El Grito

The fifteen-passenger van whips around another corner, and I brace myself against the seat and try not to land on Elsi sitting next to me. Johny chuckles from the driver’s seat up front, and turns his attention to finding a parking spot in crowded downtown Ensenada. After parking the van, the six of us weave our way through crisscrossing pedestrian traffic and vendors with their carts selling elote (cups of corn with butter, salt, and hotsauce), caramel apples, cotton candy, and shimmery red, white and green Mexican flags in an impressive array of sizes. A teenager offers to paint my cheek with the Mexican colors, and I barely have time to offer a polite “No, gracias” before hurrying after Susie’s retreating head. The energy of celebration pulses in the air, trumpeted by little horns and whistles, bright lighted booths selling tamales and chicharones, laughter, and mariachi music pumping from the stage area. It’s September 15, Mexican Independence Day, and it seems as though all of Ensenada is on this street for El Grito (The Shout), the sound of freedom.

On the main stage, huge banners lead up from the platform to a second story balcony where the formal ceremony will take place in about an hour and a half. Large video screens allow the crowd to participate in the pre-ceremony festivities. As we work our way closer to the platform, a young girl gets up and sings acapella in a high clear voice, a traditional Mexican love song. Right on her heels and in a furl of black ranchero pants, billowing stripes and swirls of color, a dancing group flirts, begs and tip-taps their way through several traditional dances from the state of Colima (Susie and I decide we need to find out how to sign up ; ). All the while, the whistles toot and people applaud and catcall.

I try not to trip over a plastic cup rolling around between a maze of people’s feet as we find the rest of the group representing YWAM’s 3 locations in Mexico. We’re an interesting bunch, more than a few nationalities, languages, and races represented, but all of us laugh, attempting to dance to the lively folk music and getting to know people we don’t often get to spend time with. And after a presidential speech piped in from Mexico City, the Mexican National Anthem and several other localized political ballads, we join as the Mexican Declaration of Independence is read and the crowd screams, “VIVA!” in response.

Just as the excitement reaches its peak, we’re directed to turn around. After a second, the dark night air is broken by high pitched shriek. A second later, a riot of color explodes and sparkles in the sky above us. We crane our heads back and applaud like the delighted children in front of us as firework after firework sounds the independence of Mexico.

After a few minutes of chatter and more mariachi music and dancing, we round our group up and head back to the base. In the midst of preparing for DTS, it’s worth the crowds, the parking, and the neck ache to celebrate the culture and heritage of a country I get to share.