Calavida Cantina – Albuquerque, New Mexico
At Calavida Cantina, you’re invited to “party like the dead.” If you haven’t partied like the dead, you’re probably not well acquainted with the Mexican tradition of “El Dia De Los Muertos,” the Day of the Dead. During this Mexican holiday, the profusion of skeletons of all sizes performing day-to-day activities signifies the return to this world of the dead who remain who they were when they lived, doing what they did. For example, skeletal figures depicted on the artwork at Calavida Continue would have been party animals when they graced this earthly plane. Therefore in death, they remain party animals–eating, drinking and being merry. At Calavida, the party animals of a past life mingle with party animals of today in a milieu that’s the antithesis of a morgue or mortuary. When we first espied the Calavida Cantina, I worried my Spanish vocabulary was diminishing with age (I’m 39) and lack of practice. It was a relief to learn that Calavida isn’t an actual word, but a portmanteau blending calavera (skull) with vida (life), “a nod to the Día de los Muertos belief that joy and remembrance can—and should—coexist.” Calavida “toasts to the past, celebrates the present, and crafts liquid stories for the…