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WHAT’S BIG & PUFFY & CATCHES FIRE? (by Austin)

…HOT AIR BALLOONS, OF COURSE.

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Dad has wanted to live near Lake Chapala longer than we have been alive.  One thing he always thought would be cool is the hot air balloon races held in September the Saturday before Mexican Independence day.  Of course he has been pretty busy these days and forgot all about it.

Last week we were out riding horses with our friends. (Kitty will tell you more about that on another post) On the ride home mom pulls the car over to the side of the road. Now when someone pulls to the side of the road THAT quick, you know there’s a reason. Mom points to something in the sky.

 

It was a hot air balloon.  Pretty cool.  We couldn’t tell how big it was or how far away it was.  Mom called Dad and asked if he could see anything.  So he went up to the roof and could just barely see some things floating in the sky.  Then he figured out it was the Regatta de Globos.  (Hot Air Balloons)  Boy was he disappointed. 🙁

Of course Mom always has her camera.  Always.  She takes about 25 kazillion pictures a day. (that’s just a rough estimate)

She was trying to take pictures and video while driving.  There were people and cars all over the place.  Then she pulled into this driveway and asked if we wanted to get out and watch.

So we can stay in the car with muddy pants and soaked socks (other story), or go out and watch awesome flaming balloons fly through the air. Tough choice. 🙂

Right away we saw a giant duck balloon floating in front of us and up a street.  It landed right in the middle of the street.  These things catch on fire since they are just made of tissue paper and the wind tips them.  That was fun.

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There are a bunch of people in this soccer stadium and they all applaud as the balloons catch fire and fall into the crowds.  “Yay! Flaming tissue paper is falling on us! Yay!”  We weren’t inside the stadium and I think we had a pretty good view. The stadium had a better view, but it wasn’t worth having flaming Spongebobs and hearts falling onto you.

If they make it out of the stadium without catching fire, then lots of time they fall on roofs of houses or fields.

We also got to see fire just burning in a tree.  Just burning.  And nobody gets upset.  It’s funny. That fire was in that tree about 2 hours, then it died down. That’s the thing with Mexicans. They always assume that (literally and metaphorically) the fire is going to die out and not explode the tree and kill people. And they’re usually right. Ususally. 84.9% right.

The first video you saw was a burning balloon right above us!

Just another ordinary day in our life down here in Mexico.  😉

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{ 3 comments… add one }
  • nicole palanzi September 20, 2011, 11:19 pm

    You guys have all the !!! This was great! thanks for keeping us up to date!!!

  • Steph September 21, 2011, 7:25 am

    What a nice post Austin! I love hot air balloons, even went to the south county hot air balloon festival last year…finally! Regattas De Globos must be grand! Miss you guys!

  • DAD September 21, 2011, 9:58 am

    HOT AIR BALLOONS NO DAMAGE JUST FUN TO WATCH.

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