domingo en la misión

On Sunday we attended the St. Joseph's Day celebration at the Mission San Juan Capistrano. This is the day that the swallows *supposedly* return to Capistrano. I say supposedly because I haven't seen a swallow in over ten years.

We went to the event early, around 9 am, and stayed for a couple hours.

Here's what went down...

It was a beautiful day. It had rained the day before so everything was crisp and clean.

We parked on La Matanza street. I thought this was an odd name for a street considering that it means "the slaughter" in Spanish. The most well-known matanza was in El Salvador in 1932, when the right-wing government slaughtered about 40,000 peasants, mostly natives.




I spotted a lawn a lawn jockey. I didn't realize people were still into these things...

We left after the historic bells were rung. The plaque below the bell indicates that the one and only Dick Nixon rang the historic bells. Nixon liked San Juan Capistrano. His favorite restaurant was El Adobe. I bet he chowed on some enchiladas and consumed several margaritas after ringing the bells back in '69.

It's not a bell unless someone named Dick rings it.