Saints of Chacala

Last Saturday I went into Las Varas to catch some Chacala kids wearing Saint outfits for a Church event. I am still not clear what the event actually was. I think it was part of a new initiative by the Catholic hierarchy in Mexico to emphasis the church's stand against participating in Halloween activities.I hung around the plaza with a gringo visitor to Chacala.
Waiting to see what would happen. All I knew is the kids would be coming at 4pm.Juanito had said they were going to parade thru town. But the first we saw of any activity was in the small plaza in front of the Church. There were maybe fifty kids, plus some adults. Including some women fixing the girls' hair.I loved seeing the kids taking photos of each other with their cell photos. In the last year I think every kids in Chacala over 9 now has a cell phone. I am wondering how much they cost. But whatever. Sometimes I think about how different my life would have been as a little girl if I could have called my Mom from anywhere.In any case, Juanito seemed to be a primary organizer of the event, with Inez (Chata) sewing many of the costumes. I believe each of the costumes represented a different Saint, male and female.The kids seemed to be enjoying their costumes and having a good time. I don't know what happened after I left. It was getting dark and I was afraid it would be hard to get a ride home.
I took some photos of inside the church. I think it has been refurbished in the last year or so. It seemed nicer than I remember. Of course, The church is Chacala is my favorite, by far. Especially the giant tree in the churchyard. The one the church bell hangs from.It's hard to get home from Las Varas via collectivo after 4pm or so. Now that both Collectivo drivers live in Las Varas, the last run to Chacala seems to be around 4:30pm. There's always a taxi though. I lucked out. Right at dark, 15 minutes after sundown, the last collectivo ride from Chacala to Las Varas arrived. The driver was really tired and didn't want to make another run, just for me. But he offered to take me home for $4.50us , much cheaper than the normal speciale/taxi rate. It was really nice of him. Because my stupidity about getting to the collectivo stop late wasn't his problem.