Danza de los Voladores

I love Mexico. I arrived here almost 6 months ago without any particular expectations and fell in love at first sight. From what I can see around, I'm not the only one! Because, let's be honest, what's not to like? Great food, great weather, beautiful landscapes and on top of that, everywhere you go, people smile! And then, there's that little extra something, the cherry on top, that little bit of crazy, which for me places Mexico somewhere between the US, Europe and the Middle East on my scale of "friendly".

La danza de los voladores (the dance of the flyers) below, which I witnessed in Bosque de Chapultepec (another post coming about this beautiful park) - I've been told - is a pre-hispanic tradition, which used to have religious significance but was comercialized by the colonizers. Of course, the flying dancers immediately reminded me of the ''spinning Darwish' or the 'dance of tannoura' in Turkey and Egypt. ..

What happens is, they all start at the top of this really high poll. One of the guys stays on top and puts the whole thing in motion, as the flyers spin suspended from ropes. The spinning goes on with the ropes gradually getting longer, untill the dancers land on the ground. There's also very characteristic music and of course everyone's wearing special (very beautiful) costumes. I did make a video, but was unable to upload it here, unfortunately. Check out my Instagram account to see a part of it!