Cousins 7/6

Well my cousin Maga and my uncle Felipe and they’re babeys came today, actually they got here last night around two in the morning. My grandma was up all night worried about them. Today was kinda eventful, we woke up had breakfast and started working around the house. Veronica and I picked up some corn husks that were scattered all over a section of the patio and collected rocks to throw in the rock pile that were in the way of walkways. We also went to go pick oranges from the trees and took pictures of the neigboor sowing pumpkin seeds the old fashion way with a horse and a hoe.

I also went rummaging through some bags to see what we could throw or keep, while doing this I found some old ass letters from the 70s and early 80s. The letters were from my mom and my aunts, it was fun reading them and looking at when they were written, well before I was born! They were written so formal and the things they wrote about were kinda funny. I found one from my aunt Delia to my mom. The letter talked about current life, boyfriends, enemies and parents. It was fun peeking into their lives back then and reading the things that compelled and humored them. I also found some old pictures and some not so old that my grandma should not have in bags laying around the house. Some were of my aunt Rosi and others of the grandkids.

I later took a bath which was so refreshing. We don’t have running water all the time and because of this we have to gather water in barrels when we do have it running on the hose. You see we get running water every third day but lately since it had rained they had not cut off the water. Its hard to explain why so I’ll save myself the trouble. Anyway so yesterday we had no running water all day and therefore could not take baths. I was all sweaty because I had been walking around with my grandma to the little tienditas to look for coke, beans, tortillas and ajo. Plus we had gone to vote during the day, needless to say we was sweaty and dusty from all the dirt in the rancho. So I cleaned myself the best I could before sleep. I don’t know but because I was all somewhat dirty from yesterday I cleaned in areas where I would get even dirtier so the bath could be well worth it. I don’t know it felt good and raw doing it.

I thought I would go to Rayon after taking a bath since that was the plan with my grandma and I. However two of my cousins came by to visit me so the plan was cancelled. We talked for a good while and they invited me to go to the plaza with them. So I went and we had a good little time. I’ve also been invited to go to Rioverde tomorrow which is a small city. Its really beautiful over there, I’ll take pictures and post them on another day. Hopefully I am able to upload all these blogs over there.

Well goodnight folks time for me to read Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Voting Day 7/5

I woke up today around 9 am, my usual time in Houston. However I had gotten less sleep than usual because I think I fell asleep around two in the morning. This morning I found out that my uncle and his family were coming down. I was like okay I can put some of those kids to work through “play.” Its called lets pick up all the oranges that have fallen from the trees in the backyard. Hehehe….

So I tried to pick up here and there around my grandma’s house although she wasn’t having it. She doesn’t want me to do any work around here. She says its nothing but dirt out here and doesn’t want me to work. I told her that I am 26 years old and that I can work and besides what am I supposed to do out here for one whole month!? So she said I can help too and believe me I have plans. The house looks like a its been thrown inside out because of the remodeling. I went all around and peeked and poked around here and there. She opened this one room and inside we found her metate I think this is how its spelled, its what you use to grind maiz.

Then in the afternoon we went to go vote in the old school house. We wanted to go earlier in the morning but the neighbor told us how the line wrapped around the school to I don’t know where. When we went there was no line and my grandma was done in like ten minutes. The voting system is not as advanced technology wise. People here still mark they’re votes on paper and when done place they’re vote in a box. The polls close at six and what I found most interesting is that in Rayon no stores are allowed to be open, even more liquor places cannot sell on this day. Maybe its because they want everyone to vote. This experience also made me hear my last name so much, I thought it was funny because this is a rare occssion. There were so many Izaguirres here but they were not any of my relatives they were just different Izaguirres. From the school house I could see my grandma and my aunt’s house directly across the street. My grandparents are not here yet so I went to visit my aunt Lupe for a little bit to let her know I was here.

I wish yall could see what I see every day. There are cerros that surround all of the rancho. It is so green and fresh and most of all so fruitful. In every house there are fruit trees everywhere and all sorts of other plants. My grandma has mandarinas, oranges, pears, limas, tunas, nopal and soon she will be planting some calavaza. Everywhere you go people know you, so you must stop and greet them. It’s a real community over here at its natural. Since everyone knows one another people go over to one anothers house to chit chat and talk about anything. As we were walking to the school house we stopped to chat at one house then another neighbor gave us some mangos to eat on our way. When we were coming back we met up with other family from Houston that I had not seen in a while.

I hope to really make the best of my time here. Today my grandma taught me how to make carne de puerco in a chile sauce and I made the rice.

I’m also now reading Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams, its pretty good so far anyone read this already? Well this is all for today have a good day and keep posted for new updates.

Virjen del Refugio

So we got here around 3:00 this afternoon to Rayon a little town outside of the rancho my grandma lives at. It felt so good to finally be here. The weather is soo nice it feels like spring time in Houston. The wind is so fresh and blows often that it feels good to walk in it. Most of my travel in Mexico will be on foot, taxi and catching the peseras. Its exciting to live like this for a whole month total detox from everything. Moving on with the story we first got some Mexican pesos and to my surprise right next door there was this internet shop. It was cute it reminded me of China when I had to pay for the hour to use the internet. By the way they charge 8 pesos per hour, that’s less than a dollar. I asked the lady if she had wireless so that I can just come in with my laptop, but she didn’t know what I was talking about.

From there on we went to go have lunch/dinner at this little place my grandma likes to go to. It was so good!! I couldn’t believe it was just as good as my momma’s and this is when I realized maybe I just like Potosina cocineras. I hope to pick up some cooking skills while I am here. We then went to a little grocery store and bought some food for the house. It was a big commotion at the register with the election that is to take place tomorrow for the new “municipal” of Rayon. A municipal is sort of like a mayor over here. Well the lady who owned the store said that on the news yesterday it said that Rayon the little town was the most corrupt out of San Luis Potosi. She was also saying that many people all over the town were upset and that tomorrow will be a day that many will show up to vote, even the ones who have never voted before. I’m not really sure what people are upset about but I think it has to do with lots of resources being taken away and new taxes people have to pay. My grandma also told me that a particular candidate has been buying votes. I asked her who she would vote her and she told me “my vote is a secret” I was like grandma who am I gonna tell!!? Anyway the taxi man who drove us home told us that people were saying if so and so did not get elected “sangre correra en la calle” blood would run in the streets. Oh my! So tomorrow I’m going to go with my grandma to vote. My mom told me that it might get dangerous and violent and to not be so close in that area. So we shall see what happens tomorrow.

I also learned something interesting about today which is that the fourth of July in Mexico is celebrated also. Why? Well because they venerate La Virjen del Refugio, my grandma does not know exactly why she’s venerated on this day. On our way to the rancho we saw the parade line, there were some mock virgins and mock Spaniards, it made me sad to see no representation of the indigenous community. Anyway tonight they will have a parade and fireworks in the plaza of Rayon.

Now I’m here at my grandma’s house waiting for night to fall and hopefully take a bath if there is any water. I am tired from the bus ride and I finished reading like Water for Chocolate on the bus ride. I should have brought more novels I believe I packed two more dang!

Since I found the internet shop you all shall see my posts often, perhaps every two days so keep updated!

Peace.

Bus Ride

So we decided to travel on Chaves bus line, it is located somewhere in the north side off of Main St. and let me tell you it was the most uncomfortable bus experience I’ve ever had. It was the first time for my grandma to try this new bus line that was recommended by a relative from my dad’s side. To start it off they charged more $ than other bus services by 10 bucks more. They also wanted to charge us $35 for extra luggage. My grandma threw a fit and we had to leave some of her luggage behind. On our way we picked up more people throughout Houston and finally headed towards Laredo. At Laredo we were all made to get off with our entire luggage and go through this x-ray machine. This was the first time I had heard of this and to me it was stupid. The Laredo security that looked through our luggage looked like they didn’t know what the hell they were hired in the first place for. Then to top it off when we tried to put our luggage back in the bus there was no more room for it!!! The servicemen were so rude to us and told us to take some of our luggage on the bus and I fought with him and told him that they were not gonna fit, so he eventually found place for one of our bags and the other we had to take up with us. Our luggage did not fit because in Laredo they decided to acquire more people to ride on the bus. The bus made several stops and not once took us somewhere to eat. It was delayed by five hours. Then this old man had taken our seats near the front of the bus, my grandma wanted to kick him out but I was comfortable in the seats I had chosen for us. Well I would eventually be wrong, two stops later we picked up this family of four. The mom and daughter decided to sit in front of us and lean they’re seats all the way to the back that we had no room four our legs. They never scooted they’re seats to the front until they got off the bus completely. There was also this man behind me who kept talking so loud on the phone and was eating sunflower seeds and spitting them all over the place. His seat looked like a pig sty. There was also this woman in her late thirties early forties who kept flirting with this dude that looked 22 all the way on the bus. They were extremely annoying. So yes we will never ride with Chaves again.