Que Padre!

Que padre! = How cool!

The city of Monterrey, Mexico celebrated Father's Day with a free festival in the downtown center. I'm here on loan (temporary duty) from Juarez (more on that another time) and spent a nice mid-day observing how Mexico spends this muy macho, muy padre day. It starts like any Sunday in Latin America... with the cathedral. Very pretty, but naturally that's not where the action is. It's across the street in the plaza. Come take a look:

Unlike the Mother's Day celebration in my Juarez neighborhood, this celebration was distinctly masculine.

Meet the height requirement? You can join the Fuerza Civil and get kitted out with all this gear like this guy. Or this one:

Stroll a bit further into the heart of things and you'll find the feats of strength, like the use-the-sledgehammer-and-ring-the-bell machine, or el toro bronco, also known as easy methods of public humiliation. But not for this guy:

Once you've worked up a good appetite, it's time for some carne asada provided free and prepared on one of the dozens of grills all fired up at once:

Plate in hand, it's time to enjoy the entertainment. Why it's thumping music and dancing scantily-clad girls, of course!

Finally, what dudely event is complete without some vehicular muscle?

The crowd of men (example above) was truly enjoying themselves, but this IS Father's Day after all, so let's not forget the point of the day. It's to celebrate fatherhood, which is impossible without the kids, and there were plenty on hand who certainly weren't left out of the fun:

(Playing IN the fountain? What?! We weren't allowed to do that. Man, I grew up in the wrong country.)

And within the celebration was also blooming the possibility of future fathers:

Que Padre!