Today is IT! Celebration day.

After breakfast we took a hike down to the University to see Kim’s office and hit an ATM. It’s about a half-hour walk so we stopped along the way at Kim’s favorite cookie shop for sustenance.

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Arriving at the University we discovered that…It’s Day of the Dead. The place is closed up tight. The ATMs, however were open and functioning just fine so the trip wasn’t a bust by any means.

Along the way back we saw several groups of people walking or riding in the backs of pickup trucks carrying bunches of marigolds and shovels and such – heading for cemeteries to decorate for the evening’s festivities.

Arriving back at the apartment we rested (and worked on yesterday’s blogs) until lunch time. Kim feasted us on excellent omlets.

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Speaking of Yesterday’s blogs I forgot to post the following photo – shot from the gondola. It’s a monument to Ignacio Zaragoza, a general who lead the Mexican forces to repel the French invasion of Puebla on May 5, 1862 giving us the great Mexican holiday – Cinco de Mayo.

Now, on with the show. Me met Kim’s students, the van, and our guide at 1:30.

We boarded the van for the 1.5 hour ride to Huaquechula – a UNESCO World Heritage celebration noted for its spectacular ofrendas.

Or Buy food or anything else you might find at any street fair – and then some.

Along the way we checked out some of their famous street art.

We followed along as the students toured about a dozen of the ofendras. Here are a few of the best.

We eventually ended up back at the main square where we were given a bit of time to wander.

Eventually we returned to the van four our drive to Atlisco, a town at the foot of Popo that is noted for its DOTD parade. Unfortunately the parade didn’t start until well after dark, so photography was a problem. Most notably we didn’t get usable shots of the many Catrinas or the several marching bands. But here are a few that might serve.

After the parade we retired to a nearby restaurant for “lunch” (It was after 9:00 pm. They have weird concepts of when to eat here.). Then it was back to the van for the trip back to Puebla.

Speaking of trips, Papa was looking over his shoulder and tripped on a manhole cover. The resulting scrape on his nose brought much sympathy from the students and the minor ankle sprain shouldn’t cause too much problem as we continue our journey. One of the students commented that during their orientation to “living in Mexico” that the greatest danger students would face was not muggings or robbery but the sidewalks. Yep.

So that was our day. Sunday morning is for resting, blogging, homework (Jesse), laundry, and packing.

R