On the weekends we can sometimes hear loud booms that ricochet off the buildings of the Centro area. Curious, we walked up to the Temple and Convent de la Cruz, and saw the religious faithful blasting off these rockets. You can see a number of them on one man’s shoulders, while another sets one off.
As the action intensifies, the rocketeers rapidly toss the rockets from one man to another and fire them off as fast as they can, creating the sensation of being bombarded; and the likelihood that you will in fact get hit by falling debris. I know I did. Kids then pick up the 5 foot long sticks and whack each other with them.
The rockets will continue intermittently into the evening, with the last one I noted at 10:30 PM, and another single rocket at 6 AM.
Buses full of devout Catholics disembark in the area, with traffic jams ensuing, and buses honking and backing up and waving of drivers’ arms and shouting. This traffic mess is exacerbated by the fact that many of these devout ones, mostly men, will then hoist up a heavy pallet with a statue of Jesus or Mary, and circle the area on foot, followed by that bus.
On the plazas and streets nearby you can buy any variety of Christian religious articles, up to a 6 foot Archangel Michael statue. You can also get some tasty Mexican food, and/or a ringside seat with a glass of wine and an artisanal pizza. If you’re lucky, a wandering musician might be playing some really good saxophone nearby.