Nativity Scenes

Nativity Scenes are a plenty in Mexico at this time of year, in hotel lobbies, in the town centres, in windows, in homes, in front of homes, in shopping centres... The displays come in all sizes. The question I have is how did the wise men travel to the Bethlehem? All the nativity scenes in Mexico that I have seen have the wise men arriving on an elephant, a horse and a camel! I wish everyone a Merry Christmas of comfort and joy!

Independence Day Celebrations, 2

In Playa del Carmen, there were 1000´s of people gathered in the town centre (el centro) for the celebrations, young and old alike. I am not good at taking night photos! There were lots of food carts, musical groups and dances The stage was across the street from the city hall in the picture. This is the balcony where the major calls for Viva Mexico cheers!

As part of the preparations, street vendor carts start appearing two weeks before Independence Day. Unfortunately, this photo does not show the striking colours of these carts that are pulled along the roads. Here two vendors take a rest. People buy flags, horns, drums and trinkets. The noise at the celebration shows such national pride. The flags wave high.

The police presence was felt all day on September 15th. The streets were closed off early in the morning and the police patrolled all blocked streets.

The evening ends with the mayor of Playa del Carmen coming out to cheer with the crowds at 11PM (Viva Mexico - see above). His speech is followed by fireworks. Each firework sent up, exploded white, then broke out into three parts, green, white and red (the Mexican flag´s colours). The fireworks were spectacular with the 1000´s of people clapping, blowing horns, beating drums and waving flags.

Under this ¨palapa¨is a tourist information booth. It is right beside the city hall.

Public School Neighborhoods, 2

This little girl cried for her mama for such a long time at the gates of a public kindergarten/primary school in Playa del Carmen. Over my thirty years of teaching, how many times have I heard this same September cry from Kindergarten students! To make matters worse, a few minutes later a little boy arrived and also clung to the bars as his mom turned and walked away. His mom and I shared a knowing smile of his love for her and how her son would settle down in a while.

How universal sand is! The diggers, the explorers, the searchers of gold! I hope Clarksdale children in Ontario, Canada are enjoying their sand pit as I post this blog! Here´s to you, Shelley, a true believer in Kindergarten sand and water tables.

A slightly, more confident Mexican student walks to his Kindergarten door. Is that a Curious George backpack? Cute uniform, eh?

A little girl joins the boys at the sand hill! Thank goodness the bell has not rung yet!

Here is the primary school, behind a small police station. Can you see the horse in the lower right hand side of the photo? Marie, you get the close ups of the horse in your email!

Mexican Palapas!

I see many palapas each day! They come in various sizes, designs and serve different purposes. In an earlier post, I said that I would like to feature at least one palapa each time I post on my blog. I thought it would be fun to show you three palapas within one block of the apartment in Playa del Carmen. A palapa is usually an open sided dwelling with a thatched roof made of dried, woven palm leaves¨. They look like a roof or an umbrella and their original purpose was to provide shade and refuge from the hot sun!

The top picture shows a palapa awning for an apartment balcony. The middle picture shows a palapa on top of an apartment building one block from here. Since the buildings are flat roofed, they often have swimming pools, lounge chairs, grills and a sink for cooking. This particular building has a pool on the roof top and shade provided from the palapa.

This is the view from the apartment kitchen window! Can you believe it? As I wash the dishes, this is my view. Incredible, eh? Again, this palapa provides shade on the apartment rooftop for parties or BBQ´s.