Trees, Besos, and Mexican Pride (Morgan)

These people love their country. I think that is a common characteristic of nations that have had a revolution: they have the best independence celebrations.

In Merida, the independence celebration is called La Grita and it takes place on September 15. We came back from our weekend trip to Puerto Morelos on the Tuesday of the celebration. At the time we were still living in the Hotel Caribe in El Centro, about a block away from the Plaza Grande where the annual celebration is held. Walking from the hotel to the Plaza around 11 pm, we cleared the security checkpoints and melted into the enormous crowd filling the Plaza in front of the governor's palace. The main event of the night (traditionally) was the appearance of the governor and top government officials on the balcony of the palace. The governor gives a speech, and reminds the crowd of the valor of several Mexican revolutionary heroes. The crowd responds to each of the governor's statements with a resounding "VIVA!!!" We arrived at the Plaza with the entire group, but Christine and I quickly broke away to try to work our way through the crowd to get closer to the palace and the stage. We found that we were surprisingly skilled at crowd navigation, and that a simple smile and a sheepish "lo siento" got us a long way. At one point we were directly across from the governor's balcony, and we climbed a tree to get a better view. Being up in that tree, high above the crowd with a chilly breeze blowing was such a welcome feeling after pushing our way through the stuffy crowd. However, after a few moments passed our feet started itching again and we decided to try our luck to push further. On her way down, Christine dropped one of the red, white and green beaded hoop earrings that Maria Luisa had made for us to wear to La Grita. It fell to the ground at the base of the tree, and immediately a small group of young boys scrambled to retrieve it. When Christine landed on the ground a couple of seconds later, one boy around the age of 12 stood with his palm outstretched, grinning triumphantly with the earring in his hand. Christine thanked him, and we slipped a few pesos in his hand. His eyes widened, he looked at Christine, pointed to his cheek and boldly asked, "Un beso?" Laughing, Christine kissed his little cheek and he scampered off happily with his friends patting his back. We continued our conquest to the stage, but the crowd was getting thicker. We spotted another tree on the horizon with a branch protruding out at a right angle. That branch was calling our name, and we made it our destination point. Working toward it, we pushed on. When we finally reached the sacred tree, we found a rope attached to it. Christine went first, and grabbing the rope and using her feet to scale the trunk. The first branch was about 7 feet off the ground, and so our first couple of attempts failed. However, the crowd was watching us, and instead of being irritated by the gringos trying to get a better view, they actually started cheering us on. One man formed a step for us with his hand, and we were both hoisted up into the tree. It was perfection; we were high over the massive crowd and could see the entire area as if we were looking down from a plane. Just before the governor came out, however, the police spotted us and motioned for us to get down. A few scrapes and cuts later, our feet were back on the ground. We didn't care too much though, we had reached our goal and had a blast doing it. The governor's speech was intense and exciting. Thousands of people (us included) screamed their vivas and viva mexicos on cue, and it was an amazing feeling to hear the voices of so many people join together for something that they all love. After there was a firework show in front of the cathedral, which we were about 10 yards away from. We were so close that we were showered in ash from the spinning fire show, but it the show was beautiful. Next, the scene changed quickly for the worst. Little did we know that the next act of the night was a performance by the famous actor/singer Pedro Fernandez. As soon as he took to the stage, the crowd surged forward, and we were forced forward into the people standing in front of us. Christine and I were afraid of losing each other, or of falling down and being trampled, so we started to make the long trek back upstream. There was a man who saw us and helped clear the path for us all the way back through the park closer to the street. I don't think I've ever felt so gross, I was completely covered in other people's sweat, but it was so intense you couldn't help but love the adrenaline. Pedro Fernandez We lingered a little longer in the square, browsing the venders and watching the other people before we headed back to the hotel to watch the festivities come to an end from our rooftop.