La Aduana -Mayo Indian Celebration

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I don’t miss the turkey but I would love a piece of pumpkin pie.

We were lucky today to see the dolphins swimming by. And just now they came by again. Hope I got a few pictures of them. You have to look hard to see them.

Back a couple of days. The day we went to Alamos we talked one of the tourist guides who told us about a celebration in the town of La Aduana. That explained all the men we saw walking up the road. It is a pilgrimage the Mayo Indians make every year on November 20^th. The Mayo have successfully fought to retain their language and customs.
Aduana is an old mining town from the times when it’s mines made Alamos rich. The church, Our Lady of Balvanera, dates from 1630. A miracle cactus grows from a window ledge on the side of the church. Legend says that the cactus took the form of the virgin Mary. And the church became a sacred site. So every year the faithful walk to La Aduana to thank the virgin for favors granted during that year.
Sounded interesting so we went there. Very well organized. There was an admission charge and a sticker was placed in the windshield of the car.

Then we followed the paved road about 2km into the town. Parking was in a dry river bed. I don’t really know what I expected but it wasn’t what we found.

It was more like a huge flea market instead of a religious ceremony. Hundreds of people there and lots and lots of things being sold.
The booths that needed electricity had it – it’s a wonder any of it worked. Electrical extension cords were all over the place.

A plaster pony for the kids to sit on and have their picture taken.

The pinball arcade

Dishes for sale at this booth.

And all kinds of food. I just wish I could include smells with this. Yummy. Chicken.

All kinds of breads and pastries.

Not sure what these are called but lots were being sold.

We finally made it through all the stands and got to the church. Then I realized we’d been here a couple of years ago. At that time it was almost deserted.

There were several groups of men with their musical instruments standing in front of the church. They were waiting their turn to go inside and play. As one group came out another would go in and play a couple of songs.

The church was full and a priest was administering communion so I didn’t take any pictures inside.
Walked around to the side to see the cactus. It sure seems to like where it is growing.

While we were walking around I caught a glimpse of people drinking water from a fountain. Wondered if it had some religious significant. Nope. There was a sign on it that the water was drinkable. A hose running to it was just providing good water on a warm day.

Right in the middle of all of this we came on a bakery with their big commercial electric mixer set up. You never know what you’ll see.

We walked around for quite a while checking things out. Lots and lots of food for sale, lots of beer vendors and just about anything you’d need for your home. One stand had hundreds of fleece throws that were being auctioned off. The auctioneer was pretty good. But loud.

All in all it kind of reminded me when we went to the Parke County Bridge Festival in Indiana. Very little to do with the bridges and lots to do with selling stuff.
Back to the car we found out we couldn’t go out the way we’d come in. The way out was a dirt and gravel road through the countryside that looked like it had been graded just for this day.
As we were headed back towards Navojoa we still saw men walking towards Aduana.