Time for a local interlude between my Caribbean posts. The twin cities Dragon Boat Festival was this last weekend on Lake Phalen in St. Paul, a pan-Asian celebration involving lots of dancers, lots of food, and dragon boat races. Brought back memories of my former home in the San Francisco Bay Area where Asian-themed festivals are common and often very large. We found some Philipino food, which appeared in this case to be identical to authentic Mexican food, and chowed down while watching dancers representing various cultures. In one area lion dancers competed for an offering of food.
The day seemed gorgeous – pretty flowers in full bloom, temperature a bit warm but tolerable.
I don’t have a good enough zoom on my little Leica point-and-shoot (my favorite camera ever, otherwise) so the dragon boats are a bit small in this next photo, but they’re out there, with the flowers in the foreground.
At the end of the day we lined up for the shuttle back to the parking areas, and a massive thunderstorm moved in – dropping rain at about 2 inches an hour for over 25 minutes. We stood there the whole time, waiting in line, and I have never been so wet in my life. I can only imagine what that was like on one of the boats. It was like standing directly under a large hose.
