This evening, the kids and I had the good fortune of being in the right place at the right time. Since Carnival was postponed this year because of the local elections, there has been some confusion about when and if Playa del Carmen would hold this much anticipated festival. While Playa is notorious for its inability to properly deseminate information, this year really took the cake. No posters, no painted banners, no floats lining the streets letting us know that the festival was approaching. In years past, the whole Municipal Plaza has been a whir with activity: vendors hawking their wares, travelling carnies setting up death trap thrill rides, churro carts filling the air with the smell of warm sugar and fun!! Sadly, we seem to have missed out on all that this year. What we did see was a short but enthusiastic parade down 5th Avenue. The kids were thrilled !!

 

This year's parade was a much abbreviated version of Carnival that once stretched from the zocalo near the ferry dock all the way to Constituyentes, up all the way to 30th Ave., back down into town along 20th, finally wrapping around the Palacio to meet the throngs of cheering parents and onlookers. With any luck, this was just a warm up, a teaser for more good things to come. I'll keep my eyes and ears opens open and, of course, the camera ready!

For more pictures of the parade click HERE to see the whole album.