behold the tomb

The Mexican Easter ritual has begun.

Mexicans, who live in the central highlands, have been streaming to the beach.  And, why not?  This is a perfect time of the year to enjoy the warmth of the ocean and sand. 

It is Goldilocks weather.  Not too hot.  Not too cold.

On Friday, the church in San Patricio will be filled with visiting and local families celebrating Good Friday.  For a lot of them, the starting gun for semana santa will sound.

I stopped at my laundress yesterday.  She usually has my clothes ready for me before the end of the day.  With the coming crowds, I was concerned my laundry might be delayed. 

I asked her if she had been busy yet?  "No," she said, looking noticeably dejected.  "Maybe on Friday."

She was surprised when I told her the highway is packed with cars, and that I could not find a place to park in San Patricio for breakfast.

Cars are a change.  More and more middle class Mexicans are arriving in town with their families in SUVS and sedans, rather than on buses.

Perhaps, that explains the warning sign at the top of this piece.  The road is the main street from the highway into Villa Obregon.  During the next week, it will be filed with all sorts of traffic.

What looks as is if some congregants celebrating Palm Sunday may have discarded their religious paraphernalia in the middle of the street is something quite different.

From time to time, our sewer covers disappear.  When commodity prices were high, most of our metal covers went missing.  We rely mainly on concrete covers these days -- but they crumble or are blown off and washed away when the sewers flood.

For whatever reason, the cover at this intersection is gone.  The neighbors warn unwary drivers of the situation by sticking palm fronds in the hole.  I have seen buses break axles on these things -- the holes, not the fronds.

The simple solution would be a new cover.  When the metal cover was stolen near my first rental in 2009, it sat as a trap for over a year -- on an unlit corner.

But that is what makes driving or waking or bicycling a true challenge in the dark hereabouts.

Easter centers on the discovery of an empty tomb -- a type of hole.  Maybe this is just another Mexican religious symbol.