You Can Wear a Mustache, Too

I noticed that vendors were selling mustaches (bigotes) as part of the items one can buy to celebrate Independence Day here. Then, I saw a tiny boy, maybe five years old, wearing a bigote.

Practicing my Spanish, I stopped to ask a police officer why children were wearing mustaches. He first informed me that they are not real mustaches. I explained that I had seen some for sale at a stall on the corner and that my question was more about why they were for sale with the rest of the items.

Now that we were on the same page, he explained that Emiliano Zapata, a revolutionary hero of Mexico, had a distinguishable mustache. Merrymakers wear them in honor of his efforts.

He promptly suggested, “You can wear a mustache, too.”