The governor's palace after the proclamation was read and we were all yelling "VIVA!" The confetti was a lot of fun :) The palace was decorated so pretty with Mexico's colors of red, white, and green.
The governor's palace on the left, stage ahead, and the historical cathedral a little behind and to the right of the stage. You can get a little understanding of how closely we were packed in there around people through this picture!
Our group before heading downtown! I was told after I put my dress on that I looked festive, but Mom and I bought that dress because we thought it was cute, but not for Mexico's Independence day. (I didn't even know when it was before coming down here!) I didn't even think about it being festive until I had it on and all the girls were telling me! haha....
The traditional dish served yesterday or today for Independence Day! It was delicious! The cooks even made festive placemats, pins, and even bought us little Mexican flags! They are so creative!
The nicely decorated dining room for lunch! Today is Mexico's Independence Day! Viva Mexico! Last night our whole group went downtown to the Gran Plaza which is across the street from the Governor's palace where her office is. We were told ahead of time that there would be thousands of people there, but I didn't truly comprehend that until we got there. We stood in the middle of a street with thousands of people around us. It was super hot but also hilarious because we saw other pockets of American students studying in Merida in different spots on the street we were on as well. We all stood out like sore thumbs, but thats ok! We talked to a group from Calvin College in Michigan so that was cool to hear about their experiences! I'm assuming the town their college is in is Dutch as well! Everyone (including us) was/were standing around on the streets to listen to a couple bands on a stage between the governor's palace and a historic cathedral. But we also were waiting to hear the governor read the proclamation of independence from Spain that was read so many years ago. However, it took her forever to get out onto the balcony of the governor's palace. The band would play trumpets and drums to call her out onto the balcony, but they would play, stop, wait, play, stop, wait, play, stop, wait and so we all waited awkwardly for about 20 minutes for her to come out onto the balcony. That reflected Mexico's understanding of time! If that was happening in America, everyone would be upset because everything wasn't flowing from one thing to the other. The other sad thing was that the governor didn't even end up reading the proclamation. Another guy read it and the governor herself just yelled "Viva Mexico!" "Viva Yucatan!" etc. and we all followed her chant with "VIVA!". We were going downtown just for that part (called "El Grito" or the cry) because that was one thing our director wanted us to witness. The neat thing was that I could really sense the passion to be independent from the people around me.
Backing up a bit, for lunch yesterday decorated the dining room and our place settings. We were even fortunate to have the traditional meal served the day before Independence Day or on Independence Day. The nice thing about having Independence Day in the middle of the week is that we don't have classes today! I hope you enjoy the photos from yesterday and last night! :)
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