Days of the Dead

Another delay in our house closing has set us back to sometime later next week. Fortunately this time it is on the Mexican side. I met the owners yesterday. They were quite cute. As suspected they built the house themselves over three years. He is now a chauffeur in LA but they have another house in SMA. I’m not sure what she does. They got a lesson in Mexican tax reform (driven by NAFTA) from the lawyer and in the end resigned themselves to the tax bill they face. They will still be a lot richer when and if this finally closes. They left a power of attorney with a friend here, so once the authority comes through from Mexico City it should all move without further hitches. Ojala!

The only thing worse than a bunch of Texans together is a bunch of drunk Texans together. I had that unpleasant experience the other night when I went looking for a place to watch the fourth game of the World Series. There was an empty bar seat in one place I looked into, so I sat down. The game was ok but listening to the two couples re-fight the Alamo, lament the outcome of the Civil War and labor endlessly over the bill and tip while insulting the help was painful to say the least. Fortunately I have learned not to insert myself in those conversations even when people are sober. Gladly I escaped unscathed and Boston won to boot.

There is something to be said for a town where the head police detail around el Jardin spends a good part of the morning tending the bougainvilleas in the large stone pots when not directing traffic or giving directions to tourists. It is a town with a parade of some sort almost every day. I happened upon one the other day that was apparently a United Nations school event. Hundreds of tiny grade 1-ers paraded around the town square all dressed in a variety of national costume from a country they represented. The one with the Canadian flag did not have much of a costume but many were elaborate and well done. Very cute. Yesterday there was a parade around el Jardin including a couple of marching bands advocating an end to domestic violence and violence against women in general.

Monday and Tuesday mark the culmination of the Days of the Dead (Los Dias de las Muertos) in Mexico and preparations have been in full swing for a month. Every shop has a skeleton somewhere and many are selling ceramic and paper ones in various sizes along with candied animal replicas. The foreign population here (and increasingly the Mexicans) mix it all up with Halloween, including costume parties at many bars on Sunday night, but the two have little in common. On November 1 (All Saints’ Day) and November 2 (All Souls Day) families unite to remember their deceased loved ones. Traditionally, day one is for dead children and day 2 for dead adults. Alters appear everywhere decorated elaborately with candles, marigolds, incense, bread, salt, water and corn along with photos of the passed. Feasts of traditional food are prepared and consumed in festive fashion and give sustenance to the dead who, after all, have not eaten for a year. Humorous ceramic figures, typically skeletons, and crepe decorations in orange, black, purple and red add to this mixture of Hispanic and pre-hispanic tradition to remind of the fragility of life and the certainty of death.

El Jardin is a beehive of activity in preparation for the various elements of the 2-day program and anticipated crush of several thousand visitors to witness the schedule of dancing and music concerts. Flower baskets are being repotted with orange marigolds, stages are being constructed and a grand alter will be built in front of the cathedral (Parroquia) along with some 40 smaller ones around the square. Special honor this year goes to Fray Jose Mojica, a famous local opera singer turned priest and founder of the Mexiquito boy’s home.

My friend Simonnette (97 years young) thinks the Days of the Dead tradition beautiful but refrains from buying the local press these days because she does not need to be reminded at every page of the inevitable. She also says it is sad to see all of the décor around the catholic graves while the Protestant ones lay unkempt. Not that there are many of the latter in this country. Mila turned 89 on Friday and we had a small party for her. She leaves today back to Hawaii and frankly I will not miss her narrow-minded view of the world.

And then there is this: Politics in SMA: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=6666441