Quemada de Castillas

I left the hotel Sat nite around 8:30 with no real plan. I heard a brass band at the nearby church and went over to investigate. When I got there the party was in full swing. The plaza was lined with food stalls and places selling beer. I saw some 30-40 ft tall structures made of bamboo. Oh boy! I have seen these in Mexico. They are large elaborate static fireworks displays. There are at least 1/2 dozen of them. I asked a woman working on one when they were going to burn them. 10PM she said. Perfect! So I found a vacant table next to where the band was playing and got a beer. A 1.1 liter bottle is under $3. I drank 2 of these while waiting. Sure enough, right around 10 they started. The first one had lots of pinwheels and sparks flying everywhere. Luckily I saved my last joint for tonite. After the first one I met a group of guys standing behind me.We started talking as the rest of the displays were lit. One had little airplanes on it and rotated like a carnival ride. Several had horizontal pinwheels on top that took off like flying saucers in a blaze of sparks, falling back to earth into the crowd. At the end were a bunch of aireal fireworks. They don`t shoot them very high, so burning embers sometimes hit the ground. My new friends, Edwin, Bertol and Juan Pablo, invite me for a beer. Bertol keeps warning me to watch out for criminals. He says they give his town a bad impression. I say no, its all the men pissing in the street that give a bad impression. We continue drinking, moving from stall to stall as they shut down and kick us out. They keep telling me not to worry, they are good guys. I assured them it was OK, that they were obviously not bad guys. Edwin is very curious about the US and English only, anti immigrant policies. I tell him those people are all racist facists. I had planned to go back to Chinchero tomorrow but they tell me I should stay in town for the big procession Sunday afternoon. I finally had to piss. There were 2 portapotties there but were mainly there for decoration. Everyone is pissing on the wall or in the gutter. By the end of the nite there are puddles everywhere, altho it hasn`t rained in weeks. We keep drinking until 1:30, when I notice we are the last drunks there. Edwin has already slipped away. I notice the cops are starting to give us the hairy eyeball and we call it a nite. I didn`t feel that fucked up until I left. There was a long stairway down to my street and when I got there I noticed I was hammered. I made it down OK and was out like a lite as soon as I got in bed