A Holloween Party To End The Week

There was quite a bit of effort put into the school holloween party. Most of us were just happy not to have to work on Friday night as a half day off is a luxury at this time in the schedule. We were encouraged to put together a costume with any or all of our classes with the winning class recieving a free Taco Party. Most classes were ho hum about the prospect however my 10 am Pre Intermediate class was all gung ho. "We are going to win free tacos" was the chant led my Montse and Luz Marie. When Mexican woman have their mind made up about something stay out of their way. If you want to survive and come away unscathed do as your told.

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Barbara is an impressive make up artist

We were all enouraged to participate and if I did not put some effort into it my taco desiring class would have beat me senseless. The finals descion was that I would be a "Catrine" or male skeleton and the girls would be "La Calavera Catrinas" or Elegant Lady Skeletons. The two other guys in the class were less than enthused so I was to be the go to Catrine
Barbara is a friend of a friend who agreed to come in and help us out. She is a well respected make up artist who works on films and photoshoots through out the State of Puebla. She also gave us a crazy discount of 50 pesos for any design we wanted. This would be the best $3 I could ever spend. She spent about 45 minutes on various teachers and administration staff and naturally everyone was something different. From my skeleton face, to a dead zombie, papa smurph and a phantom of the opera priest she nailed each one perfectly.

Edwin, Dan, Lucy, Kim, Keane, Ashlynn, Matt, Allan, Jess, Ken, Sarah, Tom, Scott, Alyshia , Manuel

Everyone did a great job thinking up costumes. Edwin - Zombie, Dan- Poncho Villa, Lucy - Psyco Patient, Kim - Average Girl, Keane - Spirit Priest, Ashlynn - Minion, Matt - Mexican Papa Smurph, Allan - Mexican Cop, Jess - Mother Nature, Ken - Skeleon, Sarah - Fairy, Tom - Cowboy, Scott - Suicide Bomber (voted most inappropriate so he was happy) and Alyshia and Manuel were an Oreo Cookie.

Now a Lucy story. My pal Lucy wanted to be a mental patient and she pulled it off. The one thing she wanted to perfect her costume was to have her mascara run and she asked me to do it. She figured I would just say mean things to her until she cried. That expection in itself pushed her to Real Mental Patient territory. Well I came up with an idea. I flicked her nose and hopefully that would work.The first time she flinched and she could feel the tears welling up. Ok do it again she said. So I did, 6 times to be exact with each flick getting harder and she took it like a champ. Thats how you get into a role I guess. The results above show a combination of her strength and courage and what should be considered my abuse if it was not so funny.

Luz Maria, Paula, Ken, Carmen, Montse loving our victory for best costumes

The party itself consisted of lots of food and a few lame ass games that nobody wanted to do. Then came the costume competition for the Taco Party. Everyone stood in a circle and Edwin had each group enter the circle to dance and show off. We crushed it and look at how amazing the girls are. They put a serious effort into this. There were rounds of applause to decide the winners and it was close until it was our turn and we crushed it and the tacos were ours. Now as this is a day class, we are going to have a taco breakfast next week which will suit all of us just fine. As I mentioned before if Mexican woman have a plan stand back and watch it unfold. Stay out of the way, do not have an opinion and say yes to what they ask. The results speak for themselves. Great job Luz, Paula, Carmen and Montse.

Odd picture behind me when this photo was taken

What do you do when you are all dressed up? Well you and all your pals head to you favorite bar for cold beer withour remove anything, thats what you do. Oddly after a few smiles and curious glances nobody batted an eyelash at us, after all this is Holloween and upcoming Day of The Dead and this will become more of the social norm than the exception. This is a serious festival in Mexico and the more time I spend here the more I appreciate the passion Mexicans have for their country and their heritage.

Good bye Nicaragua. You have been replaced as my future permanent home.