Navidad en México

Christmas is celebrated a little differently here in Mexico. People start 9 days before Christmas with posadas, which literally means hotel or inn in Spanish. They happen every night for 9 nights leading up to Christmas. Christmas Eve is the last night of the posadas. Posadas are a ritual re-enactment of Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging in Bethlehem. People host them in there houses and neighborhoods also host them. It involves singing, similar to caroling. There’s a certain song that is sung back-and-forth between the people inside the house and outside the house. At the end, the people inside open the door and invite the people outside into the house. There is usually food and drink such as ponche (hot fruit punch) and aguinaldos (goody-bags filled with fruit or candy). To celebrate the arrival of the pilgrims, everyone hits a piñata or two. The typical shape is a circle with 7 points, signifying the 7 deadly sins. It’s broken to show overcoming evil and the candy or fruit inside are the prize for keeping faith. There’s also a song that’s sung while each person takes a turn hitting the piñata:

“Dale, dale, dale, no perdas el tino, 
porque si lo perdes, pierdes el camino. 
Esta piñata es de muchas mañas, sólo contiene naranjas y cañas.”

Hit, hit, hit. 
Don’t lose your aim, 
Because if you lose, you lose the road. 
This piñata is much manna, only contains oranges and sugar cane.”

When I went to the neighborhood posada, there were hundreds of people waiting outside a home. Then a procession carrying statues of Mary and Joseph covered in garlands and lights arrived from around the corner and stopped outside the home. Each night they went to a different street and celebrated with the neighbors from that street. The procession of people sang to the people inside the house and they rested the statues outside the home for people to honor. Then we all formed lines to receive the aguinaldos. Earlier in the week, people from the neighborhood donated fruit for the aguinaldos. Inside was a variety of fruit such as oranges, sugar cane, peanuts, and mandarins. Then we waited for ponche. There was a band setting up at the end of the street, getting ready to perform and have people dance. While the band set up, people hung a piñata above the street and children took turns hitting it.

This is my first year being away from my family for Christmas. My mentor was generous enough to take me in for the holidays. We went to her hometown of Atlacomulco on Christmas Eve. We ate lunch at 3 when we arrived and continued to cook for the big Christmas Eve dinner. At 7:30, we went to her grandmother’s house. We being me, Gabby, her parents, her younger sister, her older sister and the husband and three daughters of her older sister. There was already other family members that had arrived before us. There were 16 of us in total. Before dinner we opened presents. One person opened a present at a time. After each gift was opened, we applauded and said “Bravo!”. In my family, we all open all of ours at the same time so it usually goes pretty quickly. Gabby’s family bought me a Frida Kahlo frame. It has glitter. It’s awesome. Everyone chatted for a couple hours then ate around 11:15PM. We had turkey stuffed with a meat concoction, bread, a chilled veggie salad, and a couple of fruit salads which are known as “ensaladas de Nochebuena” (Christmas Eve salads). One was like a Hawaiian salad with fruit and cream. The other was colored by beet juice. I made my favorite holiday dish: candied yams. There was none left so I think it’s safe to say that people enjoyed it. Everything was delicious. For dessert we had a wreath-shaped jello. Jello is really popular here in Mexico. The flavor of the one we had on Christmas Eve was cappuccino and marshmallow. We left around 1:30AM and went to another family member’s house to greet them. We “greeted” them until 3:30AM. But we also ate more dessert and sang karaoke. I sang a song I had never heard of about finding love in a bazaar. It was from the 80s. I killed it. No big deal.

On Christmas Day, we went back to Toluca to celebrate with Mariano’s family (Gabby’s boyfriend and my Mexican father-figure). We went to his aunt’s house and I swear every person that walked in was his aunt or uncle. There were 18 of us and the majority were aunts or uncles. We spanned across the whole living room and dining room. Two of his aunts lived in the house and served us a course at a time. First was Mexican rice. Chris would have been in heaven. Then we had bacalao, which is cod. It was served shredded with potatoes and vegetables. The final course was a cactus dish. Cactus is common here in Mexico and actually quite tasty. This dish had a little kick to it but I was able to eat it. My stomach can’t handle foods that are too spicy. For dessert we had strawberry cake and chocolate cake filled with the best chocolate crème I’ve ever tasted in my life.

When we drove back to Gabby’s house in Atlacomulco when we finished eating to celebrate with her immediate family. We played a grab-bag game where you had to guess who bought you a gift. Each person in the family only bought one gift for another person. If you guessed your gift-giver correctly, you could open your gift. If not, you had to take a shot of vodka. I’m sorry to say that I guessed wrong multiple times. Thankfully, the limit was two shots. And they were baby shots. Gabby gave me a beautiful blue scarf. Another family tradition of there is to take a picture with the person who gave you the gift before you open it. I also saw this picture-taking tradition when I went to another Christmas party earlier in December. For dinner, we feasted on leftovers from Christmas Eve. We had fruit salads and turkey sandwiches. I love leftovers.

I’m so thankful that Gabby invited me to celebrate Christmas with her family. They were all so welcoming, just as they were on Mexican Independence Day in September. They said that their home is my home and I can come whenever I want. Mexican hospitality is unbelievably wonderful.

10-Hour Mexican Weddings

I got to go to my first Mexican wedding on Saturday! It was Bruno’s best friend who got married. The wedding was gorgeous. It was at a functioning ranch near Toluca called “Rancho el Mesón”. The ceremony was in a church two blocks away. People threw rice as they walked out of the church doors. Everyone drove over to the ranch and was escorted to the yard in back where the reception was held. They had couches set up and servers walking around with drinks and appetizers while the wedding party took pictures. There is no such thing as groomsmen in Mexico, but there are bridesmaids. They had a picture of the couple set up and everyone left a message and signed the mat around it. There was also a bird cage with mix CDs of love music inside, which guests were invited to take. Closer to the reception tent there were dressers with candy, snacks, slippers, and shawls for later in the night. It was something right off of Pinterest!

After pictures, there was a civil ceremony. Sometimes couples do the civil ceremony the same day as the wedding and sometimes a different day with another reception. This couple chose to do it in one day. The civil ceremony is where the bride, groom, parents of both, and four other witnesses sign the document that says the couple is married in the eyes of the government. The ceremony was on an island-like thing in the yard where you had to cross a wooden bridge to get to it. Adorable.

Then the reception started! When the sun was out, it was in the 60s but it got cold at night so the sides of the tent rolled down. We were served dinner and while we ate there was a saxophonist. The tradition of the first dance is the same in Mexico. The bride and groom danced to All of Me by John Legend. The bride threw her bouquet and the groom, the garter. Then they did they thing where the bride and groom each stood on their own chairs and the single women formed a large circle around them and tried to knock them off the chairs. There were about 4 men protecting the bride and 4 protecting the groom. Then the single men did the same thing. Thankfully, no one was actually knocked down.

When the DJ was playing music when we were entering the yard, it was mostly electronic music in English which, obviously, I loved. It was surprising because I think I was the only person who knew the songs. After dinner there was more music and … DANCING! But it’s good dancing: like salsa and cumbia. I don’t know how I’m going to survive without that kind of dancing in the U.S. when I get back. I think I’ll have to open a salsa club or something. The dance floor was something out of a Michael Jackson video. It was squares that lit up all different colors. I don’t know how so many women survived the whole in heels. And I mean stilettos. I brought my flats to change into. There were all kinds of dresses: short, tight, long, everything. Around 10PM we were asked to step outside the tent because there were FIREWORKS. What?! I’ve never been to a wedding with fireworks. When we went back inside, our post-dinner meal was waiting for us. Shredded chicken on baguettes with a red salsa on top. I love Mexico. When we were eating, the banda group arrived and played for about an hour. The whole event was about 10 hours long. And it kept going after we left. What a wonderful day!

Szymczak Family Adventure

Paul, Anne, and Chris moseyed on down to Mexico for a week to visit me! Unfortunately they returned before Christmas. The adventure started on Saturday in Mexico City where I met them at the airport. We got a rental car for the week so we could drive to other states in Mexico. After stuffing the car, we went to the first of 5 hotels on the trip. Next, we did a driving tour of Mexico City: Angel of Independence, Bellas Artes, zócalo, etc. We had a nice chat with the police because we parked next to the angel with the 4 other cars, which is a no-no. Thankfully, we didn’t get a ticket. We dined at an Argentinean restaurant for dinner then went back to the hotel.

We also spent Sunday in Mexico City. We make a trek out to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. There’s a new basilica and an old one. We went to mass in the new one, which is a lot bigger. We toured the older basilica which has slanted floors due to its age. Here’s a little info, thanks for Wikipedia, about Our Lady of Guadalupe in case you didn’t know:

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spanish: Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) is a Roman Catholic church, minor basilica and National Shrine of Mexico in the north of Mexico City. The shrine was built near the hill of Tepeyac where Our Lady of Guadalupe is believed to have appeared to Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. This site is also known as La Villa de Guadalupe or, in a more popular sense, simply La Villa, as it has several churches and related buildings.

The new Basilica houses the original tilma (or cloak) of Juan Diego, which holds the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. One of the most important pilgrimage sites of Catholicism, the basilica is visited by several million people every year, especially around 12 December, Our Lady of Guadalupe's Feast day.

The real tilma is hanging behind the alter in the new church. You can’t get close to it but it’s cool to think that I was in the same room with it. There were traditional Mexican performances outside the church so we stopped to watch some of them. Then we had lunch by the basilica and headed back to downtown Mexico City. When we returned we went to Chapultepec Park. It’s a massive park with museums, vendors, a lake, a castle, a zoo, and more! We went to the castle on the hill of Chapultepec. The site of the hill was a sacred place for Aztecs, and the buildings atop it have served several purposes during its history, including that of Military Academy, Imperial residence, Presidential home, observatory, and presently, the Museo Nacional de Historia. After we left the park, we went to the Bellas Artes (performance theater) to see if there were tickets left for the Folkloric Ballet for the evening. We were in luck! Mom, Chris, and I might have napped for a few minutes during the performance but everyone still enjoyed it.

Monday morning we departed for the city of Puebla, but not before another interaction with the police. We were apparently in a MegaBus lane. Unfortunately, we had to pay. Once we finally reached Puebla, we went to one of the restaurants recommended to us in a guide book, Fonda de Santa Clara. Puebla is known for their mole, thick brown salsa, so we ordered that. It was delicious! Then we walked around the downtown area. We visited the church in the zócalo, which was actually supposed to be built in the zócalo in Mexico City but the designs were switched. Puebla is also known for their ceramics so we went to a talavera market to buy some. Next we headed to a nearby town called Cholula that is known for its hundreds of churches and has the third largest pyramid in the world. Chris and I toured the tunnels of the pyramid. It doesn’t look like a pyramid from the outside though, because it’s covered in grass. On top, there’s a church, which is where we reunited with Paul and Anne. When we got back to Puebla, we ate on a terrace of a restaurant that overlooks the zócalo, which was decorated for Christmas with gingerbread houses, an ice skating rink and a Christmas tree. We had the best seats in the house!

On Tuesday we departed for the city of Oaxaca. We arrived in the afternoon and ate at a fancy restaurant known for their Oaxacan food called Casa Oaxaca. I had rabbit with a yellow mole. (Oaxaca also has good mole.) After linner, we walked around downtown Oaxaca. Oaxaca is famous for their artisanal crafts. They have pottery made from black clay (from locking in the smoke when the clay is in the oven) and delicately painted figures. We found some museums, shops, and the Church of Santo Domingo on our walk back to the hotel. We also went to a market where Anne purchased Mexican Christmas decorations to bring back to the states.

We spent most of Wednesday driving to the beach. I asked Paul if he wanted to take the more direct route through the mountains or the longer route on flat land. He chose mountains but I think he regretted it about 3 hours later. There are an unbelievable amount of speed bumps in Mexico because people don’t tend to pay attention to the speed signs. However, most of the speed bumps aren’t marked or sometimes there are signs but no bumps. All the Mexican food we had been eating didn’t help the weight/height of the car. When we were pulling into Puerto Escondido there was a sign for a hotel that looked was rated the best one in Puerto Escondido and I was relieved to tell my family it was the one I booked! When we got to the hotel, we didn’t leave it until the next day. It had 2 pools, a restaurant and air conditioning. We were in heaven. And it was across the street from the beach.

 

All day Thursday was beach day! We went to bed right after dinner on Wednesday so we started our day early on Thursday. We walked along the beach by the hotel then took a taxi to the best swimming beach in Puerto Escondido called Carrizalillo. We laid in beach loungers under umbrellas while being served fruity drinks. It was the life. Then we took a ride on a boat to look for sea turtles. The guys driving the boat said we were good luck because we found the turtle right away. Not only did we see it. The guy jumped in on top of it and caught it so we could take pictures with it. #onlyinmexico. We went back to the hotel and Dad and I went to the beach near our hotel. The waves were so big that they ate my sunglasses and his goggles. We were happy to return to the hotel where we had dinner at the hotel and watched the sun set.

We drove back to Mexico City on Friday. It was quite the trek. We survived with snacks from the Oxxo (common convenience station in Mexico). But we couldn’t end the trip without another police encounter! This time they were nice and helped us find our hotel. The GPS was a little misleading. The hotel was right by downtown Mexico City and we learned that the city never sleeps! We had to get up early on Saturday to go to the airport and when we got up people were still partying from the night before. It was hard to say goodbye but I’ll be home for good in 5 months! I think it’s safe to say that the fam enjoyed Mexico!

Mexico City, We Meet Again!

This weekend’s destination was good ‘ol Mexico City. A group of us went to Nissan’s employee end-of-the-year event. I was a temporary employee for the night. It was for the employees from Nissan that work in Mexico City and Toluca. There were more than 1,000 people! There was dinner, dessert, free drinks, a band, and dancing! They even provided buses to and from Toluca for those who wanted to drink.

On Saturday we signed up for the Color Run. The registration fee included a white shirt, sweatband that said Color Runner, Color Run metal canteen, sun glasses, water, granola, laundry detergent, temporary tattoo, and more! Registration and the event were at the Racetrack where Formula 1 will be next year. After registering, we went to the mall to do a little Christmas shopping. Then we met up with Julie and Paulina for dinner in La Condesa. I was surprised how there were American dishes like mac and cheese and tomato soup with grilled cheese at the restaurant we went to. We got dessert on the house: flavored gelatin squares. They were interesting.

Sunday was race day with 12,000 runners. Every 5 minutes a group left the starting line. I had always wanted to go a Color Run and it was so much fun! Along the 5K route there were 4 stations where people douse you with color. It’s like powdered paint or something. By the end, we were covered in yellow, pink, purple, and blue. As you cross the finish line they give you a metal for completing the 5K and bag of powder for the festival. There was a DJ playing EDM music at the festival while everyone threw paint on each other. There were stations to take pictures, too. We made a flip book of us dancing! We were sufficiently dirty by the end of the morning. I took a 20 minute shower to rid myself of the paint.

Once we were clean, we went to Casa Azul, where Frida Kahlo lived with Diego Rivera. I learned a lot! Not only did we see her paintings and artwork, but also the clothes she wore. I learned that she wore loose tops and skirts to cover her back brace and her one leg which is shorter. She needed the brace because she was in a car accident when she was 18, which left her unable to bear children. This was the cause of her obsession with the life-cycle of an unborn baby. She made a lot of graphic pieces about this. Her home is beautiful, especially the gardens. After that we went to Coyocán to find a church and walk around. It was so cute and lively for a Sunday night! Then we hit the road to go back to Toluca.