I am currently showered and refreshed after a crazy few days in Todos Santos for Day of the Dead. We are spending the night in Xela and then off tomorrow to begin our journey towards the Bay Islands in Honduras to learn how to dive!
Back to Todos Santos...
Todos Santos is known to have the wildest and craziest Day of the Dead celebration and in my humble opinion most eccentric as well. Many people in the community save money all year in order to be able to participate in the celebrations which include ellaborate costumes, drunken horse races and singing and dancing in the colorful cemetary. Oh, there also are chicken sacrifices (for good luck of course), a slightly dangerous but very fun ferris wheel, and of course lots of delicious street food up for grabs!
Throughut the year no alcohol is sold in Todos Santos (it is a traditional rural Mayan community) and community members for the most part do not drink-- with the exception of this glorious fiesta where they drink in extreme amounts. The men of the town get incredibly drunk and spend the 3 days of the fiesta stumbling around throughout the town, dancing and singing, getting into fights (and often getting thrown into the very public jail which we visited), racing horses and of course often passing out on the side of the road, in the road, on a store stoop or for the most drunk in the middle of a crowd.
After each lap of the horse race the participants need to drink and very quickly the race becomes quite sloppy, especially considering the participants have been drinking since the night before to prepare. Riders fall off their horses, fall asleep on their horses and occasionally (rumor has it they make the horses drink too) the horses take a little spill as well. The races go on all day and locals and tourists a like stand in the sidelines taking in the sights, sounds and spills of this drunken race.
Another highlight from our time in Todos Santos includes a Mayan ritual ceremony we attended to bless the men and their horses... It was extremely interesting and awesome to be a part of. My favorite part was when the shaman leading the ritual spit rum in my face (it wasn't personal-- I just had really too good of a seat)... I think I am going to have really good luck from now on! I feel blessed.
Day of the Dead in Todos Santos was an experience never to forget... drunken horse racing and all!
From horseracing to diving-- stay tuned for our Honduras adventures!
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