A Pleasure at Every Turn

Ken and Deb have flown back to the U.S., where they left their truck and camper. We are feeling like a vital part of our crew is missing! They were a great addition to our group, Deb was so excitable and enthusiastic whatever was suggested. Ken is more the quiet and thoughtful kind of man. He hasn't change a lot from 20 plus years ago when he was Regional Manager for the Ministry of Forests and I was a lowly clerk in personnel.
We are trying not to have much food on hand as we will be going to Oaxaca for the next week. I will be a new and lovely adventure, I'm sure.
So, we will pretend that due to a food shortage (hardly!!) we decided to walk up town to Pizza Time and enjoy their super pizza.
The sun had not quite set as we walked up the long slope to the highway but the pink hues warmed the last of the daytime sky.
At the highway crosswalk we met a group of devout catholics. Several men, dressed in white clothing, were carrying a huge cross, a truck in front of them carried loud speakers and several nuns who were singing. Behind was a large group, mostly women and children, some who were also singing and many who were carrying beautiful flowers, mostly white lilies.
We were sure that the procession had something to do with Lent or Easter but were not quite sure what the date would mean. It was a lovely sight to behold.
We made our way up the gradual sloping street, walking about 3 blocks and then we heard more music. This time it was in a zocolo (park). It turned out that probably 8 or more dance troupes were putting on a lovely performance. Perhaps a competition? We stopped and were thrilled with music and dance steps and the costumes were very beautiful. Such variety, from cowgirl and boy costumes to the beautifully classic Chiapis gathered skirts in rich colours.
We were expecting to stay for some time....forget pizza, this was a gorgeous bit of Mexican life and we loved it.
Well, about halfway into the program first one source of lighting quit and then the second power pole light fizzled and they were in the dark of night. So disappointing! At least we saw a few groups and quite a few dances and that was great fun. Really admire how classy and elegant they are. No one was 'thrown' by the lack of lighting, the dancers continued until they were through.
After that we walked a couple of blocks more and really enjoyed the pizza.
We decided to walk home the long(er) way and so saw a few more bits of evening life in P.E.