Posada!

In the past two months I’ve spend exactly one weekend at the base. The rest have been on rigs. This last weekend however, I got lucky and hit the jackpot. You see, it turns out it is actually December. Which means it’s almost Christmas. Which means Christmas parties. Which in Mexico means Posadas.

A traditional Mexican posada happens in the 9 days before Christmas. Basically it’s a party between close neighbors and family. Every night you go to a 3 different houses and ask for ‘posada’ by singing a song, representing Mary and Joseph trying to find someplace to say in Bethlehem. All the houses turn them down (and join in the search) except for the one designated for the party. The party house lets everyone in.  You eat and hang out. Usually there’s a piñata either in the shape of a seven pointed star (for the seven deadly sins) or the devil so you can take turns beating the crap out of sin/the devil.  Repeat for the 9 days before Christmas, each night with the party at a different house.

Friday night was the party for just my department, Drilling and Measurements. It was not a posada. It was pretty much like any other party at the staff house. Except this time we had a taco cart, a DJ and karaoke. Usually we just buy a lot of beer, someone grills something and someone puts an iPod in some speakers. Anyone familiar with drilling personal when they’re not working can imagine how it was. Someone got drunk and threw chairs in the pool.  My superiors made fun of me. My coworkers taught me new swear words in Spanish. I practiced my new vocabulary on my superiors. Who then made fun of me some more and made me sing whenever a song came on in English. I made it until 7 am and went to bed.

Saturday night was kind of a posada. It was for all of Schlumberger in Villahermosa. It was formal so we all had to dress up (which meant dress shopping). They served alcohol (it is an oil company). And there were probably over 500 people there (apparently we’re a very large oil company). We had dinner, which was nothing special except for a crème of apple soup with cheese and toasted almonds (sounds strange, tastes delicious) We danced (a lot). We stayed up late (amazingly since most of the people I was there with had been up drinking until 7 am the night before). My superiors made fun of me (but my coworkers ran out of responses for me) There were prizes. My friend won a set of suitcases.

The posada part of the night involved lighting candles and singing the song during which Mary and Joseph (or Maria y José) ask for posada. Other than that, it was not a very traditional posada, but it was fun! You can see more pictures of the madness on my Picasa page.

So there you go, that’s probably going to be most of my Christmas celebrations here in Mexico. I’m at a rig now and we’re just getting started so I’m counting on spending my Christmas right here!