KERMESS

Kindness abound. On this religious day (this past Friday- to be honest, still not entirely sure the name of the actual holiday, there's so many around here this time of year I can't keep track of all the names), mines all over the state open their doors to the public, putting on a fantastic feast called a "kermess" for whoever shows up, totally free of charge.

Either the food was really amazing or I was overly-influenced by the ambience. Both probably. Tacos (nopales con camarones my favorite), chile rellenos, chile-covered mangos on a stick, piles and piles of fruit, eight flavors of ice cream, cocktail de camaron, tacos dorados topped with a fantastic salsa, elotes, and gallons and gallons of agua de sabores.

Reason enough to go was just to see the mine, a world in itself. We ate the shrimp cocktail sitting on the rail cars--shortly after some miners came to ride them down the track and into the mine- another day's work, after all. 60% of Guanajuatenses still work in the mining industry.

Memories work in strange ways. This day will stay with me forever- the drive through the hills to arrive at "Cubo", the tiny mining town, eating a tamarindo popsicle while sitting on a see-saw and chatting with RA waiting for the feast to begin, exploring the area while the mass finished, finding the only other Americans in attendance and realizing we were both UW-Madison grads, standing in long lines for food, but enjoying the process, since once you got through the first line, during the consecutive line you could eat the food from the previous, enjoying the ride back--feeling a satisfied exhaustion from having a Friday different than any other Friday I've ever experienced.

Every time I think I'm ready for the next phase of my life, I experience something like this which just makes me feel like I'm not done with Mexico yet. ?!?

So how much more time do I need? Will I ever be able to move on without some sad emotions (I highly doubt it).

So then I Wikipedia-ed this strange strange word, in hopes of some Internet wisdom, and this is the best they could do. Thanks Wikipedia.