Hallowe'en Party - San Pedro Style!

I have had a very busy week... Between dealing with the temperature changes (you heard my complaints about the cold weather early in the week - it then went to 35 degrees celsius on Thursday.. and yesterday was chilly in the morning and then hot in the afternoon), I did my first round of Parent Teacher conferences. They went really well and the parents all seem happy and very supportive. So that was a great first experience to have!

We are coming up to the official Hallowe'en Day... and generally speaking, in Mexico, especially further south than where I am, Mexicans don't celebrate Hallowe'en. Instead they celebrate the Day of the Dead where people remember loved ones they lost by making an altar in the house and having a party. That happens on November 1st. In Monterrey, however, because of the close location to the USA, Hallowe'en is a big affair. Basically an excuse to have a party... Stores have been selling Hallowe'en things for a long time now.. just like at home. And Hallowe'en costume and accessory stores have been popping up in my neighborhood. I guess these places just open up for a few weeks and then close down until the next season. My kids have been talking about Hallowe'en for weeks - pretty much since the day we switched our September calendar to October.

On Wednesday, my class had a Hallowe'en party after school. It was organized by some of the moms and held at a Quinta. A quinta is a big property that is owned by someone - and this quinta was huge with lots of grass and trees, and a swimming pool and pond complete with ducks! There is also some play structures and swings for the kids. This quinta is owned by a very large family in the community and one of my students is somehow related to this family so that is how we got to have our party there. Parties in San Pedro (my community - apparently one of the most affluent in Latin America!) are not just thrown together. The grassy area where we hung out had been decorated with big blow-up Hallowe'en characters, and a mini-graveyard had been created. They had rented tables and chairs. There was tons of food and I had a chance to try some of the things I had been seeing my kids eat at lunch (pina with chilly... tamarindo with chilly... hicama with chilly...). Chilly spicy powder gets put on almost everything here. It is an interesting combination - the sweet fruit taste with the spicy chilly taste. I haven't decided what I really think about it - I'll have to give it a few more tries. There was also lots of sweets like cupcakes and lollipops and pizza and chips. Most of the moms were there and they took very good care of me. They didn't want me to lift a hand.. to get a drink or when cleaning up at the end. Unfortunately, it started to rain. Fortunately, we were somewhat sheltered under these big trees and the rain didn't start to get bad until we were pretty much ready to pack things up and go home.

And next week, on Tuesday, we will have another Hallowe'en party at school - with all sorts of treats provided by the moms. The kids will wear their costumes all day and then we will have a big parade in the afternoon.

We had our staff Hallowe'en party last night.. I'll have to write more about that later and put some pictures up to go along. Maybe later today.. For now I'm off to a hike at a new park I've never been too!