Natalie sent in this post about her Independence Day experiences in Mexico last month. Enjoy!

El Torito, a flaming paper mache bull

September 16th was Independence Day down here in Mexico, and surprisingly, it’s not celebrated all that differently from the way the fourth of July is in the States. People tend to congregate in one area after dark where the kids run around with sparklers and soda, while the adults drink a couple of beers while waiting for a fireworks show. Instead of having red, white and blue fireworks at a safe distance up in the sky, the Mexicans celebrate with “el torito,” a papier mache bull that is run around the town square while it showers off dangerous sparks of red, green and white which people run away from and yell “¡VIVA MEXICO!” Although, that was just my experience.

I spent my independence day in San Francisco (or San Pancho to locals), a small town about 30 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta, while the rest of Mexico appeared to have flocked to the big cities of Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey. The Independence Day I celebrated was a noticeably low-key, small town affair, but on the TV’s I could see that their independence is not something that the fiercely proud Mexicans take lightly. Tens of thousands of people gathered in the plazas of the major cities donning crazy wigs and face paint while they waited for the moment when they could finally yell along with their Governor or President “¡Vivan los heroes que nos dieron libertad! ¡VIVA!” (Basically translated to “long live the heroes who gave us freedom”).

But as the sparks showered down on my head from the precariously close fireworks, I was glad that I chose to spend my independence day doing as the small town locals do…drinking “caballitos” and dancing to a bumping Mariachi band.