Youth counts down until midnight to celebrate the arrival of a new year. Maturity counts down until midnight to celebrate the time that they can finally get to bed. –Andrew Peloquin

If you are one of the mature ones reading this you know how true those words are.  The traditions for welcoming in the new year are not that different in Mexico than in the States, except they are a little more random, unregulated, and engaged in by crazy drunks with firearms and no designated drivers.

Being in the center of town, I was treated to quite a sight at midnight as fireworks filled the night sky. And when I say filled, I mean filled.

From the Christo statue at the very tippy-top of town, to the Guadalupe church a little lower, to the small church near the center of Taxco, to the other side of the mountain at the Mission, to the top again at Hotel Montetaxco, fireworks exploded in a 360 degree arc from my balcony.   In addition, people in the streets shot off fireworks and bottle rockets of their own which whistled, popped, and lit up the sky with at least a few strayed dangerously toward neighbors houses into the wee hours of the morning.

Of course, all this activity had the dogs howling and at least one car alarm going off. It was quite a cacophony that has this “mature one” seeking a good night’s sleep!

Sweet dreams everyone.