Dia de Muerto

On the day Mexicans believe spirits return to earth things got perfectly spooky.

Quick lesson:  the celebration is on November 1 and 2.  On the first, it is the spirits of deceased children who visit, and on the second the adults.  Shrines are erected in cemeteries and other public places in order to lure the spirits back to their loved ones.  Shrines are full of candies (calaveras de azucar - sugar skulls), pan de muerto (delicious bread of the dead) and other things to entice the spirits of the children and, as you would expect, alcohol, personal effects, and other grown up delights (saw some condoms?) to entice the adults.

This is really best described in picture, so I'll let them do the talking.  To set the mood, I think Jason described it perfectly:  remember the opening scene of The Lost Boys?  Early fall, smoky dusk, carnival atmosphere, and just an overall creepy vibe.  That was the Zocalo.  Church bells rang, a crazy concert burst out of loud speakers, people in costume, top-notch alebrijes on display, smoke everywhere from shamans "cleansing" people and incense for the shrines, and even a motorcycle gang dressed like zombies circling the square.  Creepy.  Awesome.

Zocalo, Alebrijes, Crowds, Church

Typical shrine - marigolds are often featured

The crowd at around the Zocalo

Rocks and Marigolds

Skull art

Sugar skull (taken days earlier)

Another shrine

Stilt walkers

Pan de mmmmuerto

There isn't an abundance of pictures, because I was reminded by a stranger to "hold tight to my children." So I did.

Halle-freaking-lujah

I am so tired of plastic plates.

Halloween

It was awesome.
I didn't have enough candy by a mile. We had to turn off the lights before 7pm. People are still ringing the bell. I bought three large bags! Next year I will get much much more. Cecilia explained to us that because we have the guard our neighborhood is considered safe (good to know) so kids from all over come here to trick or treat. She could have said something yesterday when she was with me as I clearly did not buy enough candy, but that's not what a maid does. So.

Ellie loved giving out the candy. Jack not so much. He was not a fan of other kids taking what he saw as his goods. There was a lot of crying. But El stood at our gate looking up and down the street shouting to any kid she saw. Come get candy!! Costume or not. The ones in costumes got custom greetings, "ooh a scary vampire! A pirate - aaarrrrggg" She rules.

Jase got home early and we hit the 'hood. At first Ellie didn't want to leave her post giving away candy, but then she remembered her own loot. Pickings were slim but they're little so that's fine.

We met two American families that live on our street! Both with kids older than ours but one answered the door with wine glass in hand (hooray!) and one with a 15 year old daughter who loves to babysit. Aw yeah.

Enough talk - picture time.

This is Cecilia!  Helping Ellie put the candy to give out into one of Jack's toy buckets.  Much better idea than our one pot to cook with.  Good call Ceci.

Bringing candy to the trick or treaters

Excellent old school costumes

Ellie waved "thank you" to everyone who visited

"Here you go scary scarecrow"

Good costumes, plastic bags?

Trick or treat!  Jack, please don't break that.

Nerds!

Ellie loves it.  Jack, not so much.

Our hood

Super Dad!

The Incredibles

On Saturday we visited the market at Coyoacan. Very cool Colonial part of town. Read about it!

In the main market, among the fried crickets and cow tongues, we stumbled on a stall that had Ellie's 2012 Halloween costume request: "The red Mr. Incredible" ("Not the blue one from the beginning of the movie, mommy.") She literally whispered under her breath "Oh. My. Goodness." as she tried it on. It's awesome, homemade, and they had one for Jack too. Don't tell her, but she's actually wearing the Violet Incredible costume. It fits better.

The kids have been wearing their costumes all day. Ok, every day since Saturday.  Cecilia had to wash them at nap time.

Can't wait for tonight!! What is trick or treat going to be like here? Will we actually meet some of our neighbors? Did I buy too much/too little candy? Will Cecilia pass it out? What will she put the candy in - our one pot?

Halloween in Monte Parnaso!

This letter was delivered to the house today. Have I mentioned I no longer answer the phone or the doorbell? It's pretty awesome.  Gracias Cecilia.
According to google this letter basically says our little gated street is having trick or treat! I was really wondering.
Kids have costumes (check) and we went to buy candy to give out today (check) after I translated the note.
Steinbergs are ready! Bring it Mexico City.

Correos de Mexico

Walked to the post office.
"Necesita estampilla"
Seven pesos fifty
The smallest bill I have is a $100 peso note.
No cambio.
$100 pesos is approximately $7.45 US. It's not like I was even asking them to break a twenty. Sigh.
So we walk to 7-11, the kids get lollipops, I get change.
Back to post office.
Letter mailed.
Win!

This week's challenge: paperwork

Lots of paperwork to deal with this week.  Paperwork and no printer.  Oh yeah, and I still don't speak the language.  Gotta work on that..

I have to mail some docs to the US for my job
I have to mail some docs locally in Mexico to open an account where we can transfer money back to the US

Jason is in Columbia this week so I can't just bug him to do this all from his office.

Do they sell envelopes at the post office here?

I found somewhere called "Office Digital" in Polanco.  Hope it is what I think it is.

Stay tuned!!