Bread of Death

Well folks, this has officially been the easiest and most exciting week in Tehuacan thus far. I gave my students a practice version of the TOEFL (Test Of English as a Foreign Language), and that took all of class Monday and Tuesday. Today, we don't have classes because it is Halloween and there is a school-wide party tonight. Not being able to afford a costume (or all that jazzed about the idea of dressing up), I am going as the Spirit of Halloween. My "costume" consists of a black shirt, the cute new orange sweater that my wonderful mom mailed me from the States, and lots and lots of black and orange face paint. I was going to be an American Football player, but as I started putting my costume together I began to look more and more like Troy Polamalu, and I decided that this costume would be best worn in an environment where it could be rightfully appreciated (read: Pittsburgh or some other football town).

Tomorrow and Friday, school is closed in honor of El Dia de Los Muertos (the Day of the Dead). To help David's family prepare, the boy and I went to La Purisima, which is Tehuacan's largest market. It brought me right back to Costa Rica. We bought yellow candles made of honey, decorative paper to hang in the bar, candies, some dried fruit that was so sweet that it tastes like pure sugar, a skull-shaped coffee mug, and pan de muerto (bread of death) which tastes like challah, but is drier and has cinnamon in it. (Doesn't "bread of death" sound like it belongs in an Eddie Izzard standup routine?)

At the market, I saw a ton of cool candies shaped like household items (kitchen tables, bedroom furniture, trees, pets, etc.) which people traditionally use to make dioramas representing their dead ancestors in celebration of the holiday. But David's family isn't really into that, nor is mine, so there will no diorama-making for me this year. (frown)

On Friday, I'm headed to the mountain town of Coyomeapan with Mary and Andrea, Estefano, David, and one or two of his friends. There are cabañas there that are supposedly quite comfy. There is also a lake and lots of pretty things to see. Three meals a day are included in the $25 nightly fee. We will be staying there until Sunday, and my wonderful gentleman friend is helping me out by paying for one of my nights in the cabins. So I'll be taking a 3-day, 2-night all inclusive vacation for $25. All right, maybe it's not quite that posh. We are bringing our own snacks and imbibements, and we have to pay for the gas to get to our spot (it's 3 hours a way), but the whole trip still seems like it will be a great value even if I was going to be paying full price.

In other travel news, I'll be making a brief Stateside appearance in November thanks to my incredibly generous and loving mother, who has purchased a round trip plane ticket for me for the 4-day weekend I have in mid-November in honor of the Mexican Revolution. Since I was expecting a number of familial and platonic visitors over the holidays (all of whom have since canceled), this trip home will be extra special. I am still UTTERLY excited that my splendid sister is coming to visit in December, but now going to Maryland for 3 days is icing on my passport-carrying cake.

I'm sorry for the lack of Tehuacan pictures, which have been requested by a number of people. But batteries here are expensive, especially the long-lasting lithium AAs for cameras. During my brief visit to Maryland, I'll be hoarding lithium batteries and go on a photo-taking tear when I return to Tehuacan.

Finally, an update related to the previous post entitled "Sighted in Tehuacan." Before Game 3 of the recent World Series, the announcers did a retrospective report on the '97 World Series (Indians versus Marlins). They made a comment about the Indians tough closer and, no joke, referred to him in English as JOE TABLE! So it's offical: Jose Mesa has the most chuckled-at name in baseball on both sides of the border.