Mexican Fiesta

Mexican Fiesta

Oh Thursday evening we were bussed to the Hacienda Andalucia. It was excited to see the place. Everything about the 2 story building looked very Spanish. Terraces with arched coves, courtyard in the center, performers dressed in their grand Spanish/Mexican traditional costumes, ground floor stall for the horses were all part of this hacienda.

As soon as we entered the main floor and reception area we were offered something to drink. The margueritas were lime, strawberry – or tamarind. I'd never heard of that before. It looked somewhat brown but I noticed several 'locals' preferred it.
I think there may have been around 300 guests there. A large group were visitors from Argentina.

Around 7 pm we were escorted to our designated seating on the second floor. Shortly after everyone settled in, the stage entertainment began. The MC was high energy and entertaining. We saw a number of dances with 3 ladies and 3 men in representative costumes of various areas in Mexico. All very elegant and beautiful. Astounding feet work too. A mariachi band played several melodies and a pretty girl sang.

Shortly after this we were called to the buffet tables and in orderly fashion filled our plates with the wonderful foods offered in Mexico, tamales, tostadas, salads, pulled pork, Veracruzan fish, roast beef with some subtle flavoured gravy, rice, beans, vegs, so many other choices, plus a great display of various desserts – including our favourite, flan. We ate and drank our fill.

As quickly as we could finish the meal we were invited back to the main floor and directed to the north end where we sat on bleachers (with back support) around a riding ring, and then the main event began.

The horse show was wonderful. First, about 8 girls, all beautifully dressed in blue and white frilly dresses, galloped into the ring riding side-saddle on their lovely horses. The horses did a bit of intricate weaving around each other, all the while with the ladies sitting regally and still moving at a good pace. One young lady sat upon her dancing horse and sang a beautiful song. Later another young woman came riding out on the most beautiful silvery white horse we had ever seen. The tail and main were creamy but the horse just glistened in the light. Her horse danced too, and she sang, and the whole presentation was stunning.

Two men, one dressed in Spanish traditional garb and one in Mexican traditional garb rode together in the ring. They were both grand in their own style and their horses were beautifully trained. The horses fell into dressage moves with ease and were very impressive.

There was also some great humour thrown into the mix to keep everyone laughing.

The waiters continued to pass out drinks to those who wanted to partake too.

The final evening performance was from the Spanish rider and 'Jose' with his donkey. It was a hilarious competition and most of the crowd was persuaded that Jose was really the hero of the night – after all, his donkey would kneel down and roll over.