Day of the Dead

This year my friend Kathleen came from London with her two offspring Manu 8 and Armand 10. On her first trip to the airport on Sunday she discoverd Armand's French passport was expired. After getting a temporary passport on Monday she booked a flight for Wednesday which was cancelled once she reached the airport . Back home she was contacted by the airline (Mexicana) after threatening to twitter 15,000 followers and she was booked through Paris and upgraded. Once at the airport on Thursday she found out the upgrade had not been paid for by Mexicana and that she couldn't get on the flight at all. Finally she was redirected to NY where she spent the night at her expense and arrived on Friday night in Merida... Just in time for the Hanal Pixan alters set up on the Ermita park and churchyard and extending for several blocks... Seen one seen them all was my reaction. They were a bit more enthusiastic and the place was packed. It's very local and not touristy and that does have some charm.





Saturday was Halloween and we spent the whole day looking for costumes. Manu found a skeletal ballerina costume to buy at the very dusty and spooky rental shop on calle 62 and 49. At the bottom of a barrel we found some old paper masks for the rest of us. Armand went as a green Alux. Kathleen chose vampire mask which became a ghoulish bride once we bought the tiara and tulle at the quinceanera shop. Josh, Seamus and I went as black ghosts. We walked around Santiago giving away candy and went to a little party at Casa Azul.



Sunday the alters were set up in the zocalo around 11 and when we got there at 1 they were taking them down. I have no idea what the point was. The place was swarming with tourists and locals and it was hard to see anything. I had guests at Sac Chich who had come especially to see the Hanal Pixan alters as they work for Gourmet magazine. I don't think they saw much of anything beyond a pile of sticks and palm leaves. There were some beautiful flower crosses and some nice alters but they were very hard to see. I rained all afternoon and so we stayed in and watched Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca" on my new Apple TV.




Monday was the actual "Day of the Dead" and we spent the morning at the cemetery. We ran into several TV reporters and someone from the local newspaper who was surprised to see a group of Gringos. We also ran into a couple of vultures hanging out in a crypt. They also seemed surprised to see us. And the sky was beautiful.... and that's why we're here.