From this Weekend: The Regatta De Globos in Ajijic

a long explanation and photos i took on saturday in Ajijic.

This past saturday morning, I went major fruit & veggie shopping so I could help rid of a dang head cold. I was major snotting, uncomfortable outside without sunglasses, & feeling very tired – tired from being tired & tired of not feeling human. Regatta De Globos was going on that day so instead of feeling sorry for myself in bed, (or getting the rest I should have given myself. ha) I decided to go out & take photos of the festivities.

I arrived with Ty when it was pretty chill, but like all festivals, it quickly escalated to backed up cars & screaming children. Before I dedicated myself to the balloons, I stopped to eat some pretty amazing Beer Battered Shrimp & Fish Tacos with a Agua de Horchata Fresa from the ultra good-looking Ultramarinos food truck. They were VERY patient & nice with me as I tried to speak to them in Spanish… and horribly failed. I forgot what “nombre” was for a moment. Embarrassing. How is it just not natural? I’m Mexican, aren’t I? Doesn’t it just flow out? Oh, it doesn’t…. come oooon. Practice makes perfect though. Ultramarinos is in the neighborhood every Friday. That’s rad. I definitely don’t mind craving beer battered shrimp tacos.

After I spoiled my belly, I meandered my way around the crowd to make it in the gates. I like the way people make room for the Ty. It’s like they open up for me… it makes me feel special. It’s not common to see big ass pit-bull mixes around here, especially ones the size of ponies. I talked to a few people who know me from my dad but I’ve forgotten all their names so it’s a little… “oh hay, how’s it going, oh yeah it’s so cool! okay bye!”. Unless we’re talking about Ty. I like to talk about Ty. In fact, I talked to someone about him today & they called him a horse. That I road him from Chicago & made it to Ajijic. A little fact about me: when I’m bored, I hover over Ty like he’s a pony and tell him he giddy up.

I have two favorite parts I want to mention about my festivity watching’. I liked watching the groups work together to light the kerosene. It seemed like 6-8 people helping the bigger balloons with multiple people on the sides, one person underneath to light it on fire & one people on top of a ladder to guide it into the sky. OKAY, yeah, that’s cool but my ultimate favorite was watching the balloons catch on fire. It could be the 13 year old pyro in me but I found it was absolutely hilarious. I feel sort of bad saying that because I’m sure a lot of work was put into making these balloons, but it’s inevitable & it’s something about the way the balloons look when they are defeated & fall apart into a bunch of tiny pieces that are on fire flying through the sky. It’s beautiful. Plus, you don’t know where it’s going to land. It starts to fly just a little close to you & everyone, yourself included if you’re swift, scatters.

I saw one guy just completely mesmerized at this huge piece of fabric that was on fire in the sky, coming straight down at him, and he didn’t move. He had the dumbest grin on, just admiring. It landed RIGHT next to him. He didn’t flinch as everyone ran away. He looked at it on the ground next to him, not losing any excitement in his expression, then looked back up at the sky. He was wearing a white cabana hat & sunglasses. Probably sandals. There was a woman behind me laughing hysterically & I thought “oh, we’re all laughing!”.

That gave me such a giggle.