Dia de los muertos (link for pics at end!)

The 31st was not a huge deal here. Throughout town, children carried around carved out green pumpkins with slots or crosses carved in the top and asking anyone they passed for pesos. Some had shoe boxes with faces carved out of the tops, some had plastic jack-o-lanterns or Frankenstein heads like kids back home. Some in costumes, some not. Peter went and bought some candy to give out, and some kids looked a little disappointed not to receive pesos instead. That continued during the day and evening yesterday, too.

We signed up for a night tour of some of the pueblos. There was an archeologist who was leading a tour with some of the other guests here and they started from the b&b where he gave a lecture about the festival. I was lucky to get to hear that and shared it with Peter who was disco napping. The archeologist explained how the indigenous and Catholic traditions blend in this holiday and the symbols of the offerings. He explained that last night's observance in the graveyards was the indigenous side, when the people believe that the spirits of their dead join them for the night. Today's observance is more Catholic, when it's more a tribute to the dead, but not actually communing with them.

Our tour guide mostly gave the Catholic perspective and revised history, so I was glad to be able to recall the archeologist's explanations.

We visited three towns:

In the first, children did traditional dances in front of the church, where people had also set up fake grave mounds and made their offerings. It was the least interesting of the three to us, but still nice to see a different tradition.

The second was the most powerful for me. This was the most traditional. We walked up the hill to the graveyard ("panteon" in Spanish), where families had decorated their simple graves with tons of marigolds, wild purple orchids (the archeologist said that smell was important), some carved pumpkins, favorite foods of the dead. All homemade, as far as we could see. They brought chairs and benches and blankets and settled in for the night. They built fires to keep warm and lit candles to light the way for the dead. One woman, whose relative was buried near the wall, set up a palm mat and blankets for her three children who got ready to sleep the night there. While tourists, both Mexican and foreign, wandered among them snapping photos, some families welcomed visitors to sit with them and learn about the holiday and their ancestors, and to drink some ponche (warm punch).

The third town was similar to the second, but with more wealth. The graveyard was larger, and many of the tombs were more ornate, both in their permanent and festival ways. There, we found fewer families -- it seemed like more had set up the tombs and lit the candles, then headed home. Some teenage boys at the back blasted hard metal.

Before heading out for the night, Peter bought a wool sweater and I got a cotton hat in the local market (as you will see in the pictures -- yay, finally some pictures!

We arrived back at the hotel at 3am, talking about how we honor the memories of our dead and recounting sweet memories of our grandmothers.

Not sure if any of the pictures are going to show up -- having trouble with loading them, but here they are!

Our change of fortune

The B&B in Patzcuaro is truly amazing. We were just excited to have a private room and bathroom, but what a room it is! Fireplace, local art, adobe tile and thick adobe walls, beamed ceilings. Then, outside, a babbling fountain in a lovely courtyard leading to the shared living and dining rooms where full breakfast is served. Behind that a large, sunny garden. Too bad we have so many things we want to do in town, or we would wile away the days just in the hotel.

The other guests are a mix of people who can afford this place. Very friendly, all from English speaking countries (except one woman from Chile, but I think she lives in London now). The owners have been here (they split their time between Victoria, their house on the Mexican Coast, and here). We like the couple from London who have been in search of more Catrina dolls -- they admit their obsession and are willing to take the colectivos (the van-buses that locals use to get around and others staying here would never dream of using).

Our hosts, Liz and George are so sweet. They are an interesting pair and so warm.

And, this is nearly an afterthought, but it has been very nice actually staying in Patzcuaro for day of the dead, rather than in Morelia and busing in.

Peter uploaded the pics of the place to his computer, so we'll have to coordinate adding them to this post.

Change of plans!

Exciting news: The couple we met on the bus, Liz and George, do indeed have an extra room at the B&B where they are staying in Patzcuaro and have invited us to come there tomorrow. We leave in the morning. We still want to see more of Morelia, so we expect to come back after the festivities (and the paid reservation expires) to explore a bit more.

Also, there were belly dancers at the bar we went to tonight with our roommate, Rhonda.

Also, we only saw two women dressed as Catrinas, but they were pretty great.