Morelia!

Long time no write... a lot has been going on! Last weekend Anne-Marie invited me to Morelia with a group of Frenchies, including Memo... she had to go early to meet some other friends, so Memo and I headed up (over?) on Friday morning...

We obviously had to eat when we arrived... ginoooormous quesadillas, a little expensive, but totally worth the value... we hung around Morelia all day, seeing the gorgeous cathedral, the huge amounts of tourists, and of course, the ofrendas. From what I learned, the Day of the Dead is the day that everyone remembers and venerates the memory of their loved ones who have passed on... it's different from the US in that there's not a certain date to do that for everyone; it could be that you visit the grave of your loved ones on the anniversary of their death, or their birthday, or just when you can... For the Day of the Dead, a person's relatives or friends put together an ofrenda, an offering, usually including bright colors and food items--maybe something that the muerto enjoyed while s/he was alive, usually including fruit, bread, and other various and sundry items...

Also present were various images of La Catrina, a well-dressed skeleton. According to wikipedia, "the figure, depicted in an ornate hat fashionable at the time, is intended to show that the rich and fashionable, despite their pretensions to importance, are just as susceptible to death as anyone else." Verry interesting. She's now a symbol commonly associated with the Day of the Dead...
On Saturday, with the rest of the Frenchies all assembled, we headed to Pátzcuaro, a pueblito where Día de los Muertos is apparently celebrated in style. We headed over there by bus, had some DELICIOUS carnitas (my new favorite food!), and headed down to the lake... we ended up crossing the lake by motorboat (one of my favorite ways to travel-by water), to the island of Janitzio... a quaint little place, lots of shopping, and LOTS of stairs... we ended up climbing the stairs to the top of the island where the huge statue was located... no seriously. Lots. Plenty of food and shopping to keep you going along the way, though... real sweet. We stopped for some photo ops...
Once we got to the top, we enjoyed the view for a while, some of our number got lost, but we eventually found them, saw some cool dances, were awed by the sheer numbers of tourists... and then back on the boat to the other side...

Sunday was more of the same, sightseeing, watching drama presentations on the street, eating num-nums... we came back around 9 or so with Aúrelie, who had to leave for Mexico City at 6 the next morning to catch her flight back to the south of Mexico... It was a busy- but fun-weekend! The Frenchies spoke a lot of French, but I totally do that too with Victoria and Heather... sometimes it's just easier in your own language. And I found myself able to pick up (very!) few words as they were chatting... French suuure is purdy.

Another entry for this past week... Besos~