Burger King

Burger King

No, we do not have a Burger King here in Guaymas; although there are some NOB fast food places such as McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Dominos Pizza. I have no idea of how they stack up to their counterparts NOB as we have never gone to any of them.

I mentioned in the post below that I had read an article this morning that bugged me. It is an article that was in The New York Times . The article talks about the hardships of migrant workers and the part that the owners of Burger King play in keeping them in poverty.

I hope that you will go and read the full article at the link above. I realise that this is just a drop in the bucket of **** that goes on in the world of big business to keep their profits high and the "little people" poor; but it bugs me anyway.

I also hope that those of you who eat at Burger King, or other businesses who have/condone these type of ugly practises, decide to go elsewhere the next time you have an urge for a burger.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the article.

"Migrant farm laborers have long been among America’s most impoverished workers. Perhaps 80 percent of the migrants in Florida are illegal immigrants and thus especially vulnerable to abuse. During the past decade, the United States Justice Department has prosecuted half a dozen cases of slavery among farm workers in Florida. Migrants have been driven into debt, forced to work for nothing and kept in chained trailers at night. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers — a farm worker alliance based in Immokalee, Fla. — has done a heroic job improving the lives of migrants in the state, investigating slavery cases and negotiating the penny-per-pound surcharge with fast food chains." .........

"Telling Burger King to pay an extra penny for tomatoes and provide a decent wage to migrant workers would hardly bankrupt the company. Indeed, it would cost Burger King only $250,000 a year. At Goldman Sachs, that sort of money shouldn’t be too hard to find. In 2006, the bonuses of the top 12 Goldman Sachs executives exceeded $200 million — more than twice as much money as all of the roughly 10,000 tomato pickers in southern Florida earned that year."....

Ok, rant over; back to looking out the window at the rain.

Still Raining

Still Raining

Very unusual for here; but it is still raining. It is just a soft, slow drizzle and is soaking in rather than coming down hard and running away. Should be good for the trees and plants. It is also chilly, only 21C./70F.. I am sitting here with my fleece pants, sweater and socks on and am not too warm. My feet felt like blocks of ice this morning before I put on my socks. Go figure.

According to the computer it is -14C./2F. where my sister lives in Canada. UGH. Here is a picture from one of the AMA road cameras on the highway just a few miles from the city where she lives. Double UGH!!!

We are having a lazy day at home on the computers, staying in and staying dry.

I read a news article this morning that bugged me, so may post about that in a few minutes.

It's Raining

It's Raining

We needed to pick up some groceries yesterday, so naturally we stopped and had shrimp tacos first. On the way home Roy stopped to see if he could get a haircut. There were a couple of people in front of him he told me after- I had left him there and continued on to another grocery store, so he was going to leave and return later. The hairstylist wouldn't let him leave though. She smilingly took him by the arm and motioned him to sit down. He said that everyone was grinning. It turned out that the others waiting were with the one person getting a cut, so he was actually next. He was still grinning when he came home and told me that the stylist had "grabbed" him. Too funny.

It started raining this morning, well drizzling anyway and it continued on throughout the day. Unusual weather for here.

It was the first day to go to the orphanage for english classes for the children. I met the other ladies there and we had the first class together. We went out for lunch and then returned to have a class with some of the older children who had been in school in the morning. An interesting afternoon.

No Pictures

No Pictures

A few weeks ago I mentioned that there was a parrot flying around on the loose here. Which is rather unusual as we don't see parrots around here. Well, the last few days he has been back and seems to have found a couple of friends. There are now 3 of them, flying around, sqawking, perching, doing parrot type things. I have tried to get a good photo of them. What you see here is the result; nothing, zero, nada. Everytime I get the camera out they fly away, they seem to have ESP. So, no pictures of them.

We have been doing nothing exciting the last couple of days. Yesterday and part of today we spent cleaning and doing laundry. I pulled out the frig and the pantry cupboard and washed behind them. Washed out the microwave, etc., boring stuff.

I had taken meat out for lunch; but as lunchtime came closer it was not thawing out fast enough. I looked at Roy and asked if he thought we could get to our shrimp taco stand before she closed for the day. It was 12:15 by this time, so we jumped in the car and drove down there, closed. I had noticed a while ago that there is a torta place that is about 3 1/2 blocks from home, so we decided to try it out. The gate was open so we walked in, no one around but the house door was open and there were 3 ladies sitting at a table playing cards. I asked if we could order a couple of ham and cheese tortas and she said, "sure". She came out and began preparing them, as she was working she kept apologising that the place was not cleaned up and ready to go. I finally asked her what time she usually opens and she replied, "en la noche", at night. I then asked her what time and she told me at 7 PM. Well, we felt pretty dumb at this point and apologised to her for bothering her. She kept saying that it wasn't a bother and was going to bring us some chairs to sit on. We told her that we would just take it to "go". "OK", she replied, she finished preparing our order, packed it up and with many thanks to her, away we went. Try getting service with laughs and smiles like that in Canada 6 or 7 hours before a place opens. Those tortas were sooooo good.

Shrimp Festival

Shrimp Festival

The annual Shrimp Festival is being held in San Carlos is this weekend. The weather was not co-operating today as it was cool and windy. This morning it rained hard in Guaymas and our landlord told us that when they were at the tianguis in another area of the city it had even hailed abit. There is a cold front in Arizona and snow forecast in the higher altitudes there, so it was chilly here also.
They had the opening ceremonies and some things going on last evening; but we didn't go to them. The things I wanted to see, the dancers/singers and of course the food tasting booths were happening today.

We headed out there around 1 PM, picked up our friends from the RV park and arrived just in time to see the dancers begin. We found a good spot to sit and enjoyed watching all the dancers and singers. We also enjoyed sampling some of the many shrimp dishes. Of course, there were so many booths and lots of options at each booth, so we did not get too far in the tasting before we were full. What we did sample was good though.

They also had an art display and craft display; although there were not as many crafts on display as there were last year.

This is the third year that we have gone to this and each year the venue has changed. The first year we really didn't enjoy it very much as it was set up right along the busy street and it was very congested. Last year they moved it to an area close to one of the hotels and it was much better. Lots of room to move around in; but not enough seats in the shade and it was quite hot. This year they moved it to the Golf Club and it was set up very well. There were lots of tables and chairs set up under shade canopies, (although this year it was chilly and people were searching for a chair in the sun, can't seem to win with the weather). They did a good job of setting it up regardless. I think that no matter where you sat you would have had a good view of the stage.

We met up with a few people that we knew and also did some visiting. The lady that we had meet in the restaurant at Thanksgiving dinner, who was raised in the town where we lived before moving here, was also there. We spent some time chatting and it turns out that she worked with my mother in law and also knows 2 of my sister in laws. Such a small world we live in these days.

We enjoyed the entertainment and the food for several hours before heading back home. It was to end at 6 PM, so we didn't miss much by leaving a bit early.

We visited with them for a bit at their motorhome and said our goodbyes. They will be leaving on Tuesday so we will not be seeing them again. We have enjoyed their company and hope they have a good time for the rest of the winter in Arizona. Thank you again M. for all the goodies that you brought down here for us. We will miss you.
More photos here

Foggy, Foggy Morning

Foggy, Foggy Morning

I like spending time watching the sky at night, it seems like there is always something different to see. Last night when I was outside looking up, I noticed that there was a huge, perfect circle around the moon. It was beautiful. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of it as my camera lens wasn't wide enough to get it all in. I noticed that Ciro was out on his patio so I called him up to see it. He went back down to get his camera; but had the same problem that I did. We think it was caused by the humidity in the air; but are not sure. It was certainly something to see.
This morning it is very, very foggy. This doesn't happen very often; but it is cool here this morning only about 14 or 15 C. around 58 F., BRRRRR my fingers are cold as I type this.

Turkey Day

Turkey Day

We were on our way out to San Carlos when we saw a truck with a big whale bone/rib tied onto the box. I said to Roy that I should have a list somewhere on the blog of "things you would never see in Canada", this for sure would belong on that list. I imagine that it was on its way to decorate someones yard.

We picked up our friends and went to the restaurant where we were going to have our turkey dinner. All 4 of us are Canadians but who can resist a turkey dinner with all the fixings, besides it never hurts to take the time to stop and reflect on the good things in our lives. Roy and I haven't had turkey for about 2½ yrs. so it really tasted good to us. The restaurant was not too busy and we chatted with our friends and the owner and his wife when she could take time out from the kitchen. A large group of people entered the restaurant and heard part of our conversation about something in Canada and asked where we were from. When we told them, it turned out that one of the ladies had been born and raised in our small town of 1400 people in Alberta. Go figure, we even knew some of the same people. What a small world! We laughed and teased the owner that all of his customers at that time were Canadian, so perhaps he should cook us a turkey next year in October on our Thanksgiving. He admitted that there are a lot of Canadians in San Carlos and that yes, they would cook us a turkey dinner next year if we would just tell him when the holiday is. I don't think it will happen though as most of the snowbirds do not arrive from there until after the holiday.

We enjoyed our dinner and the visiting and made plans to pick our friends up to go to the Shrimp Festival on Saturday.

After we returned home later we noticed the parrot that had made an appearance a few weeks ago; but this time there were 2 of them. Not sure where they are coming from or staying; but they better find somewhere warmer to stay for the winter as it will be too cold for them here. It goes down to 10 C./50 F. some nights during the winter and I think that this is much too cold for them.

Hope you all enjoyed the holiday if you celebrated it.

Walk On The Beach

Walk On The Beach

Yesterday we decided that we would go out to San Carlos and walk our friends dog one more time before she left. We made arrangements with her and she decided that she would be elsewhere when we arrived. We wanted to see how the dog reacted to us coming into the house without his owners around. No problems, the dog was happy to see us and we went for a nice walk along the beach. By the time we returned so had our friend so we chatted for awhile and then went to meet the people across the street.

These people are in need of someone to also care for their dog and their home while they are on holiday. They had someone lined up to do it; but unfortunately there was a tragic traffic accident about a week ago and they were both killed. Very sad. It was a shock to the community as these people seem to have been well known and loved by all. We did not know the couple but sympathise with their families.

We chatted with the new people, exchanging information and meeting their dog, who is an exuberant 1 yr. old. So, it looks like we will be spending over a month in San Carlos over the holiday season. We should be getting an ample amount of exercise with all the dog walking! We will be coming home sometimes during the day to keep our plants watered, etc., so it will be a different way to housesit.

After meeting the second set of dog owners, we headed over to the RV park and visited with our friends for awhile. Their dog had been very sick and now appears to be on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, they have decided to head up into Arizona at the end of the month, to spend the rest of the winter there. The vet. strongly recommended that they keep the dog out of the sea water and being that he is a water loving dog they are hoping to find a place to park along a river where he can be in the water and enjoy himself more.

Today we went to the tianguis and wandered around, it seems like there are more vendors now in the new area than there were in the old place or maybe it is that there are more now that it has cooled off and the Christmas season is coming up. We enjoyed wandering around and then headed back towards home with a stop off for lunch at our favorite shrimp taco stand.

Tomorrow we will again be going out to San Carlos to join our friends and enjoy a turkey dinner for the USA holiday. There were not enough snowbirds here yet in October to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving, so we will be having ours tomorrow.

This weekend they will be holding the annual Shrimp Festival, so we will again be going out there. We really enjoyed the folkloric dancers and other talent displayed last year, so we are hoping that it will be just as good this year. Too bad all these activities couldn't have waited until we were living out there, it would have saved us some trips back and forth. Normally we don't go out there more than once every 2 or 3 weeks; but this last week or so it seems we have had to go every couple of days.

I finally managed to take the time to go and get a haircut late this afternoon and that sure feels better. I was beginning to feel like the shaggy dog in that long ago movie.

I hope that all the people in the USA enjoy their turkey tomorrow and that we are all smart enough to take some time and give thanks for all the good things we have enjoyed in the last year.

Revolution Day

Revolution Day

Tomorrow is actually the true date for Revolution Day; but they have declared today as the holiday.

We went downtown for awhile and watched part of the parade. It was very crowded so I didn't get any really good pictures. It is a very long parade, (about 3 hrs.), with many, many of the schools and clubs participating. We didn't feel like standing in the sun and watching for that long so we came home before it ended.

Stilt men.

A Concert

A Concert

This week was the "week of the disabled person" here. They were selling tickets for a concert to be held in the Civic Auditorium here in Guaymas. The proceeds are to go towards assistance for the disabled. We hadn't bought tickets in advance as we weren't sure if we were going to go. We did finally decide that we would attend and as the concert was supposed to begin at 3 PM, and we didn't as yet have tickets we headed uptown shortly after 2 PM. When we arrived at the auditorium the doors were open and we purchased our tickets, 25 pesos each, around $2.50. We looked around the building as we have never gone to anything held there before. We were impressed with the structure, thinking that it is a wonderful building for the size of our city. It compares very favorably to auditoriums that I have been in, in other bigger cities.

After checking out the building we went and sat down in our nice, padded seats, by this time it was almost 3 PM. There were only a handful of other people there, the organiser, the sound man and a couple of performers so we didn't have high hopes of it starting on time. It did begin shortly after 3 PM though, playing to an almost non existent crowd.

As the show progressed more people did show up; but even near the end the place was not even 1/2 full, what a shame as they missed a great show.

We know that they sold a lot of tickets as periodically throughout the show they pulled tickets to give away some gifts and some of the numbers on the tickets were over 1000, so even if people did not show up they still had donated to this good cause.

The acts were all local and showcased how much talent there is in this area. There were various acts; singers, a band, a chorus, and dancers doing dances from various different places in the world and Mexico.

Instead of eating our big meal at lunchtime today we had decided to go out for dinner after the concert, assuming that it would last for about 2 hours. Well, when we looked at our tickets it showed the show time as being from 3 PM to 8 PM!! Around 7 PM Roy turned to me and asked if I was ready to go for dinner. We were both hungry and decided that it was time to leave. The show could go on without us.

We walked a few blocks over to the main street and then down a couple of blocks to one of our favorite places, Loncheria Doney. Roy decided on his favorite, papas locas and I had a Torta Milanesa. Both our meals were very good, even though they serve Pepsi instead of Coke. Cost of our supper was reasonable, 95 pesos, around $9.50. So for 165 pesos, (includes tips),about $16.50 we got to see a long concert and have dinner. How could you ask for more than that? An enjoyable afternoon and evening.

Some of the dancers and performers.

Lunch On The Beach

Lunch On The Beach

It looks like we will be spending a couple of weeks in San Carlos in December. We are going to look after a dog and cat for some friends of ours that are returning to Canada for the holiday season.

This morning we were getting ready to head over there to get to know their dog better before she leaves. Roy decided to hose the car off before we left and when he went to turn the outdoor tap off, it broke right off. Needless to say water was gushing out of the pipe, so he quickly clamored up onto the roof via the storage bench and low wall and shut off the water at the tinaco, the water storage tank. He took the pieces and headed to a hardware shop and returned shortly with a new heavier duty one. He replaced it and this time used the ladder to get onto the roof and turned the water back on. No leaks, success.

The rest of the day went better.

We got to our friends house and played with the dog for awhile before heading off for his walk on the beach. It was a nice day so we all enjoyed the stroll along the beach. On our way back we stopped for lunch at La Palapa, an outdoor restaurant right on the beach, which specialises in Greek food. While we were waiting to order, someone stopped by our table to chat and mentioned that the place serves good burgers, so Roy and I both decided to order one. It has been a long time since we had a good burger, our friend ordered the shrimp. So much for Greek food, oh well next time. We did order an appetizer that was good though. Our food arrived with really good homemade french fries, that were done just right. I am not a big french fry eater; but these were good as were the burgers and shrimp. You don't usually get fresh, homemade fries in the restaurants here. A good lunch. We finished our walk, returned to her house and then we bid our goodbyes.

We stopped in to visit some other friends from Canada that are in one of the RV parks. They have been having problems with their dog being sick and we wanted to stop and see how he was doing. Thankfully he is recovering and seems to be doing well. After visiting for awhile we headed back home, taking the scenic route through the Miramar area of Guaymas.

I didn't take the camera, so no pictures today.

Pretty Quiet Around Here

Pretty Quiet Around Here

We had another beautiful sunrise this morning. There are a couple of photos below and there are more here .

Yesterday I went out to San Carlos and had lunch with S. and her husband. It was "football Sunday" so Roy stayed home in front of the computer and TV.. After lunch she and I headed over to a meeting being held in another area of town. There is a group of ladies that go to one of the orphanages in Guaymas every week and spend some time teaching the children english. This sounded like something S. and I would be interested in, so we attended the meeting. There have also been some computers donated to the orphanage and one of the ladies goes on another day and does some computer training with some of the children. Interesting programs.
I met one of the ladies at the orphanage this morning and she checked out the computers to see if they were in working order and also to check and see what was needed for this winters programs. These programs only run in the winter as most of the ladies are not here year round. Sounds like both programs will get up and running around the end of November. So it is shaping up to be an interesting winter.

Rememberance Day

Rememberance Day

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Sunset From Our Patio

Sunset From Our Patio

Christmas Lights

Christmas Lights

Right around Halloween we noticed that there were several homes with their Christmas lights hung and lit up already. We also noticed that these lights were up and alight. I don't know about you; but for me it is just a little bit early.

Sunrise and Sunset

Sunrise And Sunset

A friend and I went to the tianguis this morning. You can certainly tell that it has cooled off a bit, as the tianguis was very busy. Much different than when you go in the heat of the summer. It was still quite warm today though, with the temperature being 31 C..

The city had negotiated with the tianguis vendors to move their operations because the city wanted the usual street to be open for traffic, as they are doing more work on the filling of the bay. We asked a lady where it was now being held and we were given directions. We found it with no problems and wandered all through it. I noticed that the plant lady was back and she has roses in stock again, so I will have to decide what color I want to get to replace the ones that died from the bad soil. I didn't bother today as I didn't feel like carrying them for the rest of our shopping trip. After we finished at the tianguis we headed for a couple of second hand stores to have a look around, you never know what you will find in these stores.

By the time we were done our shopping we were getting hungry and thirsty so decided that it was time to break for lunch and a cold drink. We walked into the restaurant and sat down at a table, near another table where a couple of other ladies were sitting. It turned out that my friend knew these ladies slightly so we joined them and had an enjoyable lunch. The days special was shrimp in a peanut sauce, we both decided to order that. No hardship for me as I love anything to do with peanuts. The food was good, the company was good, so we had a nice time.

After lunch we returned to the apartment and visited for awhile before she left to go home. A nice day.
There were a few clouds last night and this morning so the sunset and sunrise were pretty.

Last nights sunset.

This mornings sunrise.

New Boat Slips

New Boat Slips

I took this picture on Saturday while we were waiting for the Nauticopa boat races to begin. It shows the relatively new boat slips that have been built in the bay downtown in the last few months. I have never seen any boats in any of the slips so perhaps they are not open as yet. I also have no idea of what the daily/monthly fees would be, or what services are available. We don't have a boat, so information about these things is not really high on our radar. They look nice, they are there and that is about all I can say.

Baptism Party

Baptism Party

Sunday is a quiet day here usually, as Roy settles in with his computer and TV tuned to the American football. I washed the floors in the morning and had settled down in front of the computer when Irene came up. She asked if I would like to come to a baby's baptism party with her in the afternoon. It was for the baby that we went to the baby shower for in January . Roy declined due to football pressures and Ciro wanted to go fishing, Nancy decided to stay home as Alan has a cold, so it was just Irene and I that went in the end.

When we arrived at the party, Irene noticed that Ciros fishing rods were in the back seat, so no fishing for him. We had a good laugh over this, he couldn't even phone her as she didn't have a cell with her. We found it funny and teased him about it later after we returned home.

We greeted everyone there, I met some new people and recognised some others from past parties. We sat down and enjoyed the late afternoon with drinks and snacks. There was a live band playing and some of the people were dancing. The baby, of course, was cute as a button in her finery and was busy looking around at all the activity. She spent the time being passed from one set of arms to another and was very amiable to this. A real cutie.

Later on we were served dinner and if I understood Irene correctly the meat was deer/venison that her brother, the baby's grandpa, had done the hunting for. A yummy meal as usual, followed by cake and more refreshments. Each person was given a gift to commemorate the occasion. People then continued visiting and dancing. Irene and I began to get chilly and so left before the party quit. Neither one of us had thought to take a sweater, still not into the cooler temperatures yet. Cooler means that it goes down to my shiver range now in the evening which is about 26 C./78 F., I know this will make you northerners laugh; but it is true.

A really nice afternoon/evening, so nice of her to ask me to go. We really appreciate the way they include us in their family events.

No photos as I didn't take my camera along.

Nauticopa Boat Races

Nauticopa Boat Races

Today was the first day of the Nauticopa Boat Races that are being held here in the Guaymas Bay. The schedule said that the first race was to begin at 1 PM so we headed uptown to the bay to be there in time for that.
We arrived at the Plaza de Pescador and sat around looking out over the water, one of the boats came out and did a few practice rounds. Not long after that the police told everyone that was there that we would have to move over to where they have done the filling, in the bay area. They told us that there were chairs and shade areas and sent us all on our way.
At the new area that they have filled in they had bleachers set up, the usual pop and beer stands and of course some nice large speakers blasting out music. We sat on the bleachers for awhile and then we noticed that people were getting plastic chairs from an area and sitting closer to the fence at the edge of the bay. Roy went over and got us a couple of chairs and we moved as close to the fence as the police would allow. The police were out in force and we noticed what must be the head policeman, sorry don't know what you would call him here. As he approached all his men, they would salute him, so we knew he was a "higher up". A short time later this fellow seemed to be escorting another fellow around, the second fellow was shaking everyones hands and saying hello to all. I didn't realize who he was until the girl next to us asked if she could have her picture taken with him. Then I clued in, it was the mayor of Guaymas, Lic. Antonio Francisco Astiazaran Gutierrez, so now we can say we shook the mayors hand. He is usually wearing a suit and today he was dressed quite casually, so I never thought of it being him at first. There was also a fellow who we assumed was with the state government as he was wearing the usual red shirt with the Sonora logo on that they seem to favor at events.
A few of the boats came out and did practice runs; but they didn't seem interested in starting the races.
A practice run.



Finally around 3 PM, the police all moved away from the fence and there was a big rush by everyone trying to get front row seats. Pretty funny. We moved, along with everyone else and managed to snag 2 spots right in front of the fence. Lucky us.
The fence which we got to sit right in front of, best seats in the place. I took the picture before it got really busy.

The races started and were quite interesting. We had never seen boat races like this before and we enjoyed watching. I have no idea how fast they were traveling; but they were moving fast! There were no crashes while we watched; although we did leave before they were over. An interesting afternoon. More photos here: More Photos

A video of one of the races.

Day of the Dead Altars

Day of the Dead Altars

We returned downtown to centro this evening to see the altars for the Day of the Dead. It was all set up this time, now that we had the time correct, and it was also very busy.

The altars were very interesting, a couple were for famous people, such as the last Pope and Frida Kahlo, while others were for peoples family members. The papel picados (cut tissue paper) were quite simple for some and others were more elaborate. If you look closely at the photos you can see skulls, etc. cut into some of the tissues.

Different groups such as the Seri and Yaqui indians, also had areas set up to showcase their cultures. We watched a slideshow put on by the Seri indians and a couple of dances put on by the Yaqui indian children. We watched another dance which consisted of spirits from different walks of life all dancing together. We also looked at some paintings and some other art that was set up.

All in all it was an interesting experience and we were glad that we went back to see it.
The first few photos I took weren’t very good as I had the camera on the wrong setting, as soon as I changed it things improved immensely.

El Dias de los Muertos

El Dias de los Muertos-The Days of the Dead

The other day I had read in the newspaper that the altars for the Days of the Dead were to be judged at 10 AM this morning. I wanted to see the altars so we went uptown to where they were supposed to be set up. Nothing, so I went and bought a newspaper from a vendor and proceeded to read the front page article. The article stated that they were to be set up on a different street and not until the evening, I was not familiar with the name of the street so we asked a fellow who was painting his boat where this street was. He explained to us and we headed in that direction, with a stopover in the plaza to sit and enjoy the shade for awhile.
We easily found the street and found that the only decorations that were up were a couple on the street corners. Some ladies were beginning to work on their altar; but that was it. They were setting some paintings up in one courtyard, so we asked if we could come in and look and were given permission. The artists style was similar to Frida Kahlo. We looked at what was set up and as we prepared to leave, the lady told us that there would be a bigger display this evening and that we should return later. I have also read that they celebrate the lives of the children on the 1st and the adults on the 2nd.
Some of the street decorations.

I read an article in the newspaper the other day, that described and explained the altars. I will try and put some of it here. The article was in the El Vigia
newspaper on October 31, 2007. The altar photo is also from there.
Altars are prepared in advance for the Day of the Dead, and include food/drink that were enjoyed by the deceased person.
A traditional altar should consist of 3 levels. The first level represents heaven and this is where the pictures of the saints are placed. The second level represents "limbo" the state of "natural happiness" after death that is neither heaven nor hell, this is where the dead persons photo is placed. The third level is the land and this is where all of the offerings are placed and the things the dead person enjoyed in life.
In the room there should be an arch which symbolizes the permission of San Pedro for the souls to enter and leave paradise.
In front of the altar should be a path of yellow marigold petals to guide the dead.
Things to be placed are: photos, salt, water, candles, food, marigold flowers, velvet, cut paper, figures of skulls, clay pots, incense, sugar skulls with the dead persons name on them and personal items that they enjoyed during life.
The food should be placed in clay pots like the ancestors used. The dead persons spirit gets the flavor of the food and is satisfied.
Candles symbolize the light against the darkness of death.
Papel Picado- (cut paper) is cut with images of death in different forms, orange color is the ancient color of mourning and purple is the color of mourning for the Catholic church.
Incense is put at the doorway to guide the spirits.
Pan del Muerto (bread of the dead) sometimes has round dough balls on it to symbolize tears and sometimes dough pieces which look like bones.
When everything is ready the family sits around the altar to await the visitors. Afterwards a feast is held to celebrate the reunions. The candles are blown out, goodbyes are said with wishes for a safe journey and asking for them to return next year.
The food from the altar can be eaten; but it is said not to taste very good as the dead persons spirit has taken away the essence of it.
Day of the Dead begins on November 1st and coincides with the Catholic observance of All Saints Day on the 2nd of November.