Carnival

Greetings from warm Autlán! I’m so happy to be getting out this much-needed update to you. It’s Carnival time for Autlán. Carnival is huge here and everyone participates in it in one way or another. A lot of things shut down for this event, including our English school and coffee house. We wish we did not have to, but during Carnival, students stop coming to class and La Roca gets very few costumers. So during Carnival, we will be working on many “special projects” that are always on are to do list, but never get done. Although we have never been here for Carnival, we have heard enough about it to dread its arrival.

Bands start playing at 10am and the party goes all day and all night for the next 11 days. What I have been told shocks me and reminds me why we are here. People lay drunk and passed out on the sidewalks and the downtown fills with the stench of urine and vomit. It is know in Autlán as a time of letting lose and giving yourself over to whatever feels good. A shocking amount of teen pregnancies come out of this event, as well as abortion. Our La Roca coffee house is on one the streets that will be block off to party goers and alcohol venders, thus, we will be shutting our doors for the next two weeks. We ask for your prayers during this time. We are praying for the young believers and those who have come to us searching for truth.

The tan building behind the booths is a school. They are serving alcohol right in front of children all day long. This picture was taken at about 12 in the afternoon. There are many more people in the night time.

Two of the many booths. Tequila is the drink of choice, as it is produced in Mexico .
One of Autlan's major crops is the Tequila plant.

Some cowboys who are leading some bulls to the bull ring.


The park that was all decorated during Christmas is now again full of bulls and bull fighters.