Doce Deseos

New Years Eve was fantastic in an entirely different way than I had expected it to be. Judging a little to quickly by Irac profession as a party promoter I thought we were going to be raging the whole night in some smoked out club with pulsing cruchy techno! Not the case at all.
  First we picked up Irac two gorgeous lady friends, Liz from Mexico and Yovani from Colombia, and did a little taco depot to satiate  Liz's mojito induced hangover. We returned Liz to her apartment to recover for the evening, because she obviously knew better than me what the night would entail. We drove across town a little ways, and pull into this quiet family neighborhood. We are going to the home of Irac's mother. It is modest and lovely home, and there are three separate tables set up in what appears to be the gated carport. Everything is really calm, and there are little kids running in and out of the party blowing whistles.
   At about 11:30 the hostess brings out a Thanksgiving sized feast. We are talking the turkey, the pork, the fettuccine, apple salad, bread, some sort of delicious corn flour soup. As I hadn't eaten in 27 hours I was beside myself to get after, and boy was it yummy. We were in the middle of finishing up dinner when someone yeld out," siete minuto!" ( 7 minutes) No one really seemed r
rushed or excited about it, but then when it was 11:59 everyone was standing up with whistles in hand, and this gigantic bowl of grapes get thrust in front of me and everyone is frantically grappeling for a handful of grapes. I didn't know what the deal was but I grabbed some grapes and started eating them. I found out later from Yovani that the 12 grapes that you eat in the first minute of the New Year are a symbol for your 12 desires for the New Year. It can be health, success, love, money, family, whatever you want to have in the New Year.
  After the normal hoopla goes down everyone starts embracing. And its not like in the US with a quick pat on your shoulder. It is a long embrace, where you tell the person why they are so important to you and how much you love them. I even saw tears accumulating in the mothers eyes as her son hugged her for a good 5 minutes. It was really beautiful, and much better than drinking my face off till 6 am at the dirty frog, or whatever that place is called.
   Yovani, Irac and I left at about 2 to go home, but how could I be so silly to actually believe that. We stopped at a friend of Iracs home, where they were just setting up the Karaoke machine. Holy Moly, I don't know too much about Latinos but I can say with confidence that they love to sing, dance, and be with family. Irac told me that in Mexico when you go to someones house there are three thing you always do. First you greet absolutely everyone there with a kiss and a hug, then you drink something, and you eat something. It doesn't matter how much you ate before you arrived at their house. Now you must eat the food the Señora of this house prepared. I ate, drank a few sips, and then promptly paced out on the couch. Irac felt for me and got me back to his apartment. I was happy to be in bed especially when I heard him come back at about 7:30am.

There are mangrtoves all over the island. The bird symphony at night is wonderful.

   Yesterday I caught the bus to Holbox, where I am in full on relax mode. I am stuffing my face with Sol cerveza, and tacos al pastor,and ceviche fresco bien rico! Its a little difficult to just sit on the beach all afternoon when you are accustomed to having so many tasks to take care of during the day. But let me put your anxieties to rest, i am making

Beach in Holbox at sunset.

the transition okay.

Feliz Año a todos de Mexico!

Breakfast with Huevos Rancheros, and fresh tortillas