Zacatecas, Mexico

Part two - Zacatecas International Folklore Festival

Mexican street flamenco

Friday 20th August - Tuesday 23rd August 1999

On our first day in Zacatecas, when we were having some breakfast, we heard loud music coming from around the corner. Eventually, curiosity got the better of us and we decided to check out what was happening. A large crowd had gathered around one of the many little plazas scattered around Zacatecas, and in the centre was a large group of musicians and dancers in a wide variety of costumes obviously having a good time. Some of the costumes looked eerily familiar, but we didn't think much of it at first ...

Panamanian dancers in full flow

After the music stopped and the crowd started to disperse, we decided to go to the tourist information office to find out a little more about the town and to obtain information about getting to the ruins at La Quemada, about 35 miles away. The very friendly, helpful staff gave us a leaflet and explained that we had arrived in time for the start of the Zacatecas International Folklore Festival, and that what we had seen was just a taster of what was yet to come. On looking more closely at the leaflet, we realised why some of the costumes had seemed so familiar - one of the international groups performing at the festival was from Slovenia!

Veronika with "locals" (actually Slovenes) in traditional costumes 8-)

Naturally we were amazed, as we certainly didn't expect to find any Slovenes, at least not until we reached Argentina. Eventually, we found some of them wandering around the town in their traditional costumes, and decided we had to say hello. We approached one guy (in the picture above, he's the one not wearing a hat) and asked him in Slovene where he was from. Obviously it didn't at first strike him as odd that somebody should approach him in Mexico speaking Slovene, as he replied simply "Slovenia"! We chatted with them for a while, which helped us a little with Slovene homesickness.

Chinese performers in Zacatecas


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