December has pretty much come and gone, along with Santa Claus and all of his reindeer, who, by the way, left quite a mess on this boat. It’s pretty festive here in Mexico during the holidays because the local Mexican citizens here in Baja have a remarkable buildup to Christmas Eve by beginning their Posada’s on December 12th to commemorate the events of Mary and Joseph’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Each night there are celebrations – in fact, starting at midnight on Christmas Eve there were fireworks and gunshots going off until about 2:52 in the morning. The celebrations continue until the last day of Christmas known as the Epiphany or Three Kings Day which is January 6th and on this day the tradition is the eating of the “Rosca de Reyes” a ring shaped cake with fruit and candy inside. There is also one small plastic doll that represents baby Jesus and the one that bites into the baby gets to throw a party for everyone on another holiday which falls on February 2. Wow, 2+ months of celebrating down here can be dangerous to your health.
Fred and I walked into town today and went by my favorite market, the Bravo Outdoor Market. It’s one of those great places that have a whole bunch of interesting things under one roof. Nearly everything but major appliances can be found here . . . you name it: fresh produce, eggs, seafood, meat of every sort (which includes extremely large beef tongues), poultry, lunch counters, fresh squeezed juice, pots, pans, homemade cheeses, bread, tortillas, and skinned goats. Everyone seemed happy to have their photos taken as you can see from the pictures! So it’s a pretty joyful place to be and one of my favorite spots for lunch. The place that I like best reminds me of my Aunt’s home. There are 6 women working in a space approximately 5’x10’ and boy oh boy is the food simple but delicious: beef tacos, burritos, tamales, soup, sopa’s and chile relleno’s pretty much make up the menu – most of which run between 10 and 15 peso’s each (.80 cents to $1.20). They know me there and are starting to treat me like family which I like a lot. I tried to get a picture of all of the ladies together but they were too busy to stand still. Oh, there is one man in the group but he is the “cashier”. Almost everywhere you eat here in Mexico you order, eat, and then go to the cash register and tell them what you ate and they tell you what you owe. Well, enough of your time has been spent reading my wanderings so I will sign off by wishing each of you a Happy and an especially Healthy New Year. Your friendships mean the world to Fred and me so stay safe on New Year’s Eve!