Another charming evening at the plaza

Last night we spent the late afternoon and evening in the old town wandering around some of the back streets, having dinner in the plaza as it got dark, before going to see another charming production at the Angela Peralta theatre.  This was the Gala Navadena, which we'd heard about from some people we met on the beach.  We'd bought tickets in advance but we had no idea what we would be seeing.


Well, it was a treat. The best word I use to describe this performance is "darling"--or in Spanish, preciosa.  It began with a choir of men and women all dressed in black wearing red shawls or scarves.  This was an excellent choir with some wonderful soloists.  They performed a number of lovely Christmas pieces backed by the orchestra.  Then, surprise, the dancers appeared.  Some of these were the same young ballet students we'd seen the previous week.  There were several light hearted dances with Santa, some elves, and eight lovely ballerinas each in a different coloured dress. Then, the highlight was the children's choir featuring kids as young as about five.

They sang several songs, and ended with Silent Night with the other choir--and the audience singing along.  The fnale included dancing and clapping and singing. After much cheering people began to exit the theatre and we couldn't figure out what the delay was--until we got into the lobby where they were serving food.  We were offered rice pudding with cinnamon, bright red candied apples, and some kind of cinnamon tortilla cookie.  It all looked good but we had had dinner just before so didn't try any of it.  Outside the theatre children were taking turns trying to crack open the big pinata we'd noticed hanging from a rope on our way in.  Everyone was having so much fun.

The entire evening was charming, from the families wandering around the plaza to the vendors selling balloons,, to the children painting at easels.  The thing I like best about this part of town is that, although there are lots of ex-pats wandering around, there are just as many Mexicans enjoying the plaza and the events.  It's real Mexico, not something designed to appeal to tourists in hotels for a week.

We keep finding ourselves heading down to that end of town and being ever more charmed by what we see.  I'll post some photos of the lovely old buildings soon.