Betty buying candy - Rosemary and Jane
Before the Parade
A Float pulled by garden tractor
After the bus dropped us off and our guide showed us where the parade takes place, we immediately stopped at an outdoor cafe for lunch. We had lunch with Betty and Rosemary and then Brian and Joanna joined us. Our order was taken by someone (who appeared to be the owner) who spoke good English and the menu was in English, French and Portugese. Some just had the shrimp with garlic appetizer and in addition Fred ordered Sea Bass. We thought we had order glasses of wine, since Jane didn't want any. We had asked for separate bills for Betty and Rosemary and for Jane and Fred. This may have confused them because when the waiter came (who didn't speak English), he appeared to be about to open two bottles of wine. We said no, just one, which we had little trouble finishing among the three of us. We were served two large Sea Bass and boiled potatoes. It seemed like a lot. Fred started on one of the pieces and someone took a very small piece out of the other piece, when the waiter came back and discovered he had given us the wrong order. He took the other fish and I'm sure served it to someone else. We did end up with extra potatoes, shared by all. Desert??
We then walked through the streets, stopping to buy candy and nuts from a street vendor. We then found a spot at 2:00 along the parade route where we stood until the start of the parade at 3:30. We were entertained by a kid in a bee suit whose family was in front of us. He kept chasing after balloons in the street and playing with some of the other customed kids. Others walked by in the street to get to the parade beginning, including a man dressed in a pig costume, purple hat, can, high heels, and exposed bare belly (fake). He stopped to say hello to the "bee". We were also "entertained" by a man and an elderly woman who "had words" with someone in the crowd. The older woman was very excited and as they crossed the street she collapsed. Then the ambulance came to pick her up. Some police came and had to restrain the men who seemed to want to charge into the crowd after someone. The police didn't seem to do anything about this and the man eventually got into the ambulance and left.
This parade did not have the elaborate floats seen at Cadiz and most floats were pulled by farm tractors or were trucks. Some of the floats were pulled by small garden tractors. This works because the route was all down hill. There were lots of loud music and Brazilian style, scantilly clad women dancers. After an hour and half, we decided to go into a cafe and have something to eat. The parade was over at 6.
We got to the bus and most were ready to leave at 6:30. We waited for some stragglers and left at 7. By that time traffic was a mess. It must have taken an hour to get out of town. We arrived at the hotel at 9 and had a fish dinner plus baked Alaska for desert!