Thursday 31 October 2013
Off to
enjoy a traditional Dias de los Muertos or Day of the Dead with Jose’s family
on their family ranch in Cuicatlan. The
back seat of our car was filled with flowers Alma had asked us to bring for her
mother. Different varieties of lilies, chrysanthemums. Two and a half hours outside of Puebla. Luckily Alma showed us how to get out of town
or we would have wasted an hour getting lost in Puebla. Once we were on the
road it was smooth sailing all the way to the ranch. Absolutely beautiful scenery. I don’t think it’s so well known area to
tourists which is a shame because it was stunning.
We got
to the ranch with no problems and about 2 minutes later, Jose’s parents, Lolita
and Jose arrived. What good timing. They
took us to a nearby restaurant for some genuine Mexican food. Yum.
Trevor had some chicken with black mole.
It’s made with a specific chilies
and chocolate. Absolutely
delicious. I had a stew meatballs and
potatoes. The ladies who were serving
were concerned it might be too spicy for me.
The gringo. But I said “I can
handle the spice” then I said, “well, I say that now…” Actually it was
fine. Not very spicy, just nice. Had some mezcal. Jose said it wasn’t very good quality mezcal
but I liked it. Then
back to the ranch for a swim.
Met
Jose’s grandmother, the matriarch of the family and I helped her (I think) work
with the marigolds which is the main flower they use for the altars and for the
graves. They call them “Flowers of the
Dead”. They had an awful lot. Big job.
In the
evening Lolita took us into town. It was
Friday night and “Day of the Dead Eve” so the little town was pumping. Everyone out on the streets and the kids
milling about. Some of the little kids
were dressed up in Halloween costumes and doing trick or treat. Although Halloween is fun for the kiddies,
Mexican generally disapprove of this encroachment on their ritual. Day of the Dead is really a religious holiday
and the commercialism and Americanism of Halloween is really alien to what it
is. They’re a bit concerned they may
loose their tradition which pre-dates the Spanish invasion.
The
little kids asked for candy but we didn’t have any. Then they said something to Lolita, about
us. She said “they called you …” we said
“whiteys” and she laughed. Something
like gringo. Saw
Jose’s grandmother’s boutique hotel in town.
A really charming little hotel.
She needs to get onto the internet so people know about it.
One
thing we really hated was the mosquitoes.
Diablos. They are really, really
tiny. We never, ever saw one. But we sure felt them. We got eaten alive. They little sneaky bastards get on your skin,
gorge themselves and leave you bleeding.
They have a preference for the back of your elbows. Bastards. There were 22 bites on me, but
Trevor pipped me at the post with 30 bites.
They’re really, really itchy.
Bastards.
