hey there all....this.is.2020.....thanks to barbara walters for that line 😉 i hope everyone has had a great start to their new decade....a few folks have been in touch about my plans for next year with corona virus and all, but i am still on course to head to beijing, china next year to teach....some have asked if i am worried....and my answer is no....it is a flu....a scary flu because china does not tell the world the truth about things and will not do things to lose face....but it is a flu.... i do find the uproar interesting.....so yes, i am still going to china for the next school year and am very excited about it and my next teaching post, as the school is rather impressive....will china bounce back from this???? i do think so, but it may be rough going for awhile to get things up and running like clockwork again....but again....it is a flu.....thanks for the concern and if my plans change, i will let folks know....but for now it is full steam ahead with my plans and trying to get my ducks in a row.....
things here in panama are busy, busy, busy and i am hoping that my next update is about here....but i am about to head to rio de janeiro, brazil in a week for carnival and then iguazu falls for the second half of the week after the samba parade i am attending.....so i assume that will be an update that will want to be written about the carnival craziness and amazing falls in between three countries.....so i am not sure when i will write about panama....maybe that will be my last update from here....with highlights from the whole year......because it has been fun around here.....
but this update is about where i went for my november break....mexico city for day of the dead and cozumel for diving the second half of the week.....i went with a great bunch of folks and below you will see pictures from both experiences....day of the dead in mexico city is like no other i bet and it was incredible....i wish we had made it to a cemetery to truly see the historical and traditional celebration, but the parade and the floats and the artwork were spectacular....and the food....just wow!!! if you are any kind of foodie at all, you need to get to mexico city and eat your way through it!!!! on with the pictures...there are quite a few....enjoy....
this is the main cathedral square of mexico city....in the plaza of the constitution....we had breakfast at a restaurant overlooking it....so this is earlier in the morning....in the afternoon this space was heaving with people....i am sooooo glad we got to see it before the crowds and crowds of people were there...as the main parade ended here....
this was the view as you entered the square...this piece of art here was representing all of the different areas of mexico....it had murals made of seeds and plants, paintings of important people who had died and dioramas of the different areas of mexico....there were tons of skulls, pan de muerto (special bread for this weekend), marigolds and people dressed up....also, tons of street foods, which i was so happy to see and experience, as that is one thing i feel panama really lacks....
this was a family who had come from NY to participate in the dia de los muertos celebration in mexico city....there were many folks who dressed up and even more folks who painted their face with a skull....this is said to represent a chance to overcome the fear of death, act recklessly and get up to mischief, as you should not be doing those things throughout the rest of the year....many people mix flowers with skulls....as you can see on the guy's amazing suit!
there were tons of street performers as well....these folks are dressed in the traditional day of the dead costumes and the gentleman is playing a type of a hurdy gurdy, or crank styled instrument....the woman is wearing a catrina styled dress and a flower head-dress....the gentleman is in a guayabera suit, which many mariachi bands wear for concerts....some people also wear these outfits to symbolize their dead relatives that they are honoring.....
this is one of the many altars in the main cathedral in the plaza that you can light a candle to remember the names of the people who have died....one of those candles in there was lit for my dad by me....he would have loved the music and the parade and especially the food....
outside of the cathedral, this is one of the many altars that was set up to remember people....the altars usually have things on them to represent the elements of water, wind, land and fire...plus, food and drink are on the altar for the spirits....marigolds and monarch butterfly representations were everywhere as well....as they are symbols to help spirits find their way to be celebrated by their living ancestors....the symbolism throughout this celebration is enormous and i am sure i am forgetting things....but i hope you can see just how important of a celebration it is to mexico and other places in central america....
the parade was a ton of fun....it had a very cultural and local feel....nothing very swanky...but people were definitely celebrating....this celebration used to only be in cemeteries and private homes, but after one of the james bond movies, it has become something grander and more public....this was only the fourth ever parade in mexico city for this celebration day....
there were floats and traditional dancers and skeletons everywhere to celebrate those who had died before....and marigolds everywhere....so very colorful as well.....
some of my favorite characters were the puppeteers and i loved the ones of the skeletons and their skeleton dogs.....the dogs would come over the sniff around....the puppeteers were really good....
here are the folks i was traveling with in mexico city....megan, rachel, david and i......it was a bit colder than panama, so we are wearing sweatshirts and shoes and socks...it was so great to experience fall....and of course, it was not cold enough to say no to ice cream :)
later that night we went to see a production about la llorona....it was overly dramatic, hard to follow in spanish, rather cold and very long....but gave us jokes for the rest of the trip....even though it is not a funny story....she is known as the weeping/wailing woman, who drowned her two sons in a river because she was unloved by her husband who cheated on her....she was not allowed into heaven until she found the souls of her sons and brought them with her to heaven.....she is used as a scare tactic to get young children to do things....like...do this or the weeping woman will catch you.....
we got on one of these boast for about three hours in the cold on the evening of the day of the dead to watch a play about when the spaniards took over mexico and it ended with the wailing woman "drowning" in the lake....it was both under & overwhelming....but the coffee was warm and the elote - or mexican corn on the cob was delicious.....
sunday we took a walk down one of the main avenues and came across all of these floats that had been in a different parade....they were either outlandish animal things or skulls....this one of the animals was one of my favorites....
this was one of my favorite skulls, as it was covered in stars and the hands over the eyes....i don't remember its name, but it was stunning....
i think rachel's face says it all....i am pretending to be attacked by the pincers in the front of this animal/insect/bird piece of art...i have a feeling my picture was taken by other passersby, as the gringa getting eaten....too funny....rachel was not as amused as i was....i think.....
here is some of the tasty elote or corn you can buy on the street.....there also was tons of fruits and tamales and pan de muerto and fried potatoes and drinks....it was street food heaven!!!!
this was a mandala sort of alter set up outside of the national theater, where we were headed to see the amazing folkloric, mexican ballet group....of course it was made from seeds, nuts and corn and marigolds all over it....
the folkloric ballet was incredible...if you go to mexico city and they are performing, i strongly recommend you go see them....just wow!!! it was traditional dancing from all over mexico and the caballero above, or mexican cowboy was amazing with his lasso!!!!
in the same performance there was a couple that tied this ribbon into a bow, only using their dance moves with their feet.....it was awesome!!!
this group was amazing to watch....they had the traditional catrina dresses and the men were in the traditional mariachi suits, guayabera....just their spinning alone was enough to make me dizzy...
much of the music of this amazing show was done live....either by drummers or mariachi....the musicians were incredible and all had special suits for their part of the performance....fiddlers, guitarists, buglers and drummers were the highlights for me....especially the buglers....wow!!!!
and then we did a food tour in the main central market and literally ate our way through....in most cases they were able to accommodate a vegetarian....not when we had the hogs-head tacos....but i skipped those....and let me tell you, mexican tacos put tex-mex tacos to shame....here you can see the start of morning....the first set of grilled tacos were made here....
of course we went to a mole stand....and who knew there were so many types of mole????? it was incredible...usually a mole sauce has some type of fruit (my favorite was the apricot base), chili pepper, nuts and possibly other spices like black pepper, cinnamon or cumin....this stand was incredible....
this is prickly pear cactus for sale, known in mexico as nopal....it was used in many dishes starting from the time of the aztecs....today still it is a staple ingredient for many dishes....we had it in tacos and as part of salsa and salads....yummy....
this was the window of a candy store....you just looked through the windows to find what you wanted and then ordered through the middle window....lots of options....loved the windows....so colorful and sweet!!!
we saw this car on the way to one of our dinners....i just had to take a picture....i am sure it has had many taken....no idea if it really ran, but i think it would have....cooooool!!!!
after the day of the dead celebrations finished we were off to cozumel to dive....cozumel let me relive a place i visited in college when i did a spring break trip to cancun....yes....for those in the know....it was senor frogs we went to....still the same as it was a long, long time ago....
one more joined our crew to dive together....so now it was david, rachel, megan, linda and i.....david was very excited here at senor frogs....as the majority of us were having tasty margaritas!!!! ole!!!!
on one of our dives we had to weave through some rocks....it was one of my favorites....we saw many things on our ocean dives...eagle rays, frog fish, nurse sharks...and the best part was, very few lionfish....it was a great two days of ocean diving....
here we are underwater getting a shot of the crew on one of the dives that did not really have a current....i am on the very right....i have decided that i really love diving and i seem to be almost better underwater than i am above-water....it is one of my happy places....
our final day diving was my favorite though!!!!! we went diving in a freshwater cenote...that had a halocline....here you see me above....you can't even tell i am in water....diving in freshwater was sooooo much different than when in salt water....it is so clear and really plays around with your buoyancy....also....when you breathe out, your bubbles get trapped along the ceiling of the cave and look like liquid mercury....totally freaky!!!! the light behind me comes from the way out....and we always to could that, because none of us is cave certified....the fun part for me was the halocline - when a salt water river runs at the bottom of the freshwater...it was warmer, more dense and made everything look fuzzy....as i dove i kept playing with the salt water....i would pull it up into the freshwater just to watch it sink back down....the DM thought i was dancing or something....but i LOVED cenote diving....i will do it again in my life, of that i am sure....just amazing!!!!
this is a shot of the water as we were taking the ferry back over to playa del carmen from cozumel....just stunning....lovely place to dive....
and of course my parting shot....dani and a beer....not just any beer though....a mix of salt, lime, tomato juice and beer....a bizarre, but tasty beer to have in mexico...especially if you like bloody marys....salud!!!!!
so there you have it...my trip to mexico city and cozumel over my november break....thanks for patiently waiting and here's to me getting the next addition out soon....as i am just finishing up my brazil trip for carnaval and to iguassu falls....it has been incredible....more soon and i hope all of you are diligently washing your hands....
peace out....dani
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