1. Dad-the-bad doesn't answer his phone when I need him.
2. I sometimes I
think I need him when I really don't.
3. Actually, I'm quite capable of calling the insurance company, reporting my accident and directing the insurance evaluator to the accident site.
4. I am also capable of writing an accident report - although my written Spanish is around 3rd grade level, but they don't seem to mind.
5. If you enter the wrong shopping mall parking, realize your mistake then continue out the other side, you still have to pay for parking, even if you never left the ramp (at least here in Mexico.)
6. If you don't know that, your ticket won't open the gate. Then you have to leave your car on the ramp, blocking all out-going cars, walk all the way down the ramp two floors where you can pay for your ticket, then walk all the way back up with people yelling at you, then put your ticket in the machine to open the gate (OR crash through the gate with your car. However, since I had already called the insurance company
once that morning, I chose the former.)
7. Swearing at the machine is futile.
8. Rolling down the window and yelling to surrounding pedestrians that you will
NEVER EVER patronize said shopping mall again, however, is quite therapeutic.
It's been one of those days.
Probably the most popular image of the day is the Catrina skeleton, created by artist José Guadalupe Posada. He created her as a metaphoric representation of the upper class - kind of making fun of them. Although many enjoy a sense of "entitlement," they - like the lower class - cannot escape death. 
She is so popular, in fact, that in one city they painted this street in her image.
You usually start seeing pan de muerte in October. It is decorated on top with two crossbones (los huesitos de la muerte or bones of death.) Mexicans think it's "riquisimo," however, I haven't developed a taste for it.
These paper cut-outs are ubiquitous during Dia de Muerte.
and people make altars to their deceased loved ones - decorating them with flowers, their favorite food, and remembrances. It is a day where they forget the abyss that separates the dead from the living. They also decorate the graves with the same purple and orange flowers (la flor del zempazúchitl) and treats. According to custom, the deceased return to their gravesite (or altar) that day. It is important to have plenty of their favorite beverage ready (usually beer) to quench their thirst after the long journey.
Pretty cool tradition! 
Apparently, he is allowed to ride around on a pink tricycle wearing pink sunglasses (at least when grandma is babysitting - oops!)
and curtains - (as you can see they are from the same "fabric") - actually, a shower curtain the previous tenants left in their apartment
her sense of adventure (even after falling off a cliff, she's still willing to climb trees and swing off ropes)
I love you, Fernash!!
