Culebra Christmas Lighting ~ 2013

The Christmas Lighting here is one of those events I love. It's usually fairly local, in the lull between Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's Eve and Three King's Day. There might be a few tourists, like the girl who thought it would be funny to move Chiquitine's crab Popayo to another place from where he'd put it. She didn't really understand why I was insistent that that would be a very, very bad idea. 

Chiquitine's crab? Yes.

I had wandered down early because watching the set up is part of the evening for me. On the waterfront, Chiqui had this crab. I thought it was dead, because while I've seen a lot of land crabs before, including the one that came inside Chez Shack until I booted it out, I've never seen one this still. People were touching it, Chiqui was posing it. It had to be dead, right? Wrong.

While music started to play and kids started to gather, I headed back to the pizza place to have a seat. Of course it would be a late start, which was fine. There were people out I hadn't seen in quite awhile, everyone in a great mood, some dressed up in holiday finery. This isn't exactly the lighting of the tree in Rockefeller Square, but for us, it's an official kick off for the next month plus of holiday time.

Juan Juan getting the stage set up for tonight and especially New Year's Eve

One of my favorite decorations 

Little darlin'

And then, the crab and Chiqui reappeared. The crab wasn't dead, he explained, it was just pretty tranquil. He'd been purging it (this might be more information than you want about purging land crabs, but here you go) in a cage at home and decided it needed to come out for the evening. He pet it. He posed it. He posed us. He kept us laughing, a lot.

photo credit: Francie

I was keeping an eye on the crab. Sure it was tranquil, but it wasn't dead. ~ photo credit: Francie

He says in 4 days it will be ready for the pot. Or 2 days. Or 2 weeks. He was on a roll.

Finally, an hour late or so, I could hear the countdown going on in the plaza. My camera battery died. Of course it did. But the phone still worked. More or less. 3...2...1! Lights! Blow up figurines rose off the grass. Colors and ooohhh's and aaaah's. Well done!

Hello, Mr. Snowman. This will be as close to snow as we get.

PAZ lights. I love this.

Thus goes another night in Paradox, a good one, a happy one. I headed home as people were still heading in, my fun quota full. Carolyn promised me some pasteles. You can read a great article about the tradition of them and making of them here. Unlike lechon, which is showing up all year long now, pasteles are a tradition as associated with Christmas holidays as coquito is for me (and usually I get both of them from Carolyn; on a walkabout she'll appear, gifties in hand. I count that a lucky honor). Life is good.

The images below are from a few years ago. I forgot to get a photo of them tied up, which is part of the coolness of pasteles and also part of the very hard work of making them. Filling, banana leaf wrap, parchment paper wrap, string tied. I am now officially starving for pasteles and it isn't 8 o'clock yet. I recall that I did eat one of these for breakfast that year. I don't even eat breakfast. I'd do it again. Right now.

Have a morsely memorable Monday. Do something mythological.