New Yorker in Mexico

I don't usually feel like I am that far from home. I live in Baja California Sur, Mexico, which is the same time zone as Denver and is a short 1.5 hour plane ride back to the states. I live in a city with many foreigners, especially retirees from the USA and Canada. I can buy peanut butter, quinoa, and feta cheese at my local supermarket. I can buy pumpkin pie and candy corn for the holidays. I have NBC, CBS and ABC on my TV. Yet, I do still live in Mexico and all the wonderfulness that comes with that. Food, language, culture. I met a Karen and her husband Don (two retirees from the West Coast) at a dinner one evening. They are living in a tiny coastal town, La Ventana about 45 minutes from my base in La Paz. It is also the kite boarding capital of the world due to daily warm thermal winds from November until April. I enlisted Karen to visit some schools with me and do some observations this last week. Her and Don picked me up in their camper and drove me to their home. It felt...

Day of the Dead ( Dias de los Muertos ) is celebrated in Mexico with great fervor. There are large parades in many cities, people paint their faces like skeletons and dress in special clothes. They  offer the deceased things they loved when they were alive, such as bread of the dead ( pan de muerto ), water, fruit, and liquor and cigarettes. The families celebrate the life of the deceased and share a special time with them through memories as they gather together to remember them.  Alters have at least three and up to seven levels. The offering on the altar offer all having meaning, cut paper( papel picado ) connects the living and the dead, salt purifies the souls and marigold flowers ( cempasuchil ) lead the dead home with their bright color and scent. A cross doesn't just represent religion, it also symbolizes north, south, east and west. This year a good friend and teacher invited me to decorate her classroom for the celebration. We worked all day helping to create th...