So yes, to answer one of the first question on many of your minds, I did survive farming. And it was actually really fun, despite my current back pain and slightly raw hands.
We got up only slightly earlier than usual, and still managed to get to Huixcazdha late. It seems to be a problem of ours. I attribute this to the fact that Hector is our resident Princess, and we always have to wait for him to do whatever it is that he does in the morning until he decides to join us in the van so we can be on our way. I wore a Saybrook t-shirt to make it proud and the sombrero I bought for the equivalent of $2.50 in the market place that day before, and my pair of running sneakers because I didn’t have anything more suitable for farm work… this was regrettable later on when I took off my shoes and a small mound of dirt found its way out of the toe of my shoe, and then with my sock came out another decent size pile of dirt. Yum.
I was labeled a “peon” by Dr. Manrique, in reference to the village’s history (the town was settled by the people originally working as peons on the hacienda of Huixcazdha. For those of you unfamiliar with Mexican history, many people were put into forced labor because of debt issues and other such things related to class, race and social standings. These families were forced to work the land of the Hacienda until the revolution redistributed land and gave a few families land of their own to work. Today the families that received land in the redistributive programs that happened after the revolution are among the “upper classes” of the village. The “ejido families” are better off than the ones who do not have their own land, though this is communicated in subtle ways like the size of their houses, if they were able to pain any parts of it, the kind of gate around their houses, and if they own any livestock.).
I was put into a pick up truck along with Viviana (a student from the Tec in Pachuca) and Jorge (a student from a University in Huichapan). Our driver was a guy who worked at the factory, but he was recently back from the United States. Because he was deported. He left everything he owned in the United States (Atlanta to be exact), and we later found out from our dear friend Chencho that Chencho had given him clothing when he got back because he literally had nothing. Chencho told us that he hoped people would do the same for his son, who is also working in Atlanta, if he needed it. We heard a little about his experience, but not as much as I would have liked since we didn’t have much time with him before we reached our stretch of Milpa.
I was put with a farmer named Ramiro. He was a farmer who had received Ejido land. We started off by following him as he pulled a colonial style plow through the soil and we uncovered the corn that was buried beneath the dirt. After a while of this, Dr. Manrique showed up. He heard me speaking German to Jorge and Viviana and started speaking in German to me. I was so surprised, but even more so when he accidently threw in some French words. We started speaking in a wild combo of German and French, and then he admitted that he also spoke some Farsi since he had lived in Indian for 5 years working in medical development. He is a really impressive man. He saw that this work was not very difficult, and instead found us a new job weeding.
So Jorge and I were sent to weed out the cornfields with hoes. It was a hot day, but there was a really refreshing breeze that blew across the grounds the entire time I was there, which made it a pleasant experience. We talked about music, language barriers, English, immigration and many other things. He and his sister joined us because they wanted to have a chance to practice their English, and so we spent some time talking in English and discussing things related to his major (industrial engineering) so that he would have some more vocab for it. He also told me about towns like Huixcazdha and where he lives (Carmen, 15 minutes away) are emptying out as families go to the US. Apparently a lot of houses now stand empty though families had used to live in them and care for them. His own father and two of his sisters now live and work in the US, sometimes talking to them over video chat. He talks about finding a way to do some work in the US and then, when he has some money, coming back to Mexico to work and build a different kind of life here.
It was a really interesting discussion, and it made the work more entertaining. At some point in the afternoon the wife of the other man who works on Ramiro’s fields with him arrived with her adorable granddaughter and lunch. We joined the women and the other two farmers under a tree where we had freshly made tortillas, frijoles from the previous harvest, spicy salsas and seasoned rice. It was truly delicious. She also brought as lemonade made with limes, as it should be!, and pulque for the men. Viviana wanted to try it so she had a glass of it, and I tried a sip of this famous pulque. It tastes a lot like yeast and it certainly didn’t taste strong, though I know from the many warnings that I have received that it is a VERY strong drink, so I quit while I was ahead.
After lunch we stayed out for a while longer in the fields until the heat was more noticeable. Around 3 pm we decided to check the time and noticed that they had forgotten us (they were supposed to come around 1 pm), so we started to walk back from the ejido towards the center of the village. The doctor found us and took us back to the plant. We didn’t have enough time to go back to Huichapan to shower off the thick layer of dust that the winds had painted us with, so instead we washed up in the sinks of the factory and went to find ice cream bars just outside of Huixcazdha.
By the time we got back it was already time to start with the surveys we had created regarding our classes, the standards of education, community projects that people might be interested in, and scheduling conflicts. Since we were trying to get all the adults in the village, it took us about 4 hours to get around to a little over half of our subjects. The project continued the next day, but this time we had some help and it went very quickly. We return to the room we meet in between projects to find that someone from the village had very kindly brought us food and SO MUCH FRUIT!
The following day was the inauguration of the CCA (centro comunitario de aprendizaje) where we will be teaching English classes for the next two weeks starting tomorrow. It was a very beautiful ceremony, and Dr. Manrique nearly cried while he was speaking and then when he cut the ribbon to open the center. People from the incubador social in Pachuca drove out for the ceremony, as well as students from the class we had joined at the Tec about sustainability, and our guides from the city. Following the opening of the center was a banquet prepared by the people of the community, and let me tell you, it was delicious! We all tried so many different things.
We had the afternoon hours off so we came back and I talked to my mom for a while. We went back to Huixcazdha to finish our surveys that evening, and ending up meeting up with everyone at Dona Paula’s house. I went there with my partner Ana to survey the family, but we ended up sticking around. Dr. Manrique showed up and Dona Pau said that she had to feed “Mi Benito.” Then Sucel, Jamila, Hector and a few other showed up and it basically became a huge party of people eating frijoles from their garden, plums from their trees and tortillas. We watched them wrap up the meat (including a full cow head… the eyes were staring at us while the tongue lulled out on the leaves) inside of maguey leaves for it took cook over hot coals over night. Chencho told us that this was a tradition older than the village itself.
And let me tell you, the result the next day when we came to celebrate Dona Pau’s birthday with all of her family that could make it. It was smoke-y and completely wonderful with the salsa we ate with it . We had Saturday off, but around 4 pm we went to sit and talk with Don Pau’s house. We sat with her family and talked about the village, their childhoods and their children (complete with pictures).
We stayed there until 9pm and then came home and relaxed. Just in time to wake up today and watched Mexico get served by Argentina… much to our chagrin. But at least Germany won! And I am hope they will beat Argentina and make us all proud.
So we just came back from a wander around downtown Huichapan (not as intense as it sounds). I bought 4 very nice mangoes for 10 pesos (less than $1) and some string for the classes I will be teaching starting on Tuesday. Many of the streets were shut down today for the fruit and clothing markets. It made the streets a completely different world, and it was a little confusing at first. No what am I saying; it was more fascinating than confusing. It was like a people watcher’s paradise. And all these people shouted “Güera! Que le puedo offrecir Güera?!” so I would buy something from them. No luck guys there, sorry.
And now I’m going to go and enjoy my Sunday. Enjoy yours,
D
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