Light Up the Night!

Have I mentioned that the lighting of the Christmas decorations is one of my favorite nights on Culebra? I think so! Last night was another good one, starting on Culebra time. Dolly said the Mayor was waiting for the ferry to come in before it would begin. We thought he meant the cargo ferry, so we wouldn't all be choking on the exhaust of trucks but they came in and nada. With not too many folks around, it seemed a little odd. But, there is a secret telegraph on Culebra, one I'm not (and never will be) privy to, that just has things happen when they are supposed to happen and people just know. And show.

First though, there was a stop at Dinghy Dock, where a lot of oldies but goodies (and youngies?) made a Friday night a time of hugging and catching up. People were moving and mingling too quickly to really get a great shot but I did manage to corral this crew for a second.

Lighting up the night with smiles

Then it was to town (to those readers not familiar with the set up of Culebra, that means a walk across the not so big bridge, down a street and turn a corner - town). 

People chatting, kids running around, anticipation in the air

One of the big hits for the kids was cotton candy
wrapped on a multi-colored light glow stick.
The girls wore them in their hair once the spun sugar was gone.
The boys...were boys. Gender type much? Hey, it's what I saw!

Dolly sat on a red chair, perfectly complimenting her outfit. 'I'm dressed as a (insert Spanish word I didn't know, that she translated) country woman, from the old times.' I wish I'd been around then!

Resplendent 

People continued to walk around, laughing, talking, the gringos wondering when it would all happen, the locals knowing it would happen when it happened. 

Then, slipping up quietly, the ferry arrived. The passenger ferry. Suddenly there was music, coming off the ferry (I was reminded of the times when the Three Kings would come in from the water - I miss that). It was grand!

The musicians in their  crisp guayaberas, with tambourines of different sizes
and HORNS! Old songs I've heard a hundred times, rhythmic beats, familiar words.
Even if I don't know what they mean. My bad.

They were pretty darn wonderful

Then it was talking time. A welcome from Ivan's wife, and then the local Catholic priest giving a mini-sermon on light, our light, being the light, living in the light. Mayor Ivan took the mic and the countdown began.

Cuatro, tres, dos...

Uno! 

Let there be lights!

The decorations are simple this year, something I really like. But there were a few especially big and bright and cute bits as well.

That's a big bear!

It was time for me to go check on the housesitting critters, no doubt they would be happy to have their own yard celebrations. We'd not seen the lights in front of the old Alcadia yet; they were outstanding as well.

Tucked away in a corner, one decoration caught my eye. I had to turn back and take another look. Was that a...bulldozer Santa sleigh? Yes it was. 

If you live here or spend much time here, you know that bulldozers are the method of choice for doing...just about anything. I've seen them as tow trucks, as ladders, as lifters of very heavy things (one year, when I still had the cart, someone took a trailer, apparently a long trailer, around the corner coming from the Dinghy Dock direction heading over the bridge. The trailer was going to wipe out my cart. Someone got a bulldozer and lifted up the back end of the trailer to re-align it so it could get around the corner without taking away my livelihood. I wasn't there to see it, thankfully - heart attacks are us - but I heard about it from a LOT of people). 

So, a bulldozer as Santa's sleigh makes perfect sense. I just wonder where it came from. And probably always will. I could find out pretty easily but why spoil the mystery? 

Have a scintillating Saturday! Do something shining.