Viva la Mexico!

I have come to the conclusion that overall, Mexicans are more patriotic than Americans. We just recently celebrated Mexico's Independence Day (Sept 16). The night before the actual day, in every town in Mexico, some official holds the "Cry of Dolores" and they shout, "Viva la Mexico!" or "Long live Mexico."

We decided that trying to keep track of 23 kids on crowded plaza streets was enough reason to plan our own Independence Day celebration. Some of the girls decorated the cafeteria and then we made a traditional Mexican supper for the kids. Afterwards, we went out to the volunteer dorms and had a bonfire and a campout. The kids had a great time and were FULL of energy. (Partly because as it was a holiday, we did very little to limit their food/sugar consumption.) We sang, the impatient kids burned marshmallows to a crisp in attempt to "roast them," the kids found two old mattresses which they used to perform acrobatics, and we all stayed up too late. It was a great time.