día de los muertos

Today is Día de los Muertos: the Day of the Dead. Halloween and All-Saints Day festivities in Mexico are much more elaborate than those in the States. Here the kids have been running around from store to store, house to house asking for candy for the past 3 days at least. Technically, they’re only supposed to do it today or tomorrow, but most fiestas and parties here last longer than one measly day. And the kids don’t just say “trick or treat” when asking for candy, they sing an entire song about how they are angelitos – spirits that have come down, or back, from the afterlife – and they want to be appeased with treats. If you don’t give them anything, they wish death on your aunt: Que se muera la tía! If you give them treats, they might wish her a long life: Que viva la tía!

Given the large number of tourists passing thru town, the mischievous little kids have taken to asking for pesos from the visitors. I came across a mother and her two young kids today. “Halloween!” she said to me. I smiled at her costumed children and went to go on my way when they asked me for 50 centavos. When I said no, her son wished death on me: Que se muera de una vez! We’re all gonna die some day, kid. My giving you 50 cents isn’t going to make much of a difference in the grand scheme.

Día de los Muertos has some wonderful traditions here, tho. It’s not just a day for kids to run around in costumes begging treats, getting all hopped up on the sugar, and leaving flaming piles of dog shit on their neighbor’s doorstep. It’s actually a time for people to remember loved ones who have passed on. People go to the pantéon – the cemetery – to decorate the graves of friends and relatives with funcia (pine needles) and cempasúchil (marigolds), and leave offerings of liquor, water, pan de muerto, and foods for the visiting spirits of their ancestors. Then they have a meal at the grave, and pass the bottle around and sing songs to welcome the dead back.

People also make altars in their homes, which we did yesterday and the day before. We spread funcia on the floor of our patio and a table and decorated with cempasúchil flowers and petals. We made offerings of green beans, herbs and flowers from the peace house garden, calabazas (pumpkins or squash), colorful fresh beans from the market, mandarins, tomatillos, avocado and other treats for our dead. Today we added pan de muerto – bread in the shape of bones, or with skulls on them. We have candles lit and pictures of our passed loved ones. I put a picture of my grandmother on the alter, and some tea and macaroons for her to enjoy.

Other than the festivities, I’ve been busy working. I actually gots me a job here last week. I’m waiting tables at a vegetarian restaurant in town – La Casa del Pan. I’m working Tuesday thru Sunday 3 to 11pm. I make about 8 pesos ($0.80) an hour before tips. I’m kinda on the fence about it. It’s nice to make money, and I’d definitely cover my expenses here every month with the salary and tips. But the work has been a bit tiring; slow at times, because it’s a slow season for tourism; a bit stressful when it gets busy. I get fed some tasty vegetarian food every shift, but I don’t know if waiting tables is a job that I am naturally suited for. I like working food service; I enjoyed working my coffee shop last year. But I’m gonna have to work hard if I’m gonna get good at serving soup without spilling it, or carrying a tray of drinks without spilling beer on the customers. Now there haven’t been any major soup spills, and I didn’t actually get any beer on the customers when it fell on a tray. They didn’t make a big stink about it, and even came back on Sunday and left a big tip. Have you ever tried to balance a tray of drinks on one hand? Not so easy, my friend. But my tally after five days of work is 3 broken glasses, a broken ashtray (not completely my fault), and the aforementioned beer spilling incident. Not completely confidence inspiring, I’ll admit. But I don’t want you all to think that I’m walking around the store like a complete klutz. The only major mishap I had on the floor was the beer blitz. The rest of the accidents happened in the kitchen, and half of them because the wet glass was slippery. And another good thing about the job is that it’s pretty relaxed. I don’t have anyone riding my ass all the time and getting on my case for making mistakes. So it’s a good place to learn waiting, if that’s what I want to do.

Now, I know that some of you, my parents in particular, are getting a real kick out of my clumsy waiter stories. But I’m actually trying to be good at it. Or at least considering it. I’m gonna work there another week, and then head out to do some more bike workshops this coming Sunday. I should be gone for a week. And then I’ll see if I’m really jonezing to continue the job. Or if it’s worth it, cuz it’s 48 hours a week, more or less, and it doesn’t leave me hardly any time to do any other activities or work around here. So the past few days I’ve been a bit exhausted, after 8 hours of work and 5 hours of costume parties afterwards. I know, rough life, right...

The other fun thing that happened lately was our First Annual Homemade Boat Regatta, or Concurso de Barquitos. You probably saw the fabulous pictures at the beginning of the entry. My housemate Melissa (maroon sweater) came up with the idea one night. We like to say she was touched by god. I made my boat out of a Tiburón bottle. Tiburón, aka Sharky, is our agua ardiente (fire water) of choice. It’s liquor made from sugar cane and flavored with coconut. It costs 15 pesos for a liter. That’s cheaper than soda. As you can see in the foto, my boat is chingón (kick-ass). Somehow, I lost the voting for coolest boat. I suspect foul play. As for performance, the SS Tibursión sank in 3 seconds flat. I wasn’t completely surprised. Melissa chose a particularly rapid section of the river for the course, and as my boat is of the open cabin design, the water entered quickly and she was lost with all passengers and never seen again. Still, you can appreciate the glory of the Tibursión in the fotos, and see Melissa, my neighbor Juán Carlos and the whole barquitos gang.