Mexican Independence Day, Observed

We are back in Guanajuato (after spending one night in Morelia in a "you can't get there from here" experience).

Today is the Mexican Independence Day Observed. A German guy in Morelia told us that all holidays that fall a different day of the week are observed the Monday before. So, actually, Independence day is this Friday, which seemed to all of us a perfectly good day to observe a holiday, but no. On the other hand, as Mondays are usually the days museums are closed, it does mean only one day of not being able to do much, instead of two.

In Mexico, one can learn the various days of independence from street names. Nearly every city has a 20 de Noviembre street, along with 16 de Septiembre street, and of course, 5 de Mayo street. This independence day marks the 99th anniversary of the revolution. It is the revolution that forced out, finally, Porfirio Diaz, a dictator who reigned for about 30 years. It also resulted, in 1917, with the Mexican Constitution, and the party that became the PRI (which may have had its own sort of dictatorship, as it was elected consistently until 2000). Much of this I know, or was reminded of, by wikipedia.

Next year, Sept. 16, 2010, marks the 200th anniversary of the war of independence from Spain, which is already being played up everywhere we go, but especially around Morelia and Guanajuato, where it all began.

We don't know if there is anything special going on, but we do know that our bagel cafe downstairs will be open, so maybe we'll ask them if there is anything special to do.