Dia De Los Muertos

Wow, I'm behind! I'm only just now blogging about the great weekend I had.  So they do celebrate Halloween here.  There were some really creepy bloody kids walking the streets as we went for a yummy dinner at Casa Ofelia and met the restaurant host who sort of befriends all of the Optometry students.  Saturday was Day of the Dead.  The girls and I left Chad with the kids and went to see a huge statue here.  It's apparently a must see here in Guanajuato.  We walked through the open air fruit market as well as Centro and I got to see lots of interesting fruits and souvenirs.  I bought a little vase and the traditional magnet (I have a magnet from every place Chad and I have been together and a Christmas ornament from every place we've lived together.)   It's a really cute clay one of a Mexican man sitting with a basket of fruit in his lap.  Anyway, that was fun and we walked on to take the "funicular" to the top of the hill.

We thought about taking the stairs.  Can you imagine?!  And we went to see this statue, Pipila.  

Apparently he was the first to fight for Guanajuato's independence.  It's a huge weird statue but has great panoramic views of the city.  

It was really nice to finally get out and see some of the city.  I can't do much during the day because we have to walk, and I can barely push one kid on the cobbled stone, and it's way to far for Chloe to walk.  

Anyway, that night, we were invited to go to the cemetery.  I could kick myself for not taking my camera!  For Day of the Dead, they leave food out, and windows open so the spirits of their loved ones could come and take the flavor out of the food.  Meanwhile, they spend the night at the cemetery cleaning, flowering, and praying over their grave site.  Even though it's weird, I really respect how they remember and treat their dead. 

So we put the kids to bed, left them with Chanelle, and walked to Centro to meet the resident from the clinic who's been here a while, Mary.  We also met Hector who lives across the street and also befriends all of the Optometry students.  While we waited for him to show up, we watched the start of a callejoneada.  Every night in town center, groups of men dress up in tights and a poofy sleeved outfits.  They play various stringed instruments, make jokes, and just party.  You can follow them around through the streets and they'll give you a strange ceramic flask of orange juice and tell you about the streets and tell jokes.  Even though I didn't understand any of it, it was a lot of fun to watch.  It's just a big dancing/singing party.  And no one seems to be afraid of looking stupid.  There was a fragile looking little old lady that was totally hamming it up.  She was dancing and singing along for all the world to see.  It was awesome.  And this is EVERY night; the only difference is they don't wear the skull masks and whatnot.  

I tell ya, Mexicans work hard, but they sure can party hard too.  I don't know how they have enough steam to get through all of their work (it is a lot of work to live here) let alone party too.  I mean every night of the week!  And there are so many festivals and stuff, it's insane how much they party.  Day of the Dead, for a lot of them, is just another excuse.  Course some take it more seriously... Anyway, so Hector showed up and took us through the streets, telling us lots of interesting tidbits as we walked.  We walked forever, up hill... and I thought Omaha was hilly, paha!  We are definitely in the mountains.  It made me really happy we didn't decide to take the stairs earlier in the day.  He took us past the Universidad de Guanajuato with a ton of stairs in front of it filled with candles, flower petal arrangements, etc.  Though you can't tell from the picture, it was really neat.  

After climbing past tons of food/flower vendors, (Apparently some people stay out all night.  The climb alone made us hungry) we made it to the cemetery.  The gate way has skulls and cross bones carved into it.  It was the first cemetery in Guanajuato and they keep having to dig people up to make more room.  If they're mummified, they go into the famous mummy museum here which I'm certain you'll hear more about later.  Most of the graves were SO ornate.  I mean, we have headstones that can get kind of fancy, but they each had statues, vases, little buildings, archways, fences, etc.  It was insane.  

And Hector told us that tradition states that those spirits that don't have people doting over their grave follow those that do.  They hover around the graves with candles on them.  And if you go home with any cemetery dust on you, those spirits can follow you into your home.  So those that believe it make sure to wash their feet/shoes as they leave or before they get home.  I tasted a new fruit and we bought a cider, ponche, from one of the street vendors that was really good.  And we saw a lot of the city.  It was a very interesting night and we all had a lot of fun experiencing new things.  That's one thing about America; it really is such a melting pot that there kind of is no history or culture - comparatively.  Some traditions, but it is also a very young country that's always looking for the newest and best.