Cohetes

*Boom* As E2 once said, this is the most celebratinist most country in the world.... I'm just going to type *Boom* every time I hear an explosion to give you some perspective.

Every time we've come to Mexico in the past, E claimed he wanted to buy a metric fuck-ton of fireworks and set them off. I *Boom* think I never really thought it through, because if I had, I'd know it wasn't an idle statement.

At one time, the mostly empty trailer parkish resort where we are staying was apparently a full-blown RV, camping, mixed-use party, complete with a lion and a monkey (this is the story we've heard from the locals). *Boom*

It appears that over time, things have calmed down: the monkey (who used to only like men and peed on women) and the lion, both sadly died. Also, some of the residents have converted their lots to permanent structures for the summer portion of their retirements, but at least half of the residences appear to remain somewhat mobile.

Alas, it is no longer the bustling, *Boom* party-friendly, partial zoo that it once was. So, they have tons of open space along the ocean. Not to mention the fact that the security *Boom* seem to expect you to set off fireworks every night, and starting tonight, they even have a stand that sells fireworks on site. Every night we've been here, at least half of our neighbors have taken advantage of these facts to put on a show.

Predictably, every night after the first night, after we heard and saw the snap, crackles and pops, the boys have found a way (cleverly, *Boom* each time we head back from town, they somehow find a reason to stop the car and ask if they can walk the remainder of the way back to the condo...) to obtain explosive goodies.

The first night they went shopping, they set off a large stick of what appeared to be miniature dynamite by the house before it was even dark. *BOOM!!!* It ripped the 2 gallon water bottle where they set it off into pieces. And that was without the lid on. They claim this is the coolest thing they've done so far... The security came and questioned us and I was summoned. It was the darndest thing... my Spanish suddenly got much worse and I couldn't really answer any of their questions...

Since then, we've made friends with the folks who are camping in front of our rented condo because they too are pyromaniacs. *Boom* Every night, the two girls, aged 11 and 9 or so run around in circles while screaming and laughing as burnt embers from the fireworks they've just lit rain down around them. They make fun of us because we are too cautious... Don't be scared... says the big, often laughing Mom, and then she laughs her big laugh and says, Bush isn't watching....

We've joined their fun each night. *Boom*

The boys have purchased two sets of bottle rockets that have sucked in two unique ways -- the first just failed to explode very well, the second exploded quite well, about 1 foot in the air and 1 second after being lit. *Crack-crack-crack* Nish and I are currently trying to make the case that the remainder of this set should be dunked in the sink and thrown out.

The boys seem to agree, but that is now, while they are satiated from the hour of fun they just had with our camping neighbor's display and their own contribution of 2 huge rockets of high-exploding color, another one of the world's largest bottle-rocket-esque rockets on a stick exploding 40 feet over the pounding surf, and 7 plastic winged abejas (which, if lit on a flat space and if luck and the wind are in your favor, hover and rise in an alternating pattern of color to finally shoot a random tangent of orange sparks at the pinnacle approximately 30 feet in the air). *Boom* I fear that later they will want to try the bottle-rockets-of-death again despite the last failure where E appeared to be running from gunfire.

Tonight's crowd of revelers was easily double the number of yesterday's. *Boom!*

And, as E just said in response to the most recent boom... This is the 3rd. Tomorrow is going to be insane!

***COHETES!***