from mexico lindo...: Día de los Muertos Preview

Here in Cholula everyone’s getting ready for Día de los Muertos on the 2nd of Nov, combined with Halloween. People definitely decorate for both! I’d take some pictures but that’s not allowed here at the UDLAP….but just imagine the paper cut-out banners, fake spiderwebs, jack-o-lanterns, sparkly skeletons and smiling witches being the favorites. And lots of purple and orange. It’s quite festive.

It’ll take a while for me to get to posting about Muertos, I am sure, so just wanted to share a few pictures from the marigold harvest. I’ve been dog-sitting this weekend for 2 mildly misbehaved and 2 very, very bad dogs at a house right in the center of the flower growing area of Cholula. As I went for a walk with them last night the marigold harvest was in full swing. There’s hardly a moon, so the fields were eerily full of movement in nearly pitch dark. The smell of marigolds is everywhere and all over the place are pick-ups stacked with bunches of marigolds. The big days for buying marigolds and other goodies are today and yesterday, so they had a huge harvest this weekend and will also send out flowers to the greater region.