I should know better, but I showed up at 5 p.m. today anyway for the start of San Miguel de Allende’s second Day of the Dead parade in as many days.

(Here are photos from Tuesday night’s Rosewood Hotel Dia de Muertos parade.)

And there were very very few people on Calle El Cardo, the supposed staging area. And very few of those people looked like they would be marching in a parade. Although, some of those people were horses, meant to pull carriages so that was a good sign. And several bands were sitting in the shade where ever they could find it up and down the street.

There were a lot of people on cell phones typing in things like “Where does the parade start?”

It dawned on me soon enough.

When you say “Parade 5 p.m.” that is merely the time when people begin to assemble.

Within 20 minutes the street was awash in Catrinas, Catrins, Calaveras, and all sorts of mad costumery. Yes, indeed there was going to be a parade after all.

This was the parade made possible by a thousand face painters stationed all over town this week.

One of the coolest moments was seeing the various police details assigned to manage the parade. They were all done up in skeleton face paint. They were really enjoying the day and the attention from the public — everyone wanted a photo with the police!

Being there on time, um, early, I took a leisurely stroll up and down El Cardo and snapped photos of the paraders waiting around.

Mrs. Death makes sure that her husband looks good for work:

Soon enough, the motorcycle cops revved up their bikes and a couple of quads fired off their sirens, and quickly enough, the paraders began to march down the Ancha de San Antonio. The route would eventually lead them to the traditional parade destination: the Jardin Principal in Centro.

Both sides of the Ancha were lined with people as the parade began.

Here are photos and a couple of videos from today’s parade.

Enjoy!

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

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