Muerto Morelos 2023: 5th Annual Altar Walk

Here are the event sponsors:

The 5th Annual Altar Walk: Muerto Morelos 2023 was a resounding success!

Claudia Mendiola with Una Cuadra Una Tradicion organized the event again and it had a great turn out! This year there were 18 altars, with some on the portside and some in the colonia. Beautiful hand painted rocks with Day of the Dead related designs were hidden on or near all of the altars and finders were able to take those home as a keepsake of the event.  Altar #8 hosted live music and a face-painter, Izamar Make Up and quite the crowd gathered there. Participants reported having a great number of visitors who came to see the beautiful altars.

The local sponsors of the event generously donated prizes including gift certificates to local restaurants, free nights of lodging, water color paintings, and an in-home podiatry visit. Those items were later raffled off to those who had altars and the musicians who participated in the event – you can watch the video to see who won over on the Una Cuadra Una Tradicion Facebook page. Be sure to follow them so you’ll be the first to know about the the 2024 event next fall!

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us in this lovely Mexican tradition of honoring and remembering our loved ones!!

A little history of the event…

As everyone knows, the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) is a very important celebration throughout Mexico, but like many traditions, it has begun to fade over time. The spirit of the Muerto Morelos 2023 5th Altar Walk (Caminata de Altares) is precisely to rescue this tradition and seeks to involve the entire town in keeping it current.

The walk of altars began 5 years ago with the organization and decision of a particular Puerto Morelos representative, Claudia Mendiola. She is an artist, traveler, publicist, lover of Mexican culture and community. One day she decided to replicate the movement that she first organized in Mexico City, her native home. This consisted of each house in the neighborhood setting up its altar and putting its offerings so that the other neighbors of the block visit it, hence the name that characterizes it as ” a block, a tradition”.

The founding seed of this movement was Goleta street in Villas 1. Here, a tour was organized to visit all the altars on the block, each one put their offering; they told stories of the people in the pictures, their favorite foods, and activities, so the neighbors got to know each other a little better.

A year after, the pandemic hit so this beautiful celebration was carried out virtually, the neighbors once again remembered their loved ones with their altars and uploaded photos and videos to share with the community.

By 2021, it was possible to return to face-to-face, but with some care, face masks, hand sanitizer, etc – we all know this new normal we went through during this time.

Last year, 2022, the idea was to come back stronger and rescue this tradition, further promoting the participation of people (and businesses) in Puerto Morelos, with about 40 altars in the neighborhood and the port, cultural activities, live music, temazcal, hidden rocks and games for the little ones. Last year the popular phrase “Muerto Morelos” began to take the form of tradition. The 4th Altar Walk sought to make this place a point of reference in celebration of Día de Muertos so that more people participate, from all over the republic and the world. 

Last year an organizing committee was formed in which the great Italo-Morelense artist Sergio Lipari participated. He designed the skeleton, lighthouse, poster, and map of the event. Additionally, Experience Puerto Morelos collaborated with the advertising, promotion, and registration, in addition to putting our own altar in the office of Niños Héroes. Unfortunately, rain poured down on us just as the altars were ready and event was scheduled to start. But many people still participated and enjoyed this lovely tradition.

We hope that “Muerto Morelos” is a celebration in which the entire town participates and that year after year it continues to grow until it becomes a reference in the Riviera Maya.

In 2022, XPM is honored our dear friends Gustavo and Dave, and Juan Amaya Sr.

David Sanderson (June 17, 1973 – July 21, 2022) was the owner of Ocean Barriers, a very visible company in PM that cleaned the sargazo from our beaches. Dave was a force of nature and we still can’t believe that he’s gone – but never forgotten!