¡Feliz Día de los Reyes Magos!

Maybe some of you saw the protest and roadblock in front of the mercado municipal last Friday when some comerciantes protested for their "right" to sell toys for Día de los Reyes Magos on the sidewalks of Avenida Benito Juárez in front of everyone else's stores, but miraculously and for the first time in memory the police acted to remove the 35 or 40 protesters and actually took them to jail where supposedly they paid a fine. But after all the hubbub they sort of got their way and were allowed to set up their wares (some look like they are set up PERMANENTLY) on Calle Cinco de Mayo where the road (that has never been used as a road) was recently rebuilt at great cost to the city (and thus political favors are paid back and wealth created for campaign contributors). So if you drive down Cinco de Mayo expect lots of traffic and little kids. Personally, as an established vendor, we hope you will buy any toys (no plastic guns or similar stuff) from established vendors in their stores since we see this type of "tianguis" as unfair competition. Besides the toys there appear to be plenty of merchandise that has nothing to do with kids (such as clothing for adults).

This is the day we traditionally give gifts to children, not on Christmas Day. We encourage folks to buy traditional handcrafted Mexican gifts, not toy guns, Chinese toxic plastic crap or electronic games.

We also have a tradition today of sharing a Rosca de Reyes with family and friends. The rosca can be bought at any local bakery, and it is often served with hot chocolate. Eat carefully because there is one or several baby Jesus figures inside, and whoever gets the baby Jesus has to treat the other family members and friends present to tamales and atole for Día de la Candelaria, another wonderful Mexican tradition.