montezuma's revenge, a reason to celebrate cinco de mayo

Frat boys and margarita girls across North America are celebrating and why not? Today is cinco de mayo, perhaps one of the most celebrated non-holidays this side of arbor day (which, by the way, was just last week - hopefully you've all recovered from your arbor day hangovers).

Contrary to popular belief, cinco de mayo is not Mexico's independence day. Simply, it marks the day in 1862 (in what was perhaps Corona's first cinco de mayo party) where a legion of aggressive French soldiers had a bout of Montezuma's Revenge. Caught off guard (and most certainly with their pants down) the French were chased out of Pueblo by a rag-tag, undermanned and poorly armed Mexican force.

A minor victory, yes, especially when considering that when the Frenchmen's bellies eventually recovered, they retook the city, but a victory none the less, and one that is often time credited as a turning point in Mexican moral, and in their eventual independence.

So today, on this 5th day of may, we shall celebrate. Laura and I plan to do so by donning sombreros as we dine on our traditional feast of spaghetti and soysauge.