Originally, we were supposed to go to Oaxaca for the day of the dead, but there has been a lot of social unrest and some violence in the city. Back in may, there was a teacher's strike and the government responded with force instead of negotiation, and so then the strike escalated into something bigger, and the strikers called for the resignation of the Governor. The strike was still going on in October, and there was talk that the Federal government was going intervene forcefully (which they did) so we decided to cancel the trip to Oaxaca and go to Morelia instead.
Morelia is about eight hours away from puebla, to the northwest. The trip wasn't too bad though since we just watched movies the whole way, including edward scissor hands and some terrible vampire movie in keeping with the halloween spirit. We didn't get to the hotel until very late, so we just crashed that night and slept in the next day. Wednesday was a low key day because the day of the dead celebrations take place throughout the night between november first and second, so we wanted to be well rested. We spent the morning and afternoon shopping at the market and walking around the city a bit.
Since the program had never been on a trip to Morelia before and Patricia didn't know a lot about it, she thought it would be best it we latched on with a tour. So we still used our own bus, but we had guides that were also working with another group of tourists. This meant that they decided our itinerary, which was great because we got to visit a lot of cool sites, and we had guaranteed entry and tickets to things (namely the boat ride to an island on a lake in patzcuaro where the celebrations are said to be amazing), but also, at times, gave the night a surreal and ridiculous quality, because we never knew where we were headed next and really had no control over it. The surreality could also have just been the nature of the tradition we were observing, but before I get ahead of myself, let me just describe the events of the night.
The first stop was a very small village where they had some altars set up in the town square. The tradition for the day of the dead is to create altars to welcome back the souls of your loved ones. The altars have the favorite foods and drinks of the deceased as well as photos, candles, fruits, among other things. This first stop was a little random, but it was interesting to see some altars, and there were also women selling atole, which is a kind of rice porridge type drink. I thought it was pretty tasty and it was a nice warm, heavy drink for chilly night.
The next stop was another small town. Here, we saw more altars in the town center, but then we also went further into the village to visit to houses where there were altars set up. This was one of the more surreal experiences of the night. The houses seemed like normal houses filled with family and neighbors, yet they still welcomed in this giant group of tourists, as if we were old friends. The tourism company must have had some connection with the families, but I also later that it is tradition to welcome whoever comes to your house on the day of the dead, so welcome us they did! They offered us warm moonshine and tamales and allowed us to view their family altars. The experience was so surreal because it felt like we had stepped into another world- at one house there were all these women in the back with giant bubbling pots making tamales and other food and drink for the guests. It felt like a giant party, but there was also a serious undertone.
Above is a picture of one of the altars. Below is a picture of me, Cassie, Max
and Asha with our moonshine and tamales.
To the right is the women making food and drink for all the guests.
The next stop was a giant market in Patzcuaro. It was similar to other craft type markets we'd been to and we thought that this was also the point where we were stopping for dinner, but it turns out we were only stopping for the market. So after that, it was back on the bus yet again. We spent a ridiculous amount of time shuttling around on the bus that night, but we easily kept ourselves amused.
The next stop was probably one of the lower points of the tour, but we were all so tired at that point, things just got a little goofy. We stopped for dinner at a restaurant that was between a pemex and an oxxo- a gas station and a convenience store- and it tasted like it. The food was pretty awful and flavorless, but Rouwenna came up with a hilarious explanation why. The people believe that when the spirits visit the altars on the day of the dead, they don't eat and drink the food in the traditional sense, but instead just absorb the essence of the food, taking with them only the flavor. Rouwenna's idea was that all the souls that didn't have families to make altars for them came to out restaurant and took the flavor from our food before we got to eat it! It was around 1am at this point, so we were all starting to get a little ridiculous, so dinner also included a lengthy discussion of the word "shank" (apparently a makeshift knife often used in prisons and the act of using such an object) among other things, The topic of "shanking" was brought up again and again throughout the semester and never failed to bring a laugh, so there was some good that came from this awful restaurant.
On the next stop, we finally made it to a cemetery. This sight was like nothing I've ever seen before. Every grave was absolutely covered in flowers and candles. It was very powerful to
see so many candles on such a dark, cold night. The only thing that was a little strange was the fact that there didn't seem to be many family members around; most of the people in the cemetery seemed to be tourists.As we sleepily climbed back onto the bus after the cemetery, Patricia told us that she knew that we were all tired and that she would understand if we didn't want to finish the tour, we could just head back to the hotel at
this point. We all surprised her by waking right up and adamantly arguing that if we had made it this far we were going to get on those boats- it was what we has been looking forward to all night. So around 3am, we all piled into a boat headed for an island on the lake of patzcuaro. The best way I can describe the boat is to say that it was kind of like a jungle cruise ride boat at disneyland. It was covered by a tarp, but otherwise open and absolutely freezing. It felt very mysterious since in was so dark and there was a thin layer of fog covering the lake, plus there was a nearly full moon, and the lights outlining of the main island looked like something straight out of a movie. To the left is the view from the boat.After a 40 minute boat ride, we got to the island. We stopped quickly at a church and then went on to the main event- the cemetery. This experience was very different from the last. This cemetery was filled with people, praying around the graves, sleeping on them, telling stories, having picnics. I felt really funny here, because I felt a little like I was intruding on something very personal, but it was still an amazing experience. There is really nothing I can compare it to that I am familiar with. The island was also really amazing because I saw more stars there then I have ever seen before! Rouwenna is an astronomy major so it was a lot of fun having her point out all the constellations I had never been able to see before. I wanted to just lay down on my back and take them all in.
A woman at the second cemeteryAfter the cemetery, it was back on the boats and then on to the bus. By the time we pulled into the hotel, the sun was rising and it was just about 7am. A very long night, but very much worth it.
The next day all everyone wanted to do was sleep, but we couldn't stay in bed when there were ruins to be visited! Patricia wanted to give us a break, but we had brought a professor along on the trip to be our guide at the ruins, so we couldn't just skip them. Though we were all a little groggy, the ruins of Tzintzantzun were really beautiful. The backdrop for the rounded pyramids was composed of mountains and lakes, and it was cool, breezy day so the visit was very peaceful. After the ruins, we went to a small town that specializes in wood crafts to do some shopping and exploring.
All in all, it was an excellent trip. We got experience a tradition that is very unique and really highlights the nature of mexican culture- a true mixture of indigenous and catholic traditions.
No comments:
Post a Comment