My little cottage in the making: Day of the Dead

Today I went to my first Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead Celebration. I had read about it, seen info on TV about it and even purchased a few decorative pieces when I went to Mexico, but I had never seen the celebration first hand before. So today was a real treat.

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a celebration, which traditionally lasts two nights and three days, is a time when people remember family and friends who have died by building an altar in their memory.

The altar, built in the home or on the grave site, is decorated with flowers, candles and sugar skulls. The family then proceeds to make the favorite foods of the deceased and sing the songs they so dearly loved. Also, items that the deceased loved will also be placed on the alter.

This is one of the alters at this celebration I went to. While it was not one built at home or on the graveside it was still beautiful and very touching to see.

Each alter tells the story of the person who had died.

This young man who passed away loved In and Out Burgers, Halloween, his daughter, apple juice, Mexican food, and M&M's.

Some families made lovely pictures out of beans and rice.

As we walked through the area and looked at each alter we came across all these crosses with notes on them.

I started to read them and quickly realized these were put up in memory of men and women who had died durning the Iraq war.

It was a tribute to not only our men and women in the military but also the Iraqi Civilians that were killed.

You can click on the photo to enlarge it and read what this alter is all about.

Photos of many of the families and friends who died in the war were up with notes of love next to them.

This part of the alter really touched me. It reminded me that in death it doesn't matter where we are from. There will be family and friends that miss and mourn the person. In death we are all brought together.

The other part of the alter that tugged at my heart strings were the crosses with the deceased military boots next to them.

The community event is a 2 day celebration. Throughout the days there were arts and crafts workshops, face painting, local artists selling their wares and delicious food from the local restaurants and vendors. As well as live music and entertainment all day.

I enjoyed looking at all the vendors items for sale. This skull head just makes me smile.

These figures represent all areas of life that the deceased person enjoyed. Some were sports, some were sun bathing, some were drinking/parting and shopping.

There were bibs for sale for the little ones.

Bags for the adults.

Rings for everyone.

You could buy molds to make sugar skulls of your own.

Tiles to display or use as hot pads.

Children coloring images of Dia de los Muertos.

Children as well as adults got their faces painted.

There were a lot of people today.

The music was playing loudly.

The children in brightly color costumes danced to entertain everyone.

It was a good day had by all.

Dia de los Muertos is not a sad time. It is a time to remember and celebrate your loved ones who have passed on.

They do believe that by making the alters with all the bright colors, good foods and items the person the loved that maybe, just maybe, their loved ones will once again find their way back home. Even if it is just for a short time to say "I love you" once again.

I really enjoyed today and learned a lot. I think next year I am going to build my own alters to my family members who have died and celebrate having them with me.

Hugs,

Joanne

Monday, October 13, 2008

THE BLUEST WATERS ON EARTH HAS TO BE IN CABO

The first port we came to was in Cabo San Lucus. I had no idea what to expect other then we were going to have to tender to get to there. For those of you who have never gone on a cruise when you tender it means there is no pier to dock at so the ship just stops and puts it's anchor down. Then you walk down a ramp and get onto your lifeboat and they bring you to shore that way.

You can see how our ship was still out to sea in this picture.

We were met with tons of vendors as soon as we got off the boat in Cabo. We walked around a little bit and decided it would be fun to take a boat ride and see all the beaches and rock formations that you can only see by boat. So we paid $40.00 for a hour ride on a glass bottom boat ride.

The picture below shows the sign in the boat.

I could not get over how beautiful the water was. It was so clear and warm and was the most lovely shade of aqua blue I've ever seen.

The picture below shows a little beach they call "Lovers Beach". You can only get here by boat and it is very private. The water is very calm and the sand is soft and clean.

This little cave leads to a hole in the rocks that allows the Pacific Ocean to flow into the Cortez Sea.

One side (the Cortez Sea) is very calm waters that is great for snorkeling, swimming and relaxing. The other side (The Pacific Ocean) has rough seas with high waves that crash into the surf and rocks. Making swimming and snorkeling almost impossible.

This is one of the rock formations that they call Scooby Doo as it looks like him.

This is another shot of one of the lovely beaches you can stop at and sun bath or swim and they will come back to pick you up.

About 1/2 hour from where we picked up the boat you have a choice of being dropped off at this beach. Here you will find shops, restaurants and all kinds of water toys you can rent. You can be dropped off for the day and they will come back to pick you up later in the afternoon.

We decided to stay on the boat and be dropped off near downtown.

This is where we ate lunch. They had the best Mexican food I've ever had here.

It was an open air resturant and since it was very hot and humid out they gave you a nice cold wet wash cloth to wipe your face with and put on your neck to help keep you cool. It felt wonderful!

After lunch we walked around the shops a little bit. Not much though as neither of us really were interested in buying anything.

The only thing I bought was a few small Day of the Dead figures. Since I want to have a Day of the Dead party next year I thought it would be fun to get some real figures from Mexico to decorate with. It was harder then I thought to find these though.

As we were walking we came across this place with a baby lion that you could have your picture taken with. The money went to a rescue place that saved sick and injured lions and then release back to the wild once they were better.

Since I'm a big animal lover and have always wanted to hold a lion I was a sucker and couldn't resist saying no. So here I am.

As I was getting my picture taken with the lion a man came up with the smallest little puppy I've ever seen. She was so cute (I can't believe I didn't take a picture). The man said "Do you want to take a picture with my killer dog? Everyone started to laugh.

We then started to talk to him and his friends. They all spoke English. The man let me hold his puppy and play with her.

They asked what we had been doing since we got to Cabo and we told them. We then said we wished we could back in the water for a longer boat ride but the cost was more then we wanted to spend.

So one of the men said his friend ran a boat and wasn't doing anything so he asked him to take us for cheap. The guy agreed to take us for only $25.00 and would go for at least 2 hours. We couldn't go much longer as we had to be back to the ship or he would have taken us longer. So we agreed.

We went with him to this place where all the boats were just waiting for someone to take them out.

He took us to the same places we had already been and then went on to the other side of the rocks.

We laughed at first saying we may end up on 20/20 with the story being "Two dumb American women go with unknown man on boat and was never seen or heard from again."

It was fun going on the Pacific side and seeing the difference with the waves getting so high and crashing so loudly into the rocks.

The white foam of the waves along with the beautiful blue water was truly a sight to be seen.

This beach was called Divorce Beach. The joke was you would take your wife here and leave her and then tell everyone you got divorced because no one would ever see her again.

At one point the guy kept going out further and further and I have to admit it was a little scary as we didn't know why he was going out so far. Then he explained he had to go out so far because he didn't want to be on the side of the waves when they break.

At times the water on our one side would be so high from the wave forming that it would be higher then boat. The water didn't come into the boat because the wave was moving away from us but it was a strange feeling seeing that. The water was so high that the shore line would disappear.

At one point Judy (my friend I went with) had the guy pull up to this beach so she could get out and jump in the water to cool off. I didn't get off the boat as I was wearing pants and didn't want to walk around all wet.

We only got to stay here about 5 mins though as it was time to get back to the ship.

Cabo was one of the most beautiful places and the people were all so nice and friendly. Everyone made you feel so welcome and went out of their way to make you feel welcome.

I would love to go back to Cabo someday and stay for much longer. This was my favorite day on our cruise by far. It was here that I first fell in love with Mexico. Something I didn't think I would ever do.

If you ever get the chance to go here I hope you do. I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Hugs,
Joanne