Mmmmm... Mexico Musings

HAPPY “SIGNS” IN MEXICO

Happy signs?  I’m not talking about the street signs that are “tucked away” on the sides of buildings, sandwiched in between other information or decoration.  Although that does make me smile.  What amazes me is that the people are by and large poor, and yet their very lifestyle shows a multitude of “signs” that they are happy.  Even interacting with a gringa like me.  I see an older woman walking down the street on calloused feet, carrying a heavy bucket of corn to be ground, shoulders bent from years of this daily task... and in my broken Spanish I smile and say “Buenos Dias.”  Immediately her head raises and a broad smile crosses her face as she replies, “Buenas Tardes” (because I usually forget that the time of day has changed the appropriate greeting).

 

Celebrations

Mexicans celebrate everything!  Lots of holidays, birthdays, quinceañeras (a girl’s 15^th birthday), weddings.  In the US we celebrate most of those as well, but the celebrations last for days in Mexico!  Although poor, when everybody gets together and shares what they have, there is an amazing abundance of food!  And there is decoration as well – brightly colored banners, tablecloths and servietas (cloth napkins), and flowers!  (I can’t help but think of Jesus feeding the 5,000.)

There are parades and processions going on all the time.  During the Independence Day Celebration, there was not only a parade downtown, there were big parades in each colony within the city!  Bands, floats, queens and their attendants (like my granddaughter Sophie), candy being thrown from the floats!  Confetti being thrown from and TO the floats.  One of the highlights of my day was when a bunch of confetti landed on me.  (Some fell in my purse, which will remain there forever.)  All throughout the day, we would see people with some confetti still in their hair, and we knew they too had been at a parade.  It rained later that evening and the confetti was washed down into the cracks of the cobblestone streets.  It was beautiful! 

Dancers

I never did figure out the name of the kind of dance that we often watched during the Independence Celebration, but it was a kind of a mix of Irish dancing and Bollywood!  Again the colors of the flowing dresses swirling and twirling emitted utter joy and happiness.  The photo of the girl in yellow is my son-in-law’s sister, Kari.  And my granddaughter, Sophia, is in green. 

Markets & Bolsas

I loved going to the Mexican markets.  Talk about color!  Everywhere you look is color!  We walked under various colored tarps through the streets.  Under the tarps were neat stacks of colorful vegetables (which the people bring to the market everyday and set up their tarps and stack the vegetables, and tear it all down at the end of the day).  There are brightly colored plastic buckets, clothing, hats, handmade toys, hand-painted crosses, aprons, and more vegetables, fruits and seeds. 

For some reason, I was really drawn to the bolsas carried by the folks who were shopping.  These are sturdy, plastic, mostly plaid, bags of all sizes that folks carry to the market.  Most, if not all, are made by hand, and they will hold whatever you can fit in them, no matter what the weight!  There are so many color combinations.  In the U.S. we are getting better at taking our own bags to the store with us, but they’ve been doing this in Mexico for decades!  I loved watching the people go by with their brightly colored bolsas. I can’t explain my fascination over the bolsas, but I think my husband, Ric, hit it on the head.  He said that the bags are representative of core happiness among the Mexican people... if they were basically sad and distraught, their bags would be perhaps brown or a drab green... but no –  they use every color in the rainbow!  Only people who are basically happy and always reach for the joy in life, no matter their circumstances, would create a bag like the bolsa!

Kids & Dogs

The children are incredibly happy... not many have actual toys at all... rather they spend their days playing quite creatively.  Their giggles sound the same in the U.S. and Mexico... only the language is different.  There doesn’t seem to be much squabbling and sentences like “he took my (fill in the blank)” because they share easily and the “things” they play with are plentiful – they climb trees, play hide and seek, get fruit out of a tree, play one of the many playgrounds, etc.), but also because they do not OWN many things.  The niños are playing with EACH OTHER and not so much with things.

 

Heck, even the dogs seem happy!

 

Mexican Food... I'm talking food folks actually eat in Mexico  :-)

cecina (thinly sliced and seasoned beef)

chirizo & salsa (sausage)

chorros  (cinnamon bread sticks)

eggs & salchicha

elote (corn on the cob, sprinkled with lime juice, rolled in chili seasoning)

fish taco

horcheta (coconut drink)

hot dog (si!  even in Mexico!)

manzanita (apple soda)

nieves (ice cream)

nopales (cactus)

pan dulce (sweet breads)

pay (pineapple muffin)

picada (mi comido favorito)

pizza (si!  even in Mexico!)

pollo rosado (roasted chicken)

pollo y salsa rojo (chicken & red salsa)

polvarones (orange cookies)

queso fundido (ham, pineapple, cheese)

rice taco  (made with your own choice of ingredients - fish, chicken, veggies, etc.)

shrimp cocktail

sincronazada  (ham & cheese “sandwich”)

takis (highly addictive snack chips)

taquito

torta  (like a sandwich, but the bread used is amazing)

tostada

Día de Los Muertos  (November 1-2)

“Day of the Dead” – it may sound weird to our American ears, but this is a joyous and wonderful celebration of the lives of family and friends who’ve passed away.  A time to remember loved ones with fondness – by placing things on a homemade altar that remind us of the family member or friend – photographs, foods they liked, an object that represents something special to that person such as sports, music, a momento.  Lots of marigolds are used – the official flower of Día de Los Muertos – pots of them are placed in the shape of a cross in front of the altar, with marigold petals leading from the gate to the house. 

Best of all, the families gather together for 2 days* to share memories, food and time with each other. In 2010 my daughter and son-in-law hosted the Oferenda at their casa in Mexico.

*Although it may be called “Day” of the Dead or Independence “Day,” holidays are actually celebrated for more than merely one day in Mexico!  Of course!

Night Sounds in Mexico

All through the night church bells rang, roosters crowed, and dogs barked.  At first, these sounds kept me awake, and I thought I would not sleep for the entire two weeks of my visit.  But within a couple days, the sounds were actually soothing to me!  Although I still heard the “noises” in the night, they became sounds that let me know “all was well” outside... and reminded me that I was sleeping in another land.  Ah... an odd Symphony of Sound, and I loved slumbering to this strange harmony.

Just when I thought I was familiar with all the night and early morning sounds, I awoke to a man on a bicycle (obviously pulling a cart), riding thru the neighborhood calling out, “Tamaleeeeeeeeeeeees!”  Now that was the coolest wake-up call I’d ever heard.  I woke with a smile.

Kids at Play

In a nearby town where my daughter and son-in-law live in Mexico, a Tree Lighting Ceremony was held in the plaza.  Their little girls (my granddaughters) were playing in the plaza with 8-10 other little kids.  Jill writes, “Amazing how much fun kids can have running around in circles, 5 little girls sharing 1 Barbie doll, little boys playing with a soccer ball and a rubber ball, kids playing with a piece of string – all the time laughing, giggling and squealing with delight.  Life here doesn’t ask for much – kids here don’t ask for much – little things make people happy.”

I love what Ric posted on Facebook the next day... “Give a kid a cell phone and she will learn the limits of technology... give her a piece of rope, and she’ll imagine a beanstalk to other worlds.”