Dec 2008 Puerto Vallarta

Las Posadas

A Posada in Spanish means lodging or shelter. In Mexico Las Pasada is an old and colorful tradition, celebrated every evening from Dec. 16 to Dec 24. This is a commemoration of Mary and Joseph's search for shelter. This is sort of a play going from house to house. Some person is chosen to play the part of Mary and Joseph and they along with a group following them travel to 3 houses. There is a song sung asking for lodging and the people in the house sing back that No there is no room, they go on to the second house and ask for lodging and told to keep going at the 3rd house they are welcomed and the party begins.

My block had it's Posada last night and what a great fiesta it was. First I was so very flattered to have been included in their party. They decided I had to come back next year as I danced all night with them and we laughed and ate the best food I've ever eaten. Tamales, pazole, tacos, paella, and lots of tequila. The old and young danced, sang, and tried to be the one to break the Pinatas. The Mexicans do know how to party.

The best part was later in the night when the adults tried to break the Pinata, lots of silliness and good fun.

Pinatas in the neighborhood where my school is located are made by the local ladies. My street is so colorful now that I will miss all the pinatas hanging from the stores. Each lady does a different style but all are made the old traditional style with a bisque ceramic jar inside and crepe paper wrapped in the shape of a star, representing the star that guided the 3 Wise men to baby Jesus.

No matter what the fiesta is today all fiestas originated from the Catholic religion.

Dec 21, 2008

As I wrote earlier I am back in Puerto Vallarta. If you are familiar with PV you know it's a tourist destination, and sometimes I feel that where ever I go there are with a lot of "gringos". But today I got up early and went to a park by the river, its only a block from my apartment. One of my students told me that there were lots of parrots there right now. So I went to see what was happening. It was truly incredible, there were hundreds of parrots flying around the park. It was so noisy with their high pitched squawking. They were flying so close to me it sort of was overwhelming. They were so colorful and amazing fliers. I couldn't believe that I was only one block from my home and that there weren't any other people around. I felt like I was deep in the jungle all alone, just me and the birds. It only lasted about 30 minutes and then the parrots disappeared in the trees and you would never have known they were around. I plan to go back tomorrow as my student told me " they are just going to be here a few days then they go farther south".
I remember being in Zihuatanejo in the 70's and there were parrots everywhere. When I returned in the 90's they were gone. I asked the locals and was told by several that most of them had been shot for food or feathers. So I am happy to report that they didn't kill them all.

Tonight I'm going back to this park to see one of my students in a play, it is called a posada, a story about the birth of Jesus. He was very happy to know that I wanted to see him perform and took great care to explain the play to me. I know already I will love it, just because he's in it.