Three-Day Weekend

Today is a national holiday in Mexico.  Revolution Day commemorates the beginning of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 which toppled the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz and changed the nation forever.  The revolution actually began on November 20th, but the observance of the holiday was changed to the third Monday of November in 2006, giving Mexicans a three-day weekend.

However, I think it would be safe to say that this weekend many Mexicans are thinking more about shopping than about the nation's history.  This weekend is the "Buen Fin", Mexico's equivalent of Black Friday in the U.S. and the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

"The cheapest weekend of the year"

For the last fifteen years, thousands of businesses throughout Mexico, have used this weekend as a time to offer sales and promotions to bring out shoppers in droves.

Did we brave the crowds and join in the shopping frenzy?  Yes, on yesterday Alejandro and I took the Metrobus from the family house and went to the nearest mall, Parque Tepeyac.

The mall was very busy, but not as insanely crazy as Black Friday in the U.S.  (There were no fist fights over merchandise!)

And, of course, the mall was decorated for Christmas.

However, we were not at the mall to buy Christmas gifts.  For some time I have been thinking about buying a new mattress for the apartment.  The bed in the guest bedroom is extremely low, and I figured if we put another mattress on top, it would be a normal height.  We figured that this would be a good time to buy one for a good price.  We went to four different mattress stores, a furniture store, and to Sears, and tested out the mattresses at all of the places.  The mattress that we both agreed upon was a Spring Air at the Atlas mattress store.

 As a part of their "Buen Fin" promotions, the price of the double mattress was reduced to the price of a single.  It will be delivered on Friday.  So, our "Buen Fin" mission was accomplished.