Fair in my Town

This post is a little late. The fair in my town is August 20-28. Ferria (fair) in Guatemala is special. I think it speaks to the vibrant Guatemalan culture. In the U.S.A., at least in New England where I am from, if you want a town fair your options are limited. There are probably only a couple a year and they aren't all that close by. The vast majority of even the smallest towns here in Guatemala all have a patron saint and put on a week-long celebration in their honor. I have been to fairs in a number of towns and there are always: parades, cultural dances, marimba performances, rides, games, and lots of street food. It's a fun time. 

Selling sweets: the coconut cake which is more like dried and compressed shredded coconut is my favorite
(white and yellow and pink above)

The white balls are tasteless homemade gum

The centerpiece of the fairs are always the parade. My town is right on the Inter-American Highway (CA-1). This highway connects North, Central, and South America. The Guinness Book of World Records claims that the Pan-American Highway is the world's longest motorable road. It's a pretty big deal and I live a two minute walk from it. It is part of the reason why there is such good transportation in my site. That being said it is also a drug route to Mexico and the U.S.A., but I haven't run into any issues with that luckily. I would however recommend flying if you are taking a trip from the U.S.A. to Guatemala. ANYWAY, for our fair they shut down this important road for a couple of hours for the parade to travel along it and into the center of town.

These parades consist mainly of local school children. Most schools have their band play and the rest of the students march along. This is a costly event and takes up many many many school hours for practicing. Another staple in the parades are the floats. Each school basically decorates a pick-up truck for the winner of their beauty pageant. 

In my town of around 3,350 people (2012 health center census) there were three different ferris wheels. Fun fact that I learned about ferris wheels while I was in Guatemala: the first ferris wheel was shown at the world's fair in Chicago in 1893. That is why in Spanish they call ferris wheels "la rueda de Chicago" the wheel of Chicago. One thing about the ferris wheels here are that they go super fast! I think they hook special motors up to them because they go faster than any ferris wheel that I have ever been on. 

They are somehow related to my host family.
They stopped walking in the parade so that I could take a picture.

Beauty pageant winners from one of my schools on their float

Dancers. This is the only time knees have been shown in my town

Some students I know riding the smaller (hand powered) ferris wheel

Enjoying my 1Q ($0.14) bag of cotton candy