Shopping, Babies, the Holy Spirit, and Cowboys

The state of Mexico celebrated not only with one, but TWO Teacher’s Days this year! Meaning we had no school for two days making last weekend a 4-day weekend. May is the best. I celebrated on Thursday by going shopping in Mexico City with Jess, Adris, and Anabel. After picking up books for Jess to donate to her school, we went to Antara Polanco. It was such a beautiful mall! When you come off the elevators, there are hundreds of colorful umbrellas there to welcome you (and protect you from the rain). I was worried I would be the only person not to buy something but it was the opposite. I bought the most! I got a pair of dress shorts and some gifts. We got lunch, enjoyed 2-for-1 ice cream, and headed to another mall in Santa Fe. The second one was three times the size; it was huge! I found a fabulous dress for the baptism for only $8.50 at H&M. On the way back to Toluca there was an accident and it took two and a half hours! It should have taken 45 minutes. We got home at 1:30AM and just crashed at Anabel’s where I got to meet the tiniest and cutest dog in the world: Tota!

On Friday, I treated myself to a gel manicure (for $8). I got it to match my dress for the baptism. I can’t even tell you the last time I got a manicure. When I showed the woman doing my nails at the salon my dress, she did a design to match my dress and but 835 rhinestones on my nails. Unfortunately, they started falling off later that day. (I apologize for the girly-ness of this post.) At night, I went back to Mexico City to celebrate Anabel’s birthday with Anabel and Adris. We started at a bar in Santa Fe. There was a piece of glass in Anabel’s drink which she almost choked on so we got a free round. The waiter offered us nachos so we accepted them thinking they were free. But they weren’t. At least we thought they were on the house when we ate them. That made them taste better. Next we went to a club called SENS. I had been there before with the girls. I love it. They have an electric violin player who kills it everytime and the music is awesome. Needless to say, I slept on the car ride back to Toluca.

Saturday was a big day filled with children and the Holy Spirit! Bruno and I had two baptisms to go to. In Mexico, baptisms are huge. You invite everyone you know to the mass then you have a gigantic reception with hundreds of people. It’s almost identical to a wedding reception minus the newlyweds and plus a baby. We went to the first mass (late) then drove to the second mass (and arrived late) then drove to the reception of the first, then of the second. The babies wear these beautiful baptismal gowns that cost hundreds of dollars and are paid for by the godparents typically. The receptions were in reception halls with plated meals, bar service, and DJs. After the music was playing for a little while at the first reception, there was the Mexican tradition of money-throwing. The godparents convert hundreds of pesos of coins and throw them on the dance floor for children and adults to collect. This also happened at the second reception along with a massive piñata for the kids. We stayed at the second reception until about 10PM.

Sunday was a very Metepec day. Bruno and I went on a run in the park in the morning and tried to go to church after but there was an irregular schedule so we ate brunch in the market instead. I had a quesadilla with tinga. We then went to his house to watch the San Isídro parade with his family because it went right past his house. San Isídro is the crop saint is celebrated in the middle of May. After the parade, we changed into our cowboy/girl gear (or as Bruno likes to say, “vaquero/a sexy”) and went to mass in the church of one of the baptisms the day before. Then God called us to the fair in Metepec! We were going to go to the Julion Alvarez concert in the Palenque but the tickets were sold out. They were originally going for $350 pesos but were being resold for $1,800! Who is going to buy that ticket?! Not us. So we just enjoyed walking around the fair. We took pictures with photo stands, ate crepes filled with banana and Nutella, shot metal toys off of wooden rails to win pirated CDs, threw rocks at upside down glass bottles to shatter them, and much more. This was a typical Mexican fair. The prizes also consist of chocolate bars, stuffed animals and stuffed beer bottles and cigarettes. #onlyinMexico. I had a blast! We acted like kids and it was great.