Parades and Politics

Parades and Pols

The big parade and breakfast/dinners for the visiting politicians get started at 10am on Saturday.  We hear the incoming president is here, he takes over next Saturday. 

  It is stinking hot again, 30 and we hear that Calgary is under huge amounts of snow people snowed in, brutal temperatures. WE are not complaining about the heat, I spray my head cover with water, put on my visor and off I go. 

  The breakfast spread at our hotel is great so we fill up every morning ready for a day’s heavy events. 

  I should mention huge demonstrations precede the parade both days. If I translate right, it’s all about education funding and curriculum. 

  Behind them come the government’s own floats. A lady beside me with her 12 year old daughter tells me it’s propaganda for the government of course. And it’s an election year for them. The daughter is charmed with the little bear I give her with a maple leaf on his paw from Banff!

  Returning to our hotel, we run into our neighbors. They have been partying hearty. They have gifts from two queens and give them to us! One is wine from her region, the other is wine and balsamic vinegar from her region. Both with pretty postcards of the lovely ladies. How generous. We enjoy them both later. 

  By afternoon we are off to our fav Italian pizza pace on the main drag and catch the end of the parade with Bolivian dancers in their amazing colored national dress, so much energy in huge costumes in this heat! They all have followers with sprays, water bottles, but still they look exhausted by the end of the parade. 

  You never saw such an amazing crew of cleanup people coming right behind the parade. With all those horses, you know what’s on the roads...In no time at all the roads are perfectly clear, well almost, and everyone is out enjoying all the festivities everywhere you look. The craft fair in the main plaza is doing good business, it’s there every day to some extent but this is bonanza time. I read that 25,000 people come into town for this event. But it doesn’t seem overcrowded at all.