapa. It began yesterday with the first hípico (horse parade) followed by, of course, a dance with the ever so popular musical group, Los Paisanos. Unfortunately, it rained throughout the entire parade (although I rather enjoyed the cooldown), but I was still impressed with the amount of horses and how beautiful they were, especially the dancing horses. People came from all over to watch and ride, including those Cuapeñans (spelling??) currently living in the states...Miami that is. I didn´t think that I would break down, but as I was feeling the pressure from fellow Chontaleñan volunteers as well as from my fellow townsfolk, so I invested in the cowboy boots, checkered shirt (although mine was facenta pink), belt and skin-tight jeans. I just couldn´t do the cowboy hat...yet, but I am planning to rangle up a dancing horse to ride in the hípico in my town and that would definitely require a cowboy hat. As another visiting volunteer and I walked down the street to check out the scene prior to the start of the parade I was a little confused as to whether we were part of the show as everyone stared at the gringas in their cowgirl wear yelling the usual catcalls (chela-white girl, hermosa-beautiful, muñeca-doll, tssst tssst gringa) that are normally not a part of my daily routine in the quiet town of Cuapa. The dance was an especially memorable event considering the surprise visit by my friend Jess who is doing a backpack tour of Central America. What luck that he had the good fortune of arriving on fiesta night, although for those of you who already know Jess could have probably guessed that his attire consisting of a tie dyed shirt, green flip flops, and of course the ever-so-famous mohawk was the spectacle of the night.

Because of a conflict with another town´s fiestas we have to wait another grueling two weeks for Cuapa´s fiestas, then another week for my town, Llano Grande´s fiestas. It´s going to be pretty hard to come back down from a high of two weeks of straight fiestaing...but I think I´ll survive. The most exciting part is that I get to spend my first fiestas with my dad who will be arriving on the first night of the fiestas. I hope he knows what a sacrifice I am making to miss the first day of fiestas to pick him up! ; =)

These are some friends in Cuapa ready for our first dance of fiesta season! Because it was the crowning of the queen of the hípico it called for a little more fancy dress.

This is a fellow volunteer and I posing with a friend from the mayor´s office decked out in his cowboy gear.

Some fellow Llano Grandeñans getting ready for the parade.

The start of the parade in the main street of Cuapa.

And of course, no fiesta is complete without the official beer of Nicaragua, Toña.