Day of the Dead – Día de Muertos

Today is Day of the Dead, or in Spanish, Día de Muertos. It is a public holiday here and a lot of the stores are closed.

According to the University of New Mexico website, Celebrating The Day of the Dead has a long history in Mexican Tradition. The Day of the dead is celebrated on November 2nd. Sometime one hears reference to “the days of the Dead” which refers to the Days of October 31 – November 2. October 31 is Halloween or All Hallows eve. November 1 is “el Dia de los innnocentes” or the day of the children and All Saints Day. November second is All Souls Day or the Day of the Dead.The days of the dead are truly a celebration of life. When children dance with caricatures of death, eat skull sugar molds and learn to respect that life is brief, they learn there is a circle to life and to not fear death and then are free to enjoy and appreciate every moment.

The centre of this activity in San Miguel is the Jardin Allende.

plaza

Memorials

Unfortunately there was a thunder storm the night before and it had rained. The memorials were a bit messed up because of it. But by the evening they appeared to be fixed up again.

memorial

I spent the day just hanging around the plaza and taking in all the activities.

skeletons-cathedral

stilts

The cathedral, La Santa Escuela de Cristo, is particularly mesmerizing.

cathedral

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cathedral-front

People were getting ready for the night.

face-painting

And some were already wandering around.

bride

Night Time

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costumes

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I just loved this little girl. She stayed in character all the time. People were constantly asking for pictures with her.

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Parade

There was a parade scheduled and I was really looking forward to it. My expectations were high. Unfortunately, it didn’t meet them. The parade was simply a couple of bands with a whole bunch of people dressed up like you have seen in the previous pictures. I guess I was expecting floats or something.

After the parade though, people hung around and the bands played at different locations where people would dance.

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plaza-night

My Location for November 2, 2016

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Día de Muertos Preparations in San Miguel de Allende

According to my Google search, one of the top ten places to watch the Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations was San Miguel de Allende. It is just ride from Santiago de Quertaro.

Leaving Santiago de Quertaro

I was in no rush to leave this morning as it was only a hour or so ride to San Miguel de Allende. So the first thing was coffee. Now I found out there isn’t a Starbucks downtown, but I did pass one the day I arrived just a few blocks from my hotel. That is where I went to enjoy a hour or two before leaving.

The ride to San Miguel de Allende was fairly routine. There was a beautiful viewpoint just before going down into the town.

san-miguel-lookout

Finding My Airbnb Residence

For staying at San Miguel I had booked an Airbnb. I put the address in my GPS. My GPS took me on Mr. Todd’s Wild Ride down and around narrow pot holed cobblestone roads. I was dying inside. The weight of my bike takes a lot of energy to control for the unskilled rider – me! When I got there I didn’t see the address. It just so happened there are 2 streets with basically the same name and they both have the same house number. A lady parked in front of me and was trying to help me with directions to the other street. As we were figuring it out, another lady came up to me and said, “Are you Brian?” Well I was taken aback. Who do I know here? She then said she was the owner of the Airbnb and it was just up the block. YAY!

The place was quite comfy. I’ll show photos in another post.

Walking into Town

The centre of San Miguel was only a few blocks from my place. It was early in the day, so I went out to explore.

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Like every Mexican town, there is the main plaza usually with a church at one end. San Miguel has several “sub” plazas I guess you could call them.

church

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But the main plaza, Jardin Allende, has a massive cathedral called, La Santa Escuela de Cristo.

cathedral-palm

Around the plaza preparations were taking place for the Day of the Dead taking place the next day. People were building memorials for loved ones. They were elaborate and not somber, but rather fun and celebratory.

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memorial-1

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Lunch-Dinner

I hadn’t had anything to eat since the morning. Now when I walked around the main plaza I couldn’t believe there was actually a Starbucks there.

starbucks

You will be proud to know I resisted it though ha ha.

Instead there was an Italian place with a patio overlooking the plaza.

plaza-catherdral

lunch

When I eat at a restuarant, I try to get my vegetables in. So that is what I had.

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The slivers of pickled jalapeno on the tomatoes made it extra tasty.

By the evening it was time to call it quits and head back to my Airbnb to settle in for a few days.

My Route for November 1, 2016

Quertaro-SMA-map

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