Serenades for Sale

Monica and I went to meet our long lost pal Silvia at our favorite little diner called la Café Popular. Silvia works many hours each day at Casa Alianza, so we only get to see her on the weekends. She was there waiting for us and she looked a little hungry, so we hurried in to eat. After supper, we walked around a bit until we found ourselves at Plaza Garibaldi, which is also known as Mariachi Square. This spot is a favorite of locals and tourists, who come to hear their favorite Mexican songs played especially for them. The festivities usually start around 8 pm, and we arrived at around 7:30 to find literally hundreds of mariachis standing around in full costume tuning their instruments.

I really like the Mariachi costumes, which typically consist of a tight fitting black or white suit lavishly decorated with embroidery and silver pins, a wide colorful sombrero and shiny black boots. Mariachi bands are made up of a number of different instruments and can vary in size from two to twenty. The smaller bands usually just have a guitar or two and a fiddle, while the larger ones can have three or four guitars, a few trumpets and fiddles, and a stand up base. These larger bands can cost up 100 pesos ($10) per song, but you can simply wait until someone else pays and listen to the Mariachi love ballads all evening.

-Shawn

Related Dispatches: 
Monica - The Flying Men of Mexico!
Shawn - Serenades for Sale
Monica - Would You Care to Dance?

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