From Mexico City we jumped on a bus down to Oaxaca, where we would be for the Dia De Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations. The landscape was pretty green and we caught a couple of thunderstorms on the way down.
The bus took a couple of hours longer than expected, which wasn't too bad, and then our taxi driver got lost about four times and it took us another half hour to get five minutes down the road. That was all alright, though, compared to the disaster we had with our accommodation. We'd booked a cheap apartment a couple of weeks in advance knowing that it was peak season in Oaxaca so we needed to be on to it. We rocked up to the address and couldn't find any sign of an apartment or hostel or hotel. No answer on the phone number either. Eventually our would-be Canadian neighbour came back and welcomed us into his place for a while and managed to get hold of the apartment owner. Turns out that the woman was useless and she had us double booked. We managed to stay one night there before we had to move to what turned out to be a really good value hostel. We were pretty lucky to find a bed at such short notice.
Dia De Muertos is traditionally celebrated on the 1st and 2nd of November, although these days the celebrations spill into October from around the 30th onward, and sometimes get mangled in with Halloween celebrations. The Mexicans believe that on the 1st and 2nd is when the dead and the living are closest to one another, and they celebrate (rather than commiserate) the dead.
The streets of Oaxaca were filled with impromptu parades from morning to night, with kids and adults alike dressed up in a mixture of skull paint and some Halloween costumes. Most of the parades were accompanied by endless firecrackers, brass bands and dancing.
We hit the Dia De Muertos markets for some lunch and to check out the decorations and breads on sale. We grabbed some tlayudas (like a quesadilla with beans and lettuce), taking the gambler's route and picking fillings which we didn't recognise by name. One of the tlayudas ended up being filled with chapulin (grasshoppers), which especially made Cat ecstatic. We had tried grasshoppers in Mexico City and figured they were probably best left in the very occasional part of the food pyramid. Anyway, we ate around half of the meal before deciding we were full.
Cat hoeing into a chapulin tlayuda:
The traditional bread, Pan Del Muerto (bread of the dead), eaten at this time of year:
We got some but found it to be pretty dry and sweet, but the locals seem to love it.
All over the city there were painted skull displays with marigolds and other flowers and candles. Amazing colours and they really made the city come to life:
Cat eating some Pan Del Muerto and chilling with a skeleton on the street:
Everywhere we went there were people of all ages dressed up and roaming the streets:
And skeletons trying to escape the buildings:
There were a huge number of street vendors out and about making the most of the peak season crowds in the city. We were well entertained by a couple of kids trying to sell me a moustache comb. This guy could barely stand on the ground with the number of helium balloons he had strung on:
There were also painted skulls and other souvenirs for sale everywhere:
A couple of days we were up early (11am or so..) and the deserted streets were really picturesque. A great time to wander around and grab a coffee:
Come nightfall and the streets were even more alive than the afternoons with awesome parades of kids dancing on stilts and all sorts else:
Some of the locals' outfits were awesomely intricate:
One of the many Dia De Muerto displays around town:
And another:
We caught up with our mate Cam, who we had met on the Inca Trail, and headed out for a couple of nights out with him and his mates. We managed to catch a local band one night, while another night we made it out to the suburbs to a full on club. Also in the mix, Cat had a go at bashing a piñata, and we managed to get eight people into a taxi.
The locals seem to welcome tourists into the Dia De Muertos spirit (although it is difficult to say if all of them feel this way) and so one night we painted our faces as skulls before we went out to check out the parades and graveyards. Artwork courtesy of Cat:
A club snap courtesy of Cam. Who's the creep in the striped t-shirt?
The locals spend large parts of the celebration in the cemeteries scattered around the city, celebrating with the dead. The graves were generally covered with flowers and candles, with family members and friends spending the evenings chatting by the graves, or often singing and playing instruments over a beer. The atmosphere in the cemeteries was completely unlike anything we had come across at home. We felt a little like intruders at first, but generally people welcomed us as it was a really festive atmosphere.
Some of the candles and flowers:
Locals with their faces painted and chatting at the cemetery:
What surprised us the most was the huge carnivals that were set up outside the cemeteries. The streets were lined with food stalls, fair games and rides for kids and adults. The carnivals were full of families out enjoying themselves every night that we were there.
When we weren't immersed in the celebrations, we spent a lot of time eating tacos and other food, relaxing over a couple of beers/tequilas/mezcals, and reading books. An awesome way to spend a few days.
