Día de los Muertos Festivities

La fiesta sigue¡¡ This morning we all met up early for our trip to Mercado de Abastos.  Meche warned us before we left that it would be crazy busy and possibly a little dangerous, so she advised us not to bring purses and to take off all our jewelry.  I'm glad I listened. The market was insane. Everyone was there buying their Dia de los Muertos necessities.  It reminded me of how crazy American supermarkets get around Thanksgiving time and it made me a little sad to think I'll be missing that this year. :( 

Anywho when we got to the market we all broke off into different groups in charge of getting one or two things for the altar we're constructing tomorrow.  My group (me, Ivan, and Sarah) was in charge of buying the Cempasuchil which are the traditional yellow/orange flowers that have been used to adorn the altars since Aztec times.  We needed A LOT and we had a good time walking around and trying to haggle for prices.  We ended up getting a really good deal for two huge bundles (maletas).  The only problem was then trying to figure out how to get them back to our professor's house.  She had given us money for a taxi but the nearest street where we could catch one was at least a 10 minute walk away, through the market and crowds.  Luckily, Ivan with his mad Spanish skills negotiated a deal with this cart guy for 50 cents USD to bring our flowers to the taxi for us. Here's our cart guy expertly navigating the crowded market with our flowers.

We finally made it back to Dra. Adela's house.  This is our group standing out front.

Ivan, Me, and Sarah with our 2 maletas of Cempasuchil

I can't wait to put these on our altar tomorrow. We're meeting at 6:30AM to go to the Panteón! I guess I won't be getting much sleep but that's okay. Hehe.

This evening I went to watch the World Series game with Kate, Gerardo, Ally, and Leslie. (Jonny, if you're reading this, be proud!) I'm not a huge baseball fan but Kate, Ally, and Leslie are kind of die hard Giants fans so they convinced me to go. We had a good time. Unfortunately, the Giants lost though.  After the game, Leslie and I walked around for a bit.  On one of the main streets that runs right past Santo Domingo, they were displaying this art project they started this year.  People decorated these huge paper mache skulls.  I think there were almost 30 of them lining the street. This was one of my favorites.

After, Leslie and I went back to the Zócalo just for a bit to check out the progress on the tapetes.  They're all finished now and they look amazing. I'm sorry I don't have any more pictures of them. You'll just have to take my word for it! ;)