¡Cinco! The Countdown to Cinco de Mayo Has Begun

Cinco de Mayo is about a month away so it's time to start the countdown to the well-known Mexican holiday with ¡Cinco!, from developer Chunky Chicken Apps.

Launch ¡Cinco! and you'll immediately see the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds to Cinco de Mayo (May 5). Twenty-seven days, seven hours and some minutes to go, as of just now.

I didn't know until I put ¡Cinco! through the iPhon-o-meter that Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army's defeat of the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

Although the French outnumbered the Mexicans almost two-to-one and were better equipped and trained, the Mexicans defeated them.

I've always assumed that it was Mexico's Independence Day, which I've also learned is actually September 16.

I found out all that by tapping the History tab on the lower right corner of home screen. The text is a bit hard to read. It's dropped on top of what looks like a painting of the battle, and there's this scrambled egg effect going on.

Now that I've prepared my mind, I'm ready to prepare my stomach, and ¡Cinco! is designed to help me do that as well with 13 drink and food recipes. How about some Macho Nachos or Spicy Picadilio? It's in there.

To go along with a nice meal, I'll mix up a pitcher of Golden Margarita (Tequila, O.J., lime juice and Cointreau or other orange-flavored booze).

I don't drink and drive, so I'm planning on staying home on Cinco de Mayo, but if I happened to venture out to a Mexican restaurant, I'd know how to introduce myself, ask for a table for four and thank my host, all in Spanish, which I also picked up from ¡Cinco!.

¡Cinco! has about 20 audible phrases in Spanish that you access by tapping the Learn Espanol tab, also on the bottom menu bar. You know I'm about to get serious when I learn how to say, "Would you like to dance?" and "May I have your phone number?" in Spanish.

¡Cinco! is $0.99, about what you would expect for an app like this. There's not much to ¡Cinco!, actually, but if you're planning to party come May 5, you'll be prepared this year and every year after.