Dia de los Muertos!!

Okay guys, I'm feeling a LOT better today...still really sleepy and tired from my stomach problem, but at least it's bearable now. Don't have much time to rest anyways today since I have so many things to do before tomorrow. (ie. UPDATE this blog! Haha) I'm trying to shower, but apparently, my family is low on water. I guess it ties in with the whole lack of potable water in Mexico issue. They are allocated an amount of water for a certain amount of time unlike in the US where there is water every time you turn on the faucet. So I guess I'll update this thing while waiting for the little amount of water we have left to run so I can shower!

So, Dia de los Muertos shenanigans started happening on Friday the 29th! The real celebrations start on the 31st all the way through 11/2. Dia de los Muertos is a holiday that resulted from a mixture of indigenous and Roman Catholic beliefs. On this day, they believe that their deceased family members will come back to visit. Thus, people here build altars with offerings of the family members favorite foods, drinks, as well as with personal items. The view of death in Mexico is interesting. After someone dies, they have a period of grieving usually lasting 9 days. Afterwards, they have a huge celebration because they know that they will reunite with the member someday. Celebrations include foods such as tamales, and mole. They also respect death because they know that death does not discriminate against class, or race. In the end, death will get you. Lol. Kind of a macabre thought.

Anyhow, Day of the Dead is filled with festivity and joy. It certainly isn't a depressing holiday at ALL! The cemeteries are lit with candles and live music. Beautiful altars and tapetes (huge pictures made of sand) are built! Comparzas (parades) fill the streets. It's really an exciting time to be here during Dia de los Muertos!

Our group did a LOT during this holiday. It was honestly extremely exhausting especially since I did so many shifts at Hospital Civil the days right before Muertos. We were going to be entering a altar/tapete building contest at the Panteon General (closest cemetery near us). Thus, it needed a TON of prepping. On Saturday, all of us went to Mercado de Albastos to buy supplies. Then on Sunday morning, at 7am, some of us went to prep for the altar/tapete. It was a lot of hardwork! We dedicated our altar/tapete to Macedonia Alcala who was a famous musician in Mexico and was influential somehow in the Mexican revolution. So, we based everything on our altar off him from little skeleton figurines playing the guitar to musical notes constructed out of flowers. Speaking of flowers, we had SO much! We adorned our whole altar with a TON of cempasuchil (marigolds?), which is one of the flowers of Muertos. The tapete was so beautiful too! In fact, everything we did was so beautiful that we won second place, which is the first time in Oaxaca Quarter Abroad history! We also won 3500pesos which we are donating. =D AND, we made it on the news! BUT, lemme tell you, it was a LOT of work, especially the tapete. I worked on it with Judy and Andy after and oh my goodness, dizzy spells and sore thighs from squatting so much. Ugh. Can't believe they worked on it since 7am! On Sunday night, all of us went to a bigger cemetery in Xoxoctlan. Dude. It's kind of amazing because it feels like I'm at a mini-fair outside the cemetery. There are games, and tons of food being sold and so many people! Xoxo, I felt, was more traditional in that people actually camp out ALL night at the graves. The whole place is light up and it just feels so peaceful. Kind of. I guess pictures will explain better...

Panteon in Xoxo at night!

On Monday night, all of us went to a small pueblo to see how Muertos is celebrated there. It was an interesting experience, and the smell reminded me of Davis because it smelled like cow poo everywhere. But, bands walk around town and play music and pass out mezcal. It was fun because we just danced with them and walked. There were also parades...and by that time, some people were already drunk from the mezcal. The most memorable part was the Mexican mosh pit. People just get really close to each other and start dancing...lots of pushing and shoving...I literally feared for my life and grabbed onto the closest thing to me which was Joaquin. LOL. But, I had to keep HIM from falling too because if he fell, then I would fall. So finally, I got out of the mosh pit and my heart was beating so fast by then. Quite the experience though.

all made of sand

On a random note, I HAD CHINESE FOOD!!!!!! :D Opened by legit Chinese people! (and cooked by them too) It was a bit greasy...and definitely wasn't the best ever, BUT, it totally satisfied my Chinese food craving. I was filled with emotion with each bite I took.

Happy happy!!

Puerto in less than 24 hours! Crazy stuff. 29 more days!