Puerto Vallarta is the setting for a Day of the Dead celebration at La Sirena, a new disco opened by Raúl Barrera. The club’s extravagant underwater design gives the gathering a distinctive backdrop, while a federal raid abruptly overturns the assumption that the resort and the holy day offer safety.

Setting and Gathering

After a day that takes him from graves in Mexico City to Guadalajara, Don Adán Barrera flies to Puerto Vallarta, where Raúl is hosting a party. The occasion is the Day of the Dead, and Raúl presents the gathering as a reason to celebrate despite the family’s recent losses. La Sirena, the brothers’ new disco, is the focal point of that celebration.

La Sirena

Don Adán regards the club as a monument to vulgarity. Raúl has given it an underwater theme: a grotesque neon mermaid marks the entrance, and the interior walls resemble coral reefs and underwater caves. A five-hundred-gallon saltwater aquarium occupies an entire wall. Its display includes costly tropical fish, corals, eels, crabs, and shrimp, making the club’s décor a conspicuous showcase of Raúl’s extravagance.

The Raid

The club initially seems safe to Callan, who has a couple of drinks during the holiday. That sense of security ends when the aquarium shatters and federal forces pour through the entrance, firing into the room. Callan drops behind a bar stool and draws his .22 as gunfire strikes the artificial cave walls. The raid turns La Sirena from a lavish party venue into a place of sudden danger, exposing how little protection its celebrants’ confidence in the setting can provide.