16 de Septiembre: Viva Mexico!

The sixteenth of September is Mexican Independence Day, and my observation is that Mexicans celebrate it with abandon; they are very proud of Mexico and show it with the phrase, "Viva Mexico!"

On the evening of September 15, at 11PM, municipal officials all over Mexico ceremoniously read the "grito", the words read by Miguel Hidalgo on the evening of September 15, 1810, to publicly declare Mexico's independence from Spain. All the plazas in Mexico are clogged with patriotic citizens partying with tequila and cerveza, eating tacos and sopes, dressed in red, white and green. This year, runners with torches ran to points throughout Mexico from Guanajuato, where Hidalgo and his confederates were captured and beheaded in 1810, and from where the War of Independence was launched. (To avoid confusion, the Mexican Revolution started in 1910, and overthrew the dictator Porfirio Diaz, and implemented many land reforms and socialistic labor laws still in effect today.)

We went to a unique event in Ajijic which included the parade of the robozos. Rebozos are the colorful shawls Mexican women wear. Peasant women use their robozos to keep warm, as a blanket at night, and to swaddle their babies. This night was a night for celebrating the Mexican women and girls of all ages. Here are some photos:





























Well, the school year has arrived, and I am teaching another level one English class at the Wilkes Biblioteca. I asked that I could be assigned a time earlier in the afternoon, since my last year's schedule was 5:30-7:00, right during the dinner hour. This year, I have a much more desirable 3:30-5, but, as a result, my students tend to be younger, perhaps 70% teenagers from 13-17. This year I got smart and had them make name tags, then photographed them so I can learn their names. Here are four of the sweet faces I have in class:















Daniel and Dora, our friends from our rental last year, are both enrolled in my English class.

Our house painting has been completed. Now every inch of the house has been painted. Pixie, who has worried mightily about the color selection, is pleased and so am I. Here are some photos:
















































Finally, I'd like to show one last photo. Juan Jose, one of my former students, works construction, and his wife runs a small taco restaurant out of their Ajijic home. They have two sons. Juan Jose recently had the photo of one of his sons tattooed on his arm. He is saving up money to tattoo a photo of his other son on his other arm. He proudly displays his tattoo here: