viva piñata

Not having a piñata here in good 'ole México is like nixing the cake and candles at a birthday party. You just don't do it. But I get it. It's some kind of rush to see a little kid hack off a piece of that papier-mâché. I wish I'd snapped a pic of the life-size Tinkerbell my kids accosted at last Friday's birthday party. Something about seeing her dismembered... minutely disturbing and disturbingly thrilling. I'm noticing the Mexican kids like to keep their candy in the hacked off limbs. It seems so wrong on so many levels.

Saturday, we attended another birthday party for a kid in B's class, about 2 hours away in Valle de Bravo at this cozy little ranch. When I say cozy, I really mean six bedrooms and six bathrooms.


And straight up Mexican. Loved it. The ranch was teeming with animal life, which was a sort of awesome heaven for L who feels at one with all creatures great and small. He was especially at home in the bunny hatch until one little bunny scratched his leg and he decided the bunnies were out to get him.



The boys spent 95 percent of their time riding these docile, pony-like horses around the ranch and affectionately patting their necks and behinds in little cowboy-like gestures. Most of the time without an adult guiding the horse. Liability issues don't seem to be issues here. Kinda goes along with the whole "red lights are optional" thing. Maybe I should've cared, but I must be acclimating.



Where Bruce is, M is.


But back to the piñata, the real highlight here. There must have been 10 kilos of candy in this thing.


Here are a few videos of B and L going at it. The song they're singing is the song always sung during someone's turn at the piñata. Take note of the birthday boy running in halfway to grab T. Rex's foot - another limb to hold his stash.





This kid is my new piñata hero. Showed everyone how it's done. Plus, his name is Marcelo. Almost as cool as the name Máximo, another kid in B's class. If I ever had another boy, I'd be all over these Spanish names. But I'll save my rave for another post. Back to the video... and Mexicans wonder why violence is such an issue here.



Recap of the day. B's wasted and L's on a sugar high. You'll notice L communicates at one decibel and one decibel only. We think he was born with some kind of birth defect in his vocal chords that inhibits his ability to whisper. Shushing is futile.