UMARELA 2015 Heroes of Christmas Cheer

 

Here are my shots of last night's Umarela, the annual Christmas celebration for our university, UMAR Huatulco.  It was a wonderful time with great music and costumes, exactly what everyone needed this year as a recent tragedy at our university brought home the importance of celebrating life and friendships.   

 

I don't have as many pictures as I would have liked.  Most were too dark and blurry to be of any use until the Christmas tree on the left showed me how to adjust my camera a little better. 

 

Fortunately, the video turned out much better and I think I captured almost everyone.  If you were there, you'll probably find yourself if you look hard enough.

Ms. Marvel, Cruella De Ville, and Hawkeye

You have to respect the ingenuity of this man's costume.  His shield was made from the cage of a broken fan.

Here comes Manny the mammoth again.

I just love these well designed snowwoman costumes.  The matching hats were made from recycled cardboard.  Very clever.  The snowgirl on the left was the talented designer.

Lots of happy elves, the best kind.

It was great to see some of our graduates turn up for the event.  Sure, they're blurry but I'd recognize them anywhere.

I confess I got a bit lazy with the camera after the parade arrived at Parque Ruffino Tamayo.  I was too busy talking to cool people I haven't seen in a while.  Sometimes you  have to put the camera down and just enjoy the experience.

UMARELA 2015 Countdown Featuring Manny the Woolly Mammoth

UMARELA 2015 starts in about 2 hours, giving me just enough time to post a few pics of some of the preparations earlier today.  It may be hard to believe but this may be even better than years past.  Excitement is very high and nothing makes Umarela more successful than high spirits. 
  

 

This year the engineers, the men who really make UMAR operational, have outdone themselves with their mobile structure of Manny from the Ice Age movies.  The details are incredible.

 

Here are some of the team members in front of the construction. 

 

 

It's entirely made with the inner skin of coconut shells, perfect for the shaggy woolly mammoth  look.  The natural color was preserved with an alcohol based wood lacquer.  The children are going to go wild for this when it rolls downtown tonight.

 

  

 

Yay.  It's the annual Christmas lunch.  I'm one of the early birds.

 

The food was great as always.  Everybody left happy and satisfied and well fortified for the event coming up in less than an hour from now.  I have three cameras packed so I should be able to capture a lot of the fun.  Away I go.

 

 







UMARELA: Let's Go!

Woohoo. Time for the parade. Away we go. Everyone marches to the starting point at the bottom of the hill.





It takes another half hour to get everything organized again. Excitement mounts.





Santa takes a short contemplative cigarette break before greeting the children. Another great mystery solved. Santa smokes Camels. I believe some of the elves roll their own. Toy making doesn't pay well enough for tailor mades.

This float is simple and genius. Put a young lady in a Santa costume, minus the beard, and tow her sleigh with two bicycles dressed up as reindeer. Excellent idea.










Thanks everybody, especially Santa for wearing that warm suit the entire way and making everyone happy. Merry Christmas to all.

UMARELA : Getting Set for the Parade

I was sick the week people first started talking about the UMARELA parade. I couldn't share their enthusiasm. I couldn't imagine myself enjoying anything less except maybe an ice cold shower over my aching body. Whenever the v word (volunteer) was heard I kept my mouth shut and avoided eye contact.


I might have skipped out on the event entirely if it wasn't for this guy, William, who kept pretending he hadn't heard me or understood whenever I said "No!" It was a bit like Ben Kingsley in "Sexy Beast" screaming "YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!" whenever anyone denied him except more low key and quietly persistent. Resistance was futile.

Of course I wasn't sick for ever. William gave me a green hat and Teresa picked out a dandy green T-shirt. The deal was done. I was a singing elf.

By the time the big day arrived, I was getting in the mood. Some of the completed work was waiting in the parking lot when I arrived in the morning. Cool stuff.



Attendance was expectedly poor for morning classes. Students were busy getting ready for the event. For my class, we just watched the Mexican "Santa Claus" from 1958 in English. I was very impressed with this movie when I saw it as a little boy in 1966. It was rivetting. Small children still find it scary. Santa goes face to face with the devil. Yup. Bizarre and very recommended. Maybe not super educational in terms of English as a second language but we all know now why Arctic explorers have never discovered Santa's workshop. It's in outer space for pity's sake.
By lunch time, students were still working up a storm on their floats.





While students worked away in the midday heat, I was in line for a free special Christmas lunch the university put up for all employees.

Hungry people.





I hope a few students managed to crash this banquet. The food was excellent. I was looking and feeling jolly by the time I finished.




I felt like a long winter's nap so I closed my eyes for a little while in the office and woke to the sound of carolers outside my window. It was almost parade time and everyone participating in the Idiomas singalong was loosening up and practising one last time. They kept sounding better and better and I knew they were going to be great.












The excitement wasn't confined to Centro de Idiomas. All over campus, students were getting pumped with Christmas parade spirit. There were angels, fairies, Mary and Joseph and ladies in traditional outfits. Very cool. Plenty of smiles.