Thursday, June 12, 2008

Day 2

Day 2

As we got to Santa Maria late at night we could not see anything past the pick up's headlights so when we woke up the next morning it was time to take in the sights and admire the beauty of the open country. The air felt different, it felt clean, nothing compared to the air in Mexico City or Cuernavaca.















It had been close to forty years since I had been there and yet it was as I remembered it. Granted, there is a road that goes from the town of Pilcaya to Santa Maria and there is electricity but other than that its still pretty rudimentary. People there are definitely years behind us.

This is where clothes are washed by hand, we call it "el lavadero". It also served as our sink to wet our hair, wash our hands and faces, and brush our teeth. Water has to be carried and pumped manually. They don't have water service, the water comes from natural water holes and it doesn't look that clean. Yet that's all they have and that's all they use.

The house my tios are renting is very small. When he moved in it only had a small room and a bigger room. Then as he moved in he added another room and a restroom inside the house. Most houses there have the restroom outside and many don't have one at all. To take a shower we had to bring in about two buckets of water, one was heated up with a heating element that was plugged in the electricity while the other end was submerged into the water.


This is the little house my tios are renting. Notice that the door to the left is the small convenience store my tia runs, the door to the left is the bedroom. Even though it's not his, my uncle added and additional big room in the back. We decided to make this house our headquarters. All of our other tios wanted for us to spend the night at their places.

After eating a combination breakfast and lunch we headed to my Godfather's house (my mom's brother). He lives right behind the church in a house my grandfather built out of adobe some seventy years ago. All of a sudden we were surrounded by a bunch of kids,
it was a complete kindergarten of little nephews and nieces. Apparently most of the kids spend most of the day with them. My aunt is understandably overwhelmed with so many kids, but she doesn't really complain.

Again, once you get past how poor they are and the conditions they live in, you actually realize that it's not so bad. All the kids grow up in the great outdoors, they eat fresh food, they don't breath smog, and they grow up pretty healthy. All things considered that is not a bad trade off.


We spent most of the day admiring the beautiful scenery, we visited the church (the first of many to come)and spent most of the day with my mom's brother, later on we retired and went back to my other tio's house. Everyone wanted for us to spend a night or two at their house, they had all sorts of extra beds for all in one room but we decided to stay in the first house and turn that into our headquarters. There was no way we were hauling all of our luggage from one house to the other.


We said goodnight and went to rest as the next day we were going on our first trip to Pilcaya. Not too long ago the only way to go from Pilcaya to Santa Maria was either walking (a 4-hour walk) or by horse/mule (three hour ride). Now only a 40-minute drive.


Stay tuned for day three.


This may look like a small abandoned shack, in reality this was a restroom that was built for the priest. As I mentioned before restrooms are still few and far. The land owner did not allow for the restroom to be fixed so the structure just sits there collecting moss, weeds, and many other things.


This it he house my grandpa aided by all his kids including my mom built out of adobe some 70 years ago.


And here they are washing the dishes after we ate. Perhaps if you click on the picture to make it bigger you'll see the better.

6 comments:

Chely said...

W-O-W ! ! !

You are describing things pretty much as I remember them form some 26 years ago:)

"There was no way we were hauling all of our luggage from one house to the other." - LOL I can just imagine you guys hauling off all your luggage. But our Tios are sweet. Like I said, Hospitality is a great reason to visit Mexico.

Great Pictures - They remind me in a way, of all of those "Leyendas/Ghost Stories" our parents used to tell us. Did you encounter any "Lloronas"? I guess I'll have to wait and read, right?

Looking forward to more=D

fuzzbert_1999@yahoo.com said...

Ah Joe, this was a wonderful post and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about and seeing daily life in Mexico. It seems so rustic to us here in the US, but I can't say it doesn't look comfortable. I could travel there many times and still not experience the real Mexico. I'd love to see and feel the real thing...the beauty and soul of the country.

It's just like my trip this week to New York City...if you stay in Times Square you never really experience life in New York.

Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Gosh, it looked so beautiful! I can't believe he built that himself with his family - very impressive! Can't wait for day 3!

Michelle said...

Wow pretty cool. The restroom is cute looking! Ok... I never thought a restroom would be cute... but you know what I mean. So were you able to take showers there? I am confused.

Wanda said...

Oh Jose, you are giving us such a wonderful tour, and as one of your comments said, a true look at the daily life. My SIL was born in Mexico, and many of his aunts and uncles still live there, and this so reminds me of pictues and stories he tells us.
Thanks again, and I ready for more.

MrManuel said...

Looks like a great trip so far! Can't wait to read more! Glad you got some fresh air.

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