It’s May 5th!!  Otherwise known as Cinco de Mayo!!  After working in the morning, Jeff, Martin (in his pouch), and I headed over to Darcy and John’s house in the afternoon for a fiesta and some fun!  Darcy and John live in a secured community in town.   It’s easy for us to drive to and we can park next to her house or in the small lot across the street.

Darcy is part of the brunch crew and a total plant lady.  She is quickly becoming a VIP in Martin’s eyes.  He does love his garden peeps!  Bonnie and David were already there when we arrived.  Martin is learning about swimming from Bonnie.  He feels water is “too splashy” but since he lives by the ocean, he has started developing an affinity for turtles, he wants to become more comfortable.

Halfway between fiesta drinks and dinner, Martin FINALLY emerged from his pouch!  The pouch was sitting on table near a vase of colorful flowers.  There was a loud trill and the pouch fell over!  Martin unceremoniously climbed out.  He had morphed!!!  He’s still the same height but his horns are now gold and his crown spike is slightly larger.  His foot pads are slightly golden and his tummy has a golden sheen.  The inside of his wings are soft, like suede, and are golden in color.   We were all so excited to see him and so happy for him for all of his changes!  We took plenty of photos with Martin sitting with all the delicious food!

Martin didn’t know about Cinco de Mayo (strange, since his favorite food is tacos…..).  We explained Cinco de Mayo is a holiday celebrating Mexico’s victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.  On May 9, 1862, President Juárez declared that the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla would be a national holiday regarded as “Battle of Puebla Day” or “Battle of Cinco de Mayo”.  It is NOT Independence Day for Mexico and is not widely celebrated in Mexico.  As Americans’ living in Mexico, we decided we should go ahead a celebrate!  We celebrated with food, friends, and festive drinks!

There was so much delicious food to eat!!  Darcy made a tomato salsa, mango salsa, a birria and chicken enchiladas.   Bonnie made black bean and sausage stew and brought some fresh pineapple soaked in tequila.  Martin helped make some jalapeno poppers (from inside his pouch) and we took those along with the ingredients to make guacamole along with us.  John made us all drinks with tequila and fresh limes and pomegranate juice while David kept us laughing with his “I never did that except ….” stories.

It was a fantastic fiesta and quite the fabulous hatching! Another unforgettable Martin adventure!