We went to the market downtown and found the bus that would take us to this town called Coatetelco (pronounced Qua-te-tel-co), which was about fourty minutes away. The ride there was nice- very scenic and it was nice to see some of the countryside surrounding Cuernavaca. When we got to the town, we were in search of the fair that is supposed to be celebrating La Fiesta de la Candelaria. Well, we saw colorful banners in the air but could`t find a festival. So, we were asking people and they directed us in one direction. We started walking and saw a group of people, like, 40 women, underneath a tent at what appeared to be a religious ceremony. We went over to it, because we remembered our teacher saying something about how there is a procession with the baby jesus and Mary from the main church to the tent. We figured we`d missed the procession, but had made it to the ceremony. Anyhow, we were laughing about how it would be funny if we found out that we were actually at somebody`s private family birthday party or something!
The people were really nice and let us take part in the ceremony by giving us cake and soda. Some of the children were dressed up in clothes like kings and queens and there were flowers and such. Well, one lady came up to me asking if I would buy something for her two grandchildren for 3 pesos a piece. I didn`t really understand what she wanted, but I told Kahuna I`d do it since, after all, we did drink the cake and soda and three pesos really isn`t much money. So, I went up to the little altar thing with the kids and bought them both a ribbon that had some writing on it (I didn`t read it) and put it around their necks. They were really sweet and I asked them their names. I don`t remember their names, but the lady was really glad I had gotten them the ribbons, and later explained to me that I was now their godmother! She was asking if I could come back next year to the ceremony again! It was so cool! She also invited us to their house to eat. I really wanted to do it, but we were still looking for the fair, and they weren`t going directly home,either.
Anyhow, I took a photo with the kids and through all of this found out that the fair was yesterday. We were kind of disappointed, but asked where the lake was (where the festival was held) anyway. We got directions and got a taxi there. It was called muella (I think, don`t quote me), which means pier. The setup was really cute. Rural, just like the town, but cute. There was an outdoor restaurant where hey fixed fried fish and sopas for us with cream, cheese, and salsa. The fish was fresh from the lake and soooo good! I was so happy to see fried fish because I thought I wasn`t going to get any. Anyhow, we spent about three hours in the area just eating,talking, laughing, swinging in the hammocks and looking at the lake. It was a very relaxing evening, probably better than walking around a fair would have been. I really liked the area, and there were also little boats that you could take out into the lake. I kind of wanted to do it, but they looked a bit too homemade for me!
I really enjoyed just walking around and exploring a little town today. I regretted that I couldn`t go back and see my godchildren, though. Maybe I`ll go back at some point and see them before I leave Mexico!
