Mariachi Week March 6-16

Nancy and I were excited when we heard about Mariachi Week. We both love mariachi music.  There were various concerts going on in several places. We decided to drive to the Mexican border for the first one. It sounded great. It was advertised as an historic performance with U.S. and Mexican Mariachi playing together from the rooftops on both sides of the border. After getting up early and driving about an hour and getting lost (only once) we finally got there only to find out it had been canceled. We were so disappointed. There was a large outlet mall there so we amused ourselves shopping. It wasn't a total loss.

The next thing we decided on for Thursday night sounded great, also- Mariachi Night at the Museums. My two favorite things- Mariachis and Balboa Park. How could it miss? Live Mariachis in the Mingei Museum, the San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Man, and the Timken Museum of Art. It was supposed to start at 4:00. We started at the Timken...no Mariachis, yet. So we went to the S.D. Museum of Man... no Mariachis. We walked around and saw a few interesting exhibits. The best of which was Native American art on ledger pages. Very interesting.

We decided to go over to the Mingei...no Mariachis, yet so we went back to the Museum of Man and
finally a performance. Not Mariachis but a wonderful Ballet Folklorico- put on by the DanzArts Organization. Beautiful costumes!

We rushed back to the Museum Of Art and the Mariachis were there, however they weren't all there and it took them awhile to tune up.

So we amused ourselves looking at the details of the beautiful building.

Finally they started to play and it was definitely worth the wait. They were wonderful.

There wasn't much room for an audience so they decided to move outside. A good plan because then they really drew a crowd. And they looked great with the backdrop of the beautiful building.

I hated to tear myself away but I really wanted to see some of the other groups so I left and went to the Timken where there was a very young and "not quite ready for prime time" Mariachi. They really put their hearts into it though.

I rushed back to the Museum of Art to hear the last few numbers. And then we all tore over to the Mingei just in time to see that group packing up to leave.

And then the very young group waited for their bus.

I wish we could have seen them all but what we saw was very enjoyable.
Then we (Nancy, Deb, my brother Bob and I) went to a Mexican Restaurant for dinner.
It was a slightly frustrating but very enjoyable evening.

The highlight of Mariachi Week was the first ever Mariachi Opera "Cruzar La Cara De La Luna".

I was really looking forward to this but I waited too long to get tickets and only the very expensive ones were left. Just one more frustration.