2 Pesos - Posadas, etc....

Well, one of you did write me re: a topic and I PROMISE to get to it because it's a good one ... but this time of year my head is full of three things - upcoming weddings, maracas AND CHRISTMAS! I Love Love Love Love (did I say "Love"?!) Christmas. And Vallarta, IMHO, is THE place to be at Christmas time. I already told you about the Virgin de Guadalupe (which we just finished - I went downtown 3 times to eat my fill of tamales and atole - yum yum!!). So, now I wanted to tell you about Posadas!

Technically, the Posada is a Catholic tradition here in Mexico and Latin America. I participated in a traditional one when I lived in Mexico City. So, what the Posada is suppose to be is a representation of the troubles the biblical Mary and Joseph had in finding an inn - children go from house to house asking for lodging and being refused until they get to the house where the party is. There's a bunch of recitation that goes back and forth and, then, finally they let the kids in, they swing at a pinata and everyone eats tamales and "punche" (some sort of fruit punch with a wee bit of "spike" to it). If you want the whole lowdown, this has a great breakdown of the story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Posadas.

In Vallarta, however, Posada, for the most part, stands for "Christmas Party." I know North Americans have somewhat of a tradition of returning to the family for Christmas but here it's taken super seriously. So, in order to celebrate with your friends and co-workers there is the Posada! Starting from Dec 12th onward Vallarta is a crazy, crazy whirlwind of Posadas and Christmas Cocktails. Just this week alone we've been invited to 4!! Anyway, because of that, it's hard to find anybody to do anything - everyone is in a festive, merry spirit and most of the coordinators will tell you that business pretty much comes to a halt until after Jan 2nd.

I thought I would just share with you some of the photos of the street decor I saw while out and about (which I took just for you, btw!) as well as the Santa set-up in our one and only "mall", Liverpool.

If you were here, I would be making you cookies like I will be doing this weekend - here's a photo to show you up what my kitchen will look like this weekend!

I AM working on the regular blog - just so much to do! But I will get it up tonight or tomorrow, I promise!! Again, any questions re: weddings, wedding decor, etiquette, Puerto Vallarta, etc. just send me an email with "2 pesos" in the subject line and I promise to get to it! amishkadesigns@yahoo.com.