welcome to ebitda travel my name is jenny and kevin's behind the camera today we're
going to be showing you around aguascalientes for their annual festival cultural de las calaberas
is a big deal as it is in most of mexico each year since 1994 the festival culturally calaberas
is one of the most important events for the state of aguascaliente it was cancelled in
2020 due to the pandemic and in 2021 it is said that it was smaller than in past years boasting
only around 200 events as opposed to the almost 300. this five-day festival is a huge celebration
filled with color joy sadness nostalgia love and family we learn so much more about the day
of the dead here than we have any any time ever it's history the customs the symbolism
we didn't grow up making altars for day of the dead in our families and our parents
didn't really have that upbringing either they were raised more catholic than anything
but as we continue our journey in strengthening our connection to our mexican heritage
it's a tradition that we've embraced since it's one of the most emblematic examples
of the blending of european and native mexico american cultures we chose to spend our first
dia de muertos in aguascalentes because of two museums that were key for learning about
the history of the celebration one of them is the museo de jose guadalupe and the other is the museo
nacional de la muerte we're really hoping to be able to go inside the national museum of death but
unfortunately it's closed for renovations until may 2022. so we headed to the museo jose guadalupe
so we need to apologize we came to the museum and they're closed on monday and tuesday
so we failed you guys big time we're not going to be able to include actual footage from the jose
museum in our vlog like we really wanted to we would have gone last week but i've been sick with
some weird stomach things going on like bedridden sick toilet over okay that's too much info
and i blew out my back so i can barely walk walking around like an old man like broken yeah
we're not having a good time right now i mean we are but our bodies are
not having the best um so enjoy these pictures from the internet we still plan to make it
out to the museo of jose guadalupe so make sure to follow us on facebook and instagram
one of the funnest parts of the celebration is painting your face with a calavera
we got our faces done by makeup artist isabel avila at estetica raquel lots of people get
their faces painted for the holiday as a lighthearted expression of death but it is
also said that it helps our dearly departed feel welcome as they visit us in the land of the living
the festival was spread out with paviones filled with live music food and activities the pavillon
de pan de muerto was in the kids section and sold freshly made traditional sweet bread and
gave the kids a free piece for attending their workshop other activities included
skull painting and artwork this was a really fun event if i was the kid i would want to be here
so let's give you all a tour of what this festival looks like there's so much going on
so you have a stage you have plenty of food sections you have an event that's going on
or basically alters that come to life so there are actors dressed up and representative alters
there's a huge line and it's free but they ran out of the free tickets within like two days of
giving them out so that's our biggest tip we've been here two weeks in advance we snoozed hard
so thank goodness that kevin went up and asked what all these lines were for i just assumed that
the lines were for the people who had tickets waiting to get in and one of those lines were
but it turns out that there's a second line of people who can wait to see if there's extra space
so if there if all the people with tickets didn't show up and if there's space there's
a capacity of 180 people today then maybe we could get in so now we're standing in line
full of hope let's see if we can get in we were able to get in in the very last show
that was not what i expected but that was really cool super cool it's all about uh
the theater and film of mexico is that like a theme are there themes every year
for the festival that's something i'm wondering because this year's theme seems to be light camera
action and it's about mexican cinema and mexico's golden age and the important figures that have
shaped mexico's cinematic culture so we got lucky i'm impressed by how big and well done this event
is and how much of it is absolutely free for everyone there are a few things that are paid
but even then they're really accessible 100 pesos 120 pesos for tickets for especially for a theater
event like it's really really good it's such a well done event this is day one of the two
most important days for the ala muertos and also day four of this festival right yep so
the festival started on october 29th and it's been non-stop partying eating uh little kids get
to make their bread so many colors there's like workshops there's so many things there's theater
there's dances there's so full of cultural events it's been so cool to be able to see
a festival kind of it's not like you're it's been a long time it's been a long time since we've
seen a festival and it feels good to to kind of be able to get back in the groove after the pandemic
uh it's not as big like an edm festival but it's really cool because it's cultural it's for
families everybody's having a good time and at the end of the day you have a huge stage to our left
oh huge stage that's where they have the biggest concert they had a
guy or group named kaloncho which after listening to him i think i'm officially a fan
is
but they have music they have stages all over the centro area and we were told that this is smaller
than in past years because of the pandemic i already think it's huge i can't imagine how
much bigger it actually is yeah apparently when there's no pandemic it extends out to an island
that they have here la isla san marcos which we haven't even gotten the chance to visit because
there's just so much going on here but man this is this is huge one thing that we're like reflecting
on is that as mexican americans we're happy that we get an opportunity to celebrate both
halloween and dia de muertos in one whole weekend obviously the other muertos is bigger it's the
bigger tradition but all weekend we've seen people dressed up in like halloween costumes
and yesterday we even start trick-or-treating which is super cool like as halloween is
expanding in mexico you get to experience a little bit of halloween and then get to enjoy
this whole festivity cultural festivity of via de muertos which is it's so special and it's
awesome and what's cool is that we're noticing that in the us the dia de muertos
is gaining mainstream popularity um i hope that they take good care of the tradition
um because i also have witnessed that it's also being commercialized more as long as
it's being done with respect i think it's really great that both the us and mexico are sharing
these traditions with each other as we see more halloween here and where the other one goes there
that makes me feel good because i can i can identify with that you know it's both best of both
worlds there are a whole lot of festival snacks you can enjoy while you're around here but one of
the things that you can't miss out on when you're here is the hikaleta the hikaleta is a paleta and
they dip it in tamoy and chili powder and it's like the pretty much the only thing i can eat
right now because i have a stomach issue going on and hikamai is really good in fiber it's 90 water
lots of vitamins it's like both healthy and it's such a treat i usually go to this spot right here
the cincaletta spot but i think today i'm gonna give some business to the local street vendor
delicious and healthy went up the main area for the plaza principal and we're heading into jardin
san marcos for the other part of the festival it's huge it's a completely different party so let's go
it's a beautiful garden too even at night look
in the neighborhood of san marcos we saw this beautiful altar that india cerveza put up to
sell micheladas we didn't last very long in san marcos because jenny picked a fight again
she was tempted to push him because he seemed so easy to topple over
kidding jenny just liked the play fight and then hug it out after
so we're anxiously waiting for the parade here at the muertos and it is jam-packed i want to make
sure you get here at least an hour to no two hours early in order to be able to get a good spot we
were here just over an hour early and we're still not at the best front row if you haven't seen our
part one for dia de muertos and aguascalientes we highly recommend it for the full background
on the history of both the tradition the muertos and the origin story of la catrina so check that
one out for sure it's really good if you haven't seen it already and we made that one with lots
of love and if you make it to the end you're in for a special treat at least from us personally
i'm losing teeth sorry baby i still love you without teeth
just like i love you with fake teeth i love you with fake eyelashes
i should turn this off
the parade started with a marching band and then showcased art and talent from aguascalientes and
beyond in the theme of the festival lights camera action the theme is a nod to mexico's golden age
of cinema from 1936 to 1956 and the floats included distinguished actors from that time
mm-hmm
uh
aguascalientes is proud to be the one who started the evening parade
and other states have since adopted this aspect to their own celebrations
huh
the festival ended with a beautiful light show with video mapping on the palacio de goliano
it was truly spectacular
oh
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we look forward to spending el dia de muertos somewhere else next year not because we didn't
like our huascalis just because we want to learn about different cultures and different traditions
that they do in different places in different states in mexico i've heard so many good things
about hanitio and michoacan i've heard great things about oaxaca let us know if you've spent
via muertos somewhere in mexico if you've heard of an amazing place drop your suggestions down
below so we can keep them for next year want to give a special shout out to our patrons
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