I’m dying to write about the Day of the Dead festivities in Oaxaca (posts coming in a week or so) but first I think it’s important to mention this wonderful festival close to Puebla. It was almost two months ago, which shows how up-to-date my blog is! I’ll try and let the pictures speak for themselves. I usually don’t, since I don’t take very good pictures (and these are no exception; I took my camera only to discover the battery was dead, these excellent photos are courtesy of my friend Oscar Hernández). The festivals in Huamantla were two months ago, which shows you how up-to-date my blog is!

However, they were definitely worth reporting on. Huamantla is a small city about an hour from Puebla in the neighbouring state of Tlaxcala, and every year in August they have “The Night Where No One Sleeps.” I was told in advance that “they decorate the streets with flowers,” and had vague ideas of garlands of flowers hanging from balconies and lamp-posts.

However, they actually decorate the streets, with coloured sawdust sifted painstakingly through wooden boxes onto pre-laid stencils, flowers, and glitter. The final result is beautiful, complex and immaculate patterned carpets on the streets themselves that take hours to create. I was livid that my camera was dead….

It was chilly that night, and the enormous crowds, tacky saxophone cover bands playing “My Way” and the endless wait for the fireworks finally drove us away before the parade dedicated to the virgin was slated to make its way down the street, destroying the flower carpets in the process. I’m glad really. Although it’s a religious festival, I felt I didn’t want any religion destroying the colourful, faintly gleaming atmosphere of the “Pueblo Mágico” on a cool summer’s night.