Nov 1 is Dia de los Muertes or All Saints Day which is a celebration for those who have passed away. Many communities have kite festivals where some attach to the kites the picture of a loved one who has passed away in order to release the soul. We traveled to Sumpango Sac for one of the largest kite festivals.
We drove about two and a half hours to Sumpango. We had eight of us along with some MF staff, Erin, Laura and Samuel to look after us. Dave and Jay were not with us since they spent the day visiting more families that Dave has been involved in making life better. We also had Eric, one of MF's drivers, who road in another vehicle, with us and he was our "bouncer" protection since these are very large crowds and many pick pockets are there.
Once we found a parking place that both vehicles could be close to one another we walked up a steep hill through masses of humanity to view the kites. Our driver stayed with the vehicles to guard them.
Somehow there is always one in the the group you can count on for a little comic relief and usually it is a SWA flight attendant. We do like to enjoy ourselves.
Some of the kites are so massive they would not ever get off the ground unless there was a hurricane!! The frames are made out of sticks or bamboo poles for the larger ones and covered in colorful tissue paper. Very intricate designs using only tissue paper. They are amazing.
They were each assigned a category of which I haven't a clue about. It was just amazing to look at them. We wandered around viewing and photographing them and then returned to the van for our fabulous picnic that once again the fabulous Mathilda prepared for us.
Then back to the festival to watch them start to raise the semi large kites into the air. I think they were judged by how long they could keep them in the air. With such a hugh crowd they didn't have much running room but some of them got up and stay there for a good bit.
Some started up and came right back down. The crowd would cheer as they started up and then a hugh sigh as they came down.
We retuned to Pana and everyone including Dave and Jay came to my place to eat left overs since I still had so much from the party and picnic. It was a fun day.
We drove about two and a half hours to Sumpango. We had eight of us along with some MF staff, Erin, Laura and Samuel to look after us. Dave and Jay were not with us since they spent the day visiting more families that Dave has been involved in making life better. We also had Eric, one of MF's drivers, who road in another vehicle, with us and he was our "bouncer" protection since these are very large crowds and many pick pockets are there.
Once we found a parking place that both vehicles could be close to one another we walked up a steep hill through masses of humanity to view the kites. Our driver stayed with the vehicles to guard them.
Somehow there is always one in the the group you can count on for a little comic relief and usually it is a SWA flight attendant. We do like to enjoy ourselves.
Some of the kites are so massive they would not ever get off the ground unless there was a hurricane!! The frames are made out of sticks or bamboo poles for the larger ones and covered in colorful tissue paper. Very intricate designs using only tissue paper. They are amazing.
They were each assigned a category of which I haven't a clue about. It was just amazing to look at them. We wandered around viewing and photographing them and then returned to the van for our fabulous picnic that once again the fabulous Mathilda prepared for us.
Then back to the festival to watch them start to raise the semi large kites into the air. I think they were judged by how long they could keep them in the air. With such a hugh crowd they didn't have much running room but some of them got up and stay there for a good bit. 
Some started up and came right back down. The crowd would cheer as they started up and then a hugh sigh as they came down.
We retuned to Pana and everyone including Dave and Jay came to my place to eat left overs since I still had so much from the party and picnic. It was a fun day.
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