One year living in Mexico was definitely not what I was expecting it to be. But at the same time I didn't know what to expect living in a country I've never been to where I don't speak the language. What I've discovered in that year is that there is a something very spiritual here that speaks to me. It goes far beyond the fact that this is the country where my dad was born. This is the land of my ancestors and on some level I feel that within me. I'm in a place that I don't know, but it knows me. It's been a good year over all, but not without its challenges. I cried a few times and wanted to want to go back, but at the same time I know I'm not ready to leave. Learning the culture and traditions has been amazing. I will admit that I hate that the majority of the traditions have been altered by religious colonization. But I love seeing how the traditions bring people together. We've made a few solid friends and I'm super grateful for that. Playa Listo is still finding its wings, but I see the potential and know it can be very successful. 

December 28th, Dia de los Inocentes is an insane thing to become a holiday. No matter how you spin it, it's crazy that they turned this day into a holiday. Like seriously, a day that hundreds of innocent babies were murdered is now seen as a day for practical jokes? What the actual fuck. - Nolan(also I hate using pictures that aren't my own, but I didn't get any pictures of practical jokes or babies being murdered so historical pics off google it is.)Dia de los Inocentes stems from Día de los Santos Inocentes, meaning Holy Innocents’ Day. This Catholic festival, which has been marked in the church’s religious calendar since at least 485 AD, is a commemoration of one of the darkest events recorded in the bible; the murder of innocent children on the orders of King Herod. The book of Matthew tells of Herod’s barbarous command that all babies under the age of two in the Judean town of Bethlehem were put to death. This was prompted by a perceived threat posed to his rule by the prophesied rise of a King of the Jews. Herod had been alerted to the likely presence of this king in Bethlehem by the visits of the three magi to the newborn Jesus.So now the question is how did a day of murdering babies turn into a day for practical jokes? The term inocente can, as with innocence in English, be used to either suggest a state of being spiritually innocent or of naivety. This double meaning results in the link that those who easily fall for the practical jokes and tricks of the day are themselves innocents. And so somehow Día de los Santos Inocentes was begun.

Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) is a big deal out here. It's pretty much the main event of the Christmas holiday season. The baby Jesus finally makes his big appearance in the nativity scenes, Las Posadas comes to a close, gifts are exchanged, and if you didn't already party during Las Posadas you are likely getting together with friends and family on Noche Buena. 

A few late posts here but I really wanted to get them in before we get too far into the new year. This was our first Christmas season in Mexico and it was incredible to say the least. The cultures and traditions in Mexico are all month long including some of January. Just seeing these traditions being practiced is an experience itself. We didn't participate in a lot of it this year because we have been busy with the store and the immigration process, but hopefully we can be a part of more next year. This post is pretty much a copy/paste from what I shared on our business page, but I wanted it documented in our blog as well.  -NolanLas Posadas starts Dec 16th and runs through Dec 24th. Every night Mexico celebrates nine nights of Las Posadas. Each night of a traditional Posada contains the following customs:

We are the new store on the block here in the  5 de Diciembre neighborhood so naturally we wanted to put on our best face to introduce ourselves to the neighborhood. After a few hours of googling and checking out the local artists we decided to go with Misael Ivan Lopez, a very well known local graffiti artist. I've yet to see something of his I don't like, so really it was an easy choice. If you have a minute you should google him and check out his other work, I promise you it's worth your time. So anyhoo Misael loved the idea of skeles on the beach and accepted the job. We are thrilled with the final result and are hoping to have Misael back to do the inside of the store in the future after we start making some money. He was thinking it would be cool to continue the beach scene from the door on into the store with more fun things happening. And I'm thinking somewhere in the middle of that scene it would be great to have a naked skeleton streaking running through the scene. So many possibilities, I can't wait. - Nolan

This post is a lil late, but I didn't wanna let this holiday slip by without sharing a few thoughts, especially since this is our first year in Mexico celebrating Dia de Los Muertos.