Mexican Independence Day

Despite what many people think, Mexican Independence Day is NOT Cinco de Mayo (however, I was guilty of thinking that before I came to Mexico). It's celebrated on September 15th but the actual day is the 16th. Late Monday night, President Peña Nieto spoke from a balcony overlooking thousands at the zocolo in Mexico City. It was a call-and-response called  "El grito de Dolores" (The Cry of Dolores) or "el grito" for short, which consists of many rounds of "¡viva!" and ends with "¡viva Mexico!".

I was fortunate enough to have TWO Independence Day celebrations. One was with a co-worker's (Jaime) family on Saturday and the other was with my mentor's (Gaby's) family. I spent the weekend in Jocotitlan, a town about 30 minutes north of Toluca. Saturday morning I helped Jaime's wife finish the traditional chiles en nogada (stuffed peppers). We peeled the skin off of the green chiles and stuffed them with a meat mixture. They are served in a white cream sauce with red pomegrante seeds and so that the dish has the colors of the flag: green white, and red. Jaime went into the corn field to pick about 30 ears to make elote. Elote is Mexican corn on the cob but with mayonnaise, cheese, and chili powder. Later, we went to the papelería (paper store) to buy streamers and flags for the party.

Early in the afternoon, we went to a family member's house to celebrate. We stopped in a field on the way to pick some floral plants with which to season the corn. There were about 30 of us at the party: the siblings of Jaime's wife and their children and grandchildren. When we arrived, we went straight to the smoke house to start the corn, which cooked for about 5 hours. We feasted at about 8PM. I was starved. We ate the chiles en nogada, tacos, salad, taquitos, and pambazo (another traditional Mexican Independence Day dish that is like a sandwich). After dinner people played guitar and sang until midnight. I slept well Saturday night. The next day we went downtown to explore. We went to get drinking water, the church and a statue. In the afternoon, we went back to the family member's house to eat the leftovers (fabulous Mexican tradition).

Then on Monday after work, I went to Gaby's hometown to celebrate with her family. She is from Atlacolmulco which is about 45 minutes north of Tuluca. When we arrived at her mom's house, food awaited us. We chowed down on Mexican spaghetti (which I didn't know existed) and enchiladas de mole. Everything in Mexico is served with tortillas so just assume I eat 3 tortillas each meal. Then Gaby and her boyfriend, Mariano, took me to the feria. I call them my parents sometimes. The feria lasts for a week every year to celebrate Mexican Independence Day. It's like a carnival in the US but with mechanical bull rides (which I obviously had to try). There are also vendors selling everything from clothes to candy. It lasted from early evening to about 2 in the morning. We stayed until about 9PM then went to the downtown area to pick up food. Most of the town was there awaiting el grito. We went back to Gaby's house to eat with her family and watch el grito on TV from Mexico City.

Gaby and Mariano showed me around Atlacolmulco on Tuesday. We visited some churches and saw all of the mini-shrines. Each community around Atlacomulco has it's own church with it's own patron saint. On the 15th, there is a procession to the church in Atlacomulco form the churches of the nearby communites. The shrines stay there for the week. We also took goofy pictures in a beautifully painted alley with Gaby's niece. Then we drove to a neighborhood that is known for selling plants. They had so many greenhouse tents that you couldn't see anything else. When we went back to her house, we feasted again. I helped Gaby's sister make chiles en nogada from scratch. One recipe down! We ended the day in Toluca at a soccer game: Toluca vs. Pumas. Even though it ended in a tie, we had a blast! My "parents" are so good to me. I don't know how I can top this Mexican Independence Day weekend!