Mexican barbeque on our patio

Can you pick out the gringo in the picture? Last weekend the folks that keep this beautiful place that we live in while in Mexico maintained, in all ways, threw us a welcome back party. As is customary, whole extended families were there, many that we knew and many we did not. We were introduced to most and struggled with how to describe the relationships, beyond hija (daughter) and hijo (son) and grandaughter/grandson (nieta/nieto).The terms for stepchildren or "in-laws" seemed especially difficult to transfer. Cooking began at about 3:30 and continued for hours, as did the Cervesa and Tequila drinking. They filled a whole table with side dishes, including Nopales in a wonderful salad. Nopales are the flat cactus "paddles" that are hard to find outside of Mexico but commonly found on Mexican tables. I was surprised to find they tasted much like lightly steamed green beans, slivered in the salad with sweet red peppers and white onions and probably some limon (lime) juice. There was also a salad with jicama, cucumber, pina (pineapple) and ? Also very fresh and healthy. The grilling started with small, sweet onions, then Chorizo, Carne Asada, and a stack of thin steaks. In addition were the usual sides: mountains of rice steamed in stock, warm tortillas, soft Mexican cheese, homemade salsa and frijoles. We had several bilingual attendees which allowed the conversation to flow between us all with few snags. After hours of eating, a couple of the guys insisted that they go pick some corn to grill for those that were still there. Some of us groaned - no room! - but No was not an option. All in all, a great evening due to our gracious hosts who also cleaned up nearly everything so that I had little to follow up on the next day!

Saturday, Oct 26 unofficially begins the extended celebration of Dias de los Muertos. I will post details on some of the events later as it will run through the first couple of days of Nov. What has become one of my favorite parts of this holiday is the local participation in the "Thrill the World" event that will happen at the plaza on Oct 26 in Ajijic (and in locations all of the world.) For a look at last year's performance go to You Tube at http://youtube/QvJ4mbyEIHc. If this copied address doesn't work, look for "Ajijic Zombies 2013 - Thrill the World" there. 

Below are pictures of my two favorite "catrinas" on display at the Ajijic plaza