Mexico Shows The World How To Party

Mexico shows the world how to party

Story and photos by Bob Schulman

Early in the morning of Sept. 15, Juana Velasquez and her family piled into their pickup truck for a seven-hour ride to the zocalo (main square) in Mexico City. They staked out a spot with a good view of the National Palace and then sat around for another eight hours until the festivities got underway that night.
At 8 p.m., the Velasquez family was among some 1.5 million people packing the zocalo and the surrounding areas to celebrate the 200th anniversity of an uprising that led to Mexico's independence from Spain. Many wore shirts, jackets, shawls and hats – even wigs – colored red, white and green (the country's national colors)
Celebrants in Mexico City and TV watchers around the world were thrilled by a sky full of fireworks, a Mardi Gras-like parade and Mexico President Felipe Calderon's emotional delivery of “El Grito” (honoring heroes of the war for independence) from a palace balcony. The night's events went off without a hitch, including the uprighting of a 100-foot-high likeness of the uprising's leader  Father Miguel Hidalgo.
Similar festivities were held in towns and villages across the country, hosted by governors and mayors. There, as in the capital city, the crowds sang, danced, waved flags and yelled "Viva Mexico” while mariachi bands blared out Cielito Lindo, Guadalajara and  El Jarabe Tapatio.
After two years of getting hammered by everything from the swine flu scare to drug wars, it was like someone had uncorked a giant bottle of joy for the Mexican public.
“Today I am so proud to

Party-goers jammed the town square of Coyoacan just outside Mexico City.

be a Mexican,” said Velasquez.

For the record: Some 50,000 workers h
elped set up and run the Mexico City celebration. The parade's 30 floats and speeches from the National Palace could be seen on 45 huge TV screens around the area while the crowd was
monitored on 5,300 security cameras. Sixty medical stations were staffed by 500 doctors and 72 ambulances.










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