Chiapas de Corzo

I initially chose to explore Chiapas for the Fiesta Grande de Enero in Chiapas de Corzo.  I live for festivals. Give me a parade and I'm there.  Hear a tuba, and I'm out the door with key and camera.  Fifteen days of men running with wigs? women in embroidered skirts? wooden masks and corn-straw headdresses?  I can't think of anything better.  So I colectivo to Corzo with the cousin/driver of the taxi guy who thinks that lawns and parking lots are open-fair to getting someplace quickly.

The driver lets us off about a mile from town. What i didn't know is that this event is so big in these parts that roads are blocked for pedestrians.  while i'm here in the a.m., by 6pm there will be thousands and thousands of folks eating at one of the many makeshift open-air restaurants, shopping for indigenous blouses or amber, listening to mariachi bands or R &R bands or the inevitable hippie drumming, riding outrageously dangerous rides, or snapping photos of the costumed locals keeping the customs alive.

I'm here for it all.  So I ask for photos and women are so happy to spread their full-skirted and heavily embroidered and laced skirts wide. The men -- boys and men -- donning the Spanish conquistador mask and blond hair over indigenous textiles flash peace signs or rattle the tambor held high. For hours and days this is a time to celebrate and dancing and singing through the streets is the norm.  I do love a good festival!