HALLOWEEN!

I had been feeling a little disappointed about the lack of change in the seasons living here in a subtropical climate. As I am a lover of thick wool sweaters and anything made out of apples, autumn is my favorite season, especially in Michigan, and when I was informed by their Facebook profiles that a group of my friends was busy making delicious apple butter I became truly jealous. But it is getting cooler here in the mountains.

A few weeks ago, I woke up a little chilly and started using light blanket in addition to a top sheet on my bed. Also, initiating my environmental youth group, Brigada Verde, and planning the regional conference has kept me too busy to even notice what month it is.


Our Brigada Verde group had its first meeting a few weeks before Halloween and my muchachos were already ready to start planning the design of our new “poloches” – from the English words polo shirts, a term they use to describe polo and t shirts. The problem arose when they realized that we are brand new group and have no money to buy poloches. I suggested a fiesta to raise money - a Halloween fiesta – and they freaked out. Where I live everyone has family living in Nueva Yol – New York – and so they are familiar with the holiday but have never celebrated it. They were ecstatic about the idea. So we spent the next few weeks selling tickets and preparing.

There is an extremely few number of days of the year in this country where the sun does not shine in full force. But on the 30th of October in my campo it rained all night. We woke up on October 31st to a grey sky and a foggy mist in the valleys – perfect for Halloween! It was fairly cool the entire day, but the true miracles were that the sky never cleared up and at 8pm people from surrounding communities were lined up outside the door waiting to get in to our fiesta.

It was a great night, complete with a choreographed thriller routine and live tarantula. We had covered the venue completely with Spanish moss and it didn’t really matter if the electricity went out or not – which it always does – because only candle light led the partygoers from the bar to their tables to watch the spooky presentations.


My muchachos are phenomenal - they went out and caught a live tarantula before the party! We hung it where the people went to buy their drinks. The ghoul and I let it go at the end of the night.

Some of my ghouls waiting in their coffin for the people to walk in the door.

My mom sewed me a sleaved jacket out of material I found and I tied the remnants around my waist.

My brother had the winning costume with a wicked stake through his head, complete with strawberry flavored blood. I'd be a vampire too if it always tasted that good!

Don't ask me how they climb trees without branches... One of my muchachos in the pine tree throwing moss down for us to decorate.