Dia de Los Fleurs

This is the best holiday EVER! Today is Dia de las Flores, it starts Thursday night, the streets are filled and I mean FILLED with fresh flowers! People with tons of handmade, traditional toys for children line the streets everything from handmade sheeps, frogs, cows, mice every animal you can imagine to witches, princesses, angels, to huge paper flowers in every color you could ever imagine. Most popular are the brightly colored eggs filled with confetti that kids crack open over each others heads.

Then people stay up all night dancing, I’m not kidding you (I unfortunately have caught La Grippa - a cold so no partying for me, which has involved alot of odd things my host mother is making me take, gargle and sniff but thats another story) than at 6am everyone goes to the main garden and men walk in one direction women in the other. If a guy thinks you’re pretty he hands you a flower and you are suppose to exchange kiss on the cheek. (I did get a few flowers, my favorite, a yellow carnation from a 4-yr old boy but no kisses - I guess they could tell I had l had Grippa!). All the shops give out ice cream, fresh juices, pastries, cookies, and other tasty treats. And everywhere theaters, churches, houses are covered in flowers it’s a holiday specific solely to GTO.

Besides this holiday the city is in the middle of their 2 week book and culture fair. For 2 weeks there are free movies on the steps of the university, book fairs, lectures, dances tons of music and more. GTO seems to have a lot of holidays and festivals, there is a 2 week literature festival in October as well. Just on a normal every day non-festival basis, every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday are live music in the park, the symphony plays every Friday here and groups of young men are frequently dressed up playing traditional instruments walking through the city. And then you got countless mimes