Nothing to Declare

There were lots of fireworks to celebrate independence, but my favorite are called castillos, giant towers of rotating, spinning rockets, noisemakers and massive sparklers. My camera battery faded during this display, so I only have a few pix. The towers are several stories high. Often they are four sided, and contain moving pieces - ringing bells, flying doves, the face of Allende or Hidalgo, "Viva Mexico" or some such. They are set off starting at the bottom and rotating around the tower. The top of the tower goes off last, shooting up into the sky and exploding like a regular firework. (Regular fireworks were being set off simultaneously on the other side of the Jardin during this display.)

Fireworks are kind of a contact sport here. Note to self: all those sombreros sold in the run up to the big weekend would be great for protecting yourself from falling sparks and debris. Little kids just put boxes on their heads.