Quinceañera (Sweet 16 Party)

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living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Last night I attended an ex-neighbor's (Juan and Luisa) daughter's quinceañera or sweet sixteen party. Here it takes place when the girl is 15. Norma invited about 200 guests and the event took place at Cerveceria, the big brewery here in Monterrey. They have facilities for employees such as a sports facility, classrooms for dance, handy crafts, cooking classes, etc. These are provided for the employees who work in the brewery. This salon can be rented out to employees for nominal fee and another neighbor, Javier, works there and was able to get the place for them. As you can see by the pictures, it was quite an event. Juan works as a supervisor for the Metro subway line and Luisa works as an assistant in an office. All the old neighborhood came and we decided to have a get together here at the house this summer.

There was a show, dinner and a dance.Norma and her dad!Wow, some fancy cake. I wonder what her wedding will be like. Stopped by the Police

That's right, stopped by the cops on the way home. As we passed through downtown, there was an "anti-alcoholica" which stops all drivers and tests for alcohol levels. The process is easy, they ask you how much you have to drink, you blow into a detector and if it registers you need to pull over, show license and registration and take a test. Our driver had a .017 reading and had to take a test. The test is similar to the initial test in the car. First you give your vitals, they read you the procedure for testing. The driver walked away with aliento alcolico, slight alcohol on his breath. After the procedure you fill out a survey asking how you were treated by the police and the test center. People from Human Rights are there as well as a citizen's group to make sure there is no funny business. The system works great. We appreciate their efforts to help keep the streets safe from drunk drivers.

On a sad note, Don Eugenio Garza Laguera passed away yesterday. He was an important business man who was responsible for the growth of Monterrey including Cerveceria and he helped to expand and promote the Tecnologico de Monterrey University to 32 campuses throughout Mexico and Latin America. His funeral will be held today here in the city.