Childhood Memories of Disneyland Revisited

Friday was the much-anticipated "Convite."  My host brother was participating so I dutifully accompanied my host sister and aunt to the parade and debut in the plaza.  What, you ask, is a Convite?  It is the time-honored Guatemalan tradition of donning elaborate costumes of everything from Disney characters to blatantly racist charicatures of Mexicans.... (?????)  I have, as yet, found no answer as to why, where, or when this 'tradition' began. But it sure is fun to watch.

In my time here, I have seen various Convite performances and I have to say that this year's performance took the cake.  I thought the costumes and dances were better (and actually choreographed!) and the performers were enthusiastic and well rehearsed.  Call me crazy, but feria is turning out to be more enjoyable all around this year.  I may even get up the gumption to go to Ranchera Night tonight (gah...) Maybe I'll put a bandana on Bella and drag her along-a girl needs a Partner in Crime, after all. 

Ah, so anyways-a group of young guys from town get together and perform this Convite thing-the kicker is that you don't know who is behind the masks and costumes-we have to wait until the 15th, "El Descubrimiento" or "The Discovery" when they take off their masks at the end of their encore performance. Ooooh, the anticipation! 

And now, if you're having trouble picturing it, the photos from this year's Convite

My host brother was the chipmunk!

Here they are, all manner of characters in no particular order-the Red Queen and Mad Hatter were my favorites

Cesy and I showing off our merch-they sold cute t-shirts as a fundraiser

The Main Event in the Plaza

Breakin it Down..

All Bundled Up

There you have it, another weird but true tradition of Feria in Guatemala-stay tuned for the exciting Descubrimiento on Thursday.

And I have a confession to make. Yesterday there were no big events going on so I skipped town and therefore have no photos for Saturday's Feria :(  Even worse, I skipped town to go see Breaking Dawn. Again.  And it was just as good the second time.