Descanso

Rest. Eleven days working at the ranch, my body didn't just hurt when I got off work, it hurt when I got out of bed :) I was very excited when Nora invited me to go along to a nursery expo in Cuautla, Morelos. The expo wasn't fantastic in comparison to say, the FarWest Show, but you'll see it was still a lot of fun to see all of the new tropical plants. Then we walked through the nursery, CONAPLOR that was hosting the expo. 10 acres of greenhouses, all retail, it was beautiful. The nursery inventory is from over 100 producers in Morelos or Guerrero. The best part--the plants are CHEAP! You can buy a pineapple tree for 25 pesos (pesos:dollar, 11:1)! and it comes WITH A PINEAPPLE! Luis and I counted the years of one of the palm trees: nearly 30 years old: 750 pesos. Impressively cheap. Plants in gallons that were 6 pesos to a dollar.

At the show, one of the nuserymen we met invited us to his nursery and house; the house was beautiful. He designed the gardens. Divino! was how Claudia, an architect friend of Nora and Luis described the place. Nature has a way of working on you: just walking through the sod paths between the nursery stock I felt settled, still, content.

Then we headed off in the monstro (the audi) to Tepotzlan. I have been dying to go visit Tepotzlan, so when Nora and Luis said we were going to meet Lorena and her boyfriend there, I was ecstatic :) I was afraid that it wouldn't live up to everything everyone had told me, but it did and more. We had an beautiful dinner at a restaurant that was open out towards the cragged mountains that surround this mystic pueblo (Tepotzlan is one of the 13 pueblos misticos in Mexico). Mariachis played in with the mountains framing them. The mountains were by far the most tremendous part of dinner. I got to sit facing them and they provided an ever changing sight. The clouds floated in and up. At one point there wasn't a crag to be seen: the mountains were completely veiled by mist. Not too many minutes passed and slowly the green covered mountains appeared again. It was a vista in motion. Think Lord of the Rings. A woman in a draping red shirt with an incredible voice joined the mariachis several times through out the evening to sing to her friends at their dinner table; we all enjoyed her. The walls of the restaurant were close to the same shade of gold as my room, and there was one particular painted wall that I'd love to duplicate :)

My dinner:
lemonada
Sopes with beans, goat cheese, lettuce, guacamole
tostadas with guacamole, champolines, and green salsa
Thick, toasted tortilla wedges with a dry sour cream
Cold avocado soup
A tower of nopales (cactus) layered with goat cheese and huitlacoche (corn smut) and bathed in a sweet mole salsa
Creme brulee and cafe

I took a walk after my cafe. The streets are full of street/market vendors and entering the stores along the sidewalks on all sides of the church/zocalo are little boutiques of artisania. Definitely a place I'd love to explore. Then there is the mountain to climb where a pyramid sits (today, it was hidden by the clouds). I did however get a good view (Nora pointed it out to me) of the Enano of Tepotz formed by the the mountain range profile. Nora translated enano to elf, but it really is closer to midget: there's politically correct Mexico for you.

Monica's Cumple

I spent a Saturday afternoon and evening with Monica's family, friends, and cousins. I discovered that they really are all cousins...and brother-in-laws, but that's another mexicanismo.

A few notes:
Monica's adorable nephew who LOVED to make faces
Her uncle's birthday party: 50 people in the yard, a band, and a HUGE bull tethered a few yards away
Bean Tamales (YUMMY!...Karla's mom ate 6 :)
Grandpa's bulls
Yellow wall
Picking oranges

Chamba

Work. Finally I'm uploading pictures from this month at the ranch.

I really feel like I've done a little bit of everything (and alot! of other things ;)

Upstairs in the office:
Counting bags
Counting labels
Folding labels
Counting codes to go on labels
Putting codes on labels
Counting and organizing all the materials for each order

Downstairs in selection and packing:
Selecting/cleaning/weighing/packaging herbs
Packing the bags of herbs into boxs
Labeling the boxes
Sorting and taping the boxes together by each store's order. (Think Walmart: Oaxaca City, Mexico 1, Mexico 2, Mexico 3, Cuernavaca, Acapulco...etc.)

In the field:
Harvesting
Weeding
Seeding
Propagation
Transplanting

Hanging out with Baldemar and Alejandro while they:
Identify and record the pests and disease we find in each field
Checking on the tractor, aka mules ;)
Mix-up chemicals and supervise fumigators
Check-up on the fertilization via the irrigation system
Send flats of herbs to contractors
...Explain everything to me and answer my questions.

I'm loving my time here. And now, el rancho...

Cocos y mangos

Imagine orderly-spaced palm trees with mangos alternately-placed beneath; las palmas stretch up to the blue cielo and the mangos reach a quarter of the way up their trunks.

This weekend's experience took me to the tropics of la costa de Guerrero: Tecpan de Galeana. I spent three days with Heather and Jesus, their son Geovani, nephew Francisco, and mother Fredelina. Here are a few pictures of our time: highlighting a day absolutely alone on the beautiful beautiful beaches of playa ojo de agua, playa vicente guerrero, y la lagoon.

A day later at the ranch I'm called the rojo camaron: red shrimp. I'm just missing my chimpanzees (Laykin, Jonicka, y Kiana) who picked off my peeling skin last year. Yes, gross.

Los torros

Alma y Carla (tambien, los hijos de Alma: Jorge y Eric y primas Lorena y Maria) me llevaron a los torros: montadores quien montaron con ambos manos arriba, un payaso que me recordaron de Cantinflas, una banda que toco canciones rancheros, torros quien se pararon para permitir los montadores a dejar...los torros mexicanos.

Alma y Carla (along with Alma's two sons: Jorge and Eric, and cousins Lorena y Maria) took me out to bull riding: cowboys who rode with both hands in the air, clowns that reminded me of Cantinflas, a band playing ranchero songs, bulls who stopped to let the cowboys off...Mexican bulls.

Note: I couldn't get my camera settings right this night, so the pictures that are in focus are that way because the bulls really are standing still.

Weekends in Mexico

Weekend 1: see earlier blog entry with my and Heidi's pretty blue eyes ;)

Weekend 2: I arrived from Oaxaca early in the morning Saturday with the purpose of meeting up with Thomas and Teresa in the Zocalo for the small Guelaguetza that was to be held there (one of Oktavio's friends was supposed to sing!) But, the Guelaguetza was canceled and I never found T&T so instead I had a nice day solita: a walk through the park, cheap great breakfast (this amazing fusion tea) and finally the Frida Kahlo exhibit. I wish I could say I loved it. However, being toward the end of the exhibit, and a saturday: I spend hours (no exaggeration) in lines. To enter the building first --for my ticket, then exiting the building to wait in another line to...enter the building again--for the exhibit. Oh wait, for the first floor; for the bathroom, for the second floor, for the bathroom. The sala/room with the paintings: a line that streamed all the way around--a line for every painting. And I'm glad I went. It was a very nice exhibit. A nice day.

I arrived at the Aceve's house in time for Pepe's birthday party: a fun tres leches foto sequence to follow! The next morning Richard Wolf brought along a couple from New Zealand. Richard asked me to translate his sunday morning testimony for them--I was scared to death, my translation was literal --but they got it all :) A kind of benchmark, really. Hey, I do understand absolutely everything--sometimes.

That afternoon Richard dropped me off at the bus terminal and I had about a two and a half hour wait for a bus direct to Chiconcuac. This is the place of my impossible second encounter with the same Columbian, Diego...as if running into the same person twice in Mexico isn't impossible enough, Diego was arriving from Oaxaca just as I had the day before. This is a bus terminal were there are literally buses leaving every minute. Apparently: Impossible is nothing. (work cited: yes, i totally stole that phrase.)

Weekend 3: Patty arranged to met me at the same bus terminal. When we found each other, we both expressed our previous thought (in my case thoughts) that we might not actually find each other amongst the crazy crowd. Does that help to explain how unbelievable it was to run into Diego? Tacos, dropping my bag off at Patty's apartment, and then Patty took me to one of her favorite spots in Mexico: la plaza de Coyoacan, where there is a bazaar, that more than anything should be described as "hypie". Yes, this is one of those words in Mexico that is English with a Spanish pronunciation. It was fun to spend the evening with Patty. I saw some really neat art pieces that subsequently found their way onto my buy-in-the-future list, and listened to several different music artist street performers. And yes, you'll see in the fotos that the night ended in churros y chocolate.

Sunday we spend driving. Wait, Patty and I started out in a Taxi, then the metro, then Randy met us- to begin the long day of driving. 8 in the morning until 10 o'clock by the time I arrived back home in Chiconcuac. Sunday morning meeting, tacos, a siesta at Patty's, a quick stop at Chedraui's (where along with a tres leche pick-up...I found agrinafta herbs), gospel meeting, and a huge potluck (huge describing the amount of food more than the number of people :). Another weekend in Mexico.

Buenavista Birthday

My third trip to Buenavista: each time for a cumpleanos celebration. This weekend it was Dona Nieve's birthday and we ate, yet again, Pozole (and yes...I enjoyed it!). It was around the time of this trip I realized I was so lucky last summer; of the many pueblos I could have lived in, I lived in Buenavista. The hills surrounding it, the streets tucked in and around the base of the hills, and the people. This particular trip my walk up to the house included about an hour chat with Lola at the new restaurant where she works (before her boss returned) and nearly another hour chat with Marcos in front of the paleteria (okay, Mark, but I've taken to Sandra's translation). The following day I met an entire new family when I went with Mode who cooked the family tacos made with all the inner-systems: liver, heart, intestine...and two organs I'm not sure how they translated to english, perhaps for the better. Believe it: the tacos were great. I also played the jumping-in-sequences-over-the-rubber-band-stretched-between-two-nina's-legs with four cousins. Fun, but eventually liver became perferable to the yelling of the cousins over cheating and rules and levels. On my way down (this family lived up up up the side of the mountain) I surmised the woman cutting up the coconuts was Mode's sister, stopped to introduce myself, and we had a nice conversation before the kids with me tired of waiting. Off to the paper store to buy a bag for the present, and then to Dona Nieve's kitchen. The entire extended family from Tequesquitengo had already arrived (who we visited last year for Dona Nieve's sister's birthday). This year's celebration had a sweet little twist at the end. Sona hired a man to provide live music: esta son las mananitas...

Ciudad de Oaxaca

Three full full days of discovering only a part of Oaxaca.



There are many things that can't be captured by pictures. The sounds: the section of stands in the market where all the pirated CD stands seemed to converge; the smells: like the lucha libre stand ;), okay so I'll stick to the Oaxaqueno mole and chocolatl; and then there are the sights: the bus ride. Six hours on the autopista south and I'm certain I've never seen such diversity of geography: a pine forest, a desert, and back to the tropical. Mountains and valleys. Agriculture: the women in their layers of dresses, moving around the mountain with a few goats; laborious terraces surrounded by vast tough land. And that land in every color of soil: white, yellow, red, green, pink...tierra hermosa.

Thank you Oktavio for sharing your beautiful, beloved Oaxaca.

Morelia

Cafe y conversacion con Patty
A evening with Maya, the boys, and Arturo
El grupo: Teresa, Thomas, Oktavio, Javier, y I
International philosophy conference
Live music
Corundas
Zamora
Pazcuaro
Interviews
Copper shop
Viejitos dance

Cuernavaca

Exploring Cuernavaca. This is a slideshow in progress-- to be updated over my last two months.

Alexandre

hoyuelos chicitos
sonrisas de sonar
descansan en el pecho—
amplio consolar.

Dedos de manos manchados de granada
Víctor me dio: regalo del escalador—
árbol a mi palma, pelada por la taza
pero sin llegaron, desaparecen a

Pozole

A little background borrowed from Wikipedia:
Pozole (from Spanish pozole, from Nahuatl potzolli) is a traditional pre-Columbian soup or stew made from hominy, with pork, chile, and other seasonings and garnish, such as oregano, avocado, radish, lime juice, onions, salsa verde, salsa rojo. The type of pozole we ate was white or clear.

Buenavista de Cuellar is located in the state of Guerrero which is well-known for their Thursday Pozole. Wikipedia also cited Guerrero as typically serving breakfast pozole, and after this weekend...I will say, yes it's true.

Moy (Nora's father), Karina, Gerado, and Carolina dropped me off at the downtown bus stop. In my search for my bus, I located the bus driver, Jose Luis, first. Our conversation was typical: You aren't from around here? No, I'm from Chiconcuac. (Okay, so I haven't actually said that.) Your spanish is really good! (Not true, this is smooth-talking mexican for-- your accent, my word!) Are those your friends? (Pointing to the other white people in the terminal. White+white=friends? ) Do you have a cell phone? (no) Do you have a telephone number? (no) Well, we can talk all the way to Buenavista. (Humm, but my ticket is for seat 27) Well, you can sit in row 1. (Row one filled before I chose to enter the bus.) I enjoyed reading Nora's husband Luis' book in seat 27. That is until with an hour left in the trip my bladder started calling out to me and I realized that this bus...didn't have a restroom. Thankfully, I did make it to Buenavista to pay my 2 pesos for a section of toilet paper.

Walking mexican-slow (the pace makes it possible to endure the heat during the day...and enjoy the air of the night) from the bus stop I passed a sign posted on a restraunt calling me in for homemade pozole. Breakfast being hours and hours before, I was tempted, but bought an agua de fresa (strawberry) in a bolsa instead and then stopped to see Luz. I met Luz for the second time the week before and had been wanting to get to know her better. Luz works half her time at the paletaria, where I bought my agua and the other half the little store across the street. She brought out a chair and we had a nice hour of conversation.

When I arrived at the Ramirez' house (Mode and Jose), Arely's Cumpleanos: birthday party had already started. I was delighted to find a huge pot (over 6 gallons) of Pozole on the stove and the women who work with Arely (collecting census information) already eating Pozole. I sat in between Jose, Arely's husband, and Jose Jaid, Arely's son with my bowl that was heaping (even after begging Arely and Mode to not serve me too much.) Jaid was equally helpful; I had added all of my toppings, yet he made a game of asking me if I wanted more of everything: cebolla? limon? rabanos? oregano? salsa? cebolla? limon?... Add to that two taquitos de potato; I took several breaks as I got to the bottom of the bowl. Jaid on the other hand, was repremanded and had his bowl removed and replaced with a new one after dumping well over a 1/2 cup of oregano in his shallow dish of blooming corn. Apparently he wanted the other well-known Guerrero pozole: verde.

That's just the beginning of my weekend of Pozole. Around 9 o'clock the neighboring families arrived, which must have been about the third group of people to come and leave the fiesta. I had yet another bowl of Pozole. Thankfully, this one was was shallow--er. The evening ended with the charming "las mananitas" and then a cute playful display by Arely and Jose over her tres leche.

I awoke to the usual Buenavista morning chorus of dogs, donkeys, neighbors, birds, church bells, and Delia sweeping the street. An hour or so later I saw Delia and her aunt Victoria headed to the market so I slipped downstairs and out the door, telling Jose and Arely where I was headed on my way out.

Sandra, here are the morning market discoveries: miniture mangos, chicken for the afternoon quesillas Delia had invited me for that afternoon, buenos dias to: the boy with the purple avacados and the amazing smile, Hermando (with his usual dirty shirt--across from the computers, remember?) and his wife (Rosalba or something like that? They have a pizza parlor now..which Arely ordered the week before. It tasted...like Mexico after covering it with hot sauce.) Last week during my market visit with Mode I talked to: Hermando, queso, need I say more? Remember Freddy the taxista? His brother Hermando works at the tortillaria. Marco at the jugos in the mercado. Marco from New Mexico. In addition: Dona Columba, Don Pedro, Laykin's admirer, Tony the neighbor boy, Lola is working at a new restraunt next to the computadores, Margarita, Gerado, his sister at the computadores, etc.

We must have arrived back at the house at 10am to Arely calling everyone in for a breakfast of...yes, Pozole. Erika and Nacho, Ruben and Delia, Sonia, and all the kids sat down with their bowls. Delicious...but ya...I was quite gratefuly for Delia confirming the invitation to eat at her house that afternoon. It was a wonderful two hours or so of the familiar kitchen activity, a meal with just the two of us and talking about family, and later Ruben joining us, the Mexico vs. Paraguay 6-0 futbol game, an the slightly naughty antics of Alexandre which are easily covered by his ever-present smile.

And when I returned back to Mode's kitchen, Gabi and Jaid were sitting at the table with bowls of: Pozole.

I took the Monday morning, 5am bus back to Cuernavaca. A small bus to the market. Another small bus back to Chiconcuac. Three house of traveling: I treated myself to a taxi back to the house, dug for several minutes for the pesos to pay my fare, and was so very very greatful to open the door to a hot hot shower before I started work.

The weekend of Pozole looks to be turning into a week. Today at Moy's house Nora asked what was on the menu for tomorrow's dinner. Nora and I both started laughing when we were told: Pozole.

Sonriendo

Smiling:

Beautiful green countryside
Gorgous misty mountains
laundrymat
grammar lessons from Moy
synonyms in Spanish for car
Streets named for European countries
agua de pina: pineapple
Bogunvilleas
Capreese salad with our albahaca:basil
Landscaping our block castle with weeds: ¡Que lindo!
Limes
Moneda: the beautiful vine that shares its name with money in Spanish
Crema de calabaza con cilantro: squash soup with cilantro
Grocery shopping
Carolina enjoying the hand dryer in the bathroom: ¡Es muy rico, Shannon!
Frida Kaulo magazine
Goofy pictures
A conversation about organics and "en modo"
Drawings of princesses in star dresses and crowns
Asia-pacifico: el mercado del futuro, Autor: Luis G. Silva y Gutierrez

Transportación

Last friday I rode with Luis and Nora to Mexico. Here todo el mundo (all the world) refers to La Ciudad de Mexico as simply Mexico. Luis put on his leather driving gloves, and we made such good time in the audi up around the curves of the autopista to the slow traffic of the city that Nora turned to her husband and said, "Mi amor, we're going to arrive early you went so fast!" To which Luis answered, "It would have been faster if you and Shannon weren't with me." Referring to his commute to the offices in Mexico, "and on Monday mornings there are no other cars." Getting close to Luis' brother-in-law's house, Nora pointed out the porshe that pulled in front of us: there's Alejandro. He and his son were clearly enjoying their afternoon drive-—both were smiling as we pulled up along side them.

When we arrived, Luis introduced me to his sister Claudia, a niece, and another brother before we headed to the kitchen to call a taxi. Feeling a little foreign carrying my backpack around a lawyer's elegant birthday party, I was greatful the taxi arrived almost immediately and Nora and Luis put me in the taxi, telling the taxista to take care of me. Winding roads, slow traffic, a huge Mexican flag and we arrived at the bus terminal TAPO. I met Heidi, who had been studying in Puebla, and Diana, who came to retrieve us, with hugs and kisses and then we were off by bus to Texcoco, and a taxi to the Aceve's house. We had a wonderful dinner with Diana, Rhode, Rebecca, and the workers Rigel Rosales and from Arkansas, Raymound Reece. Raymound has labored in Mexico for 50 years.

A huge breakfast, two meetings, sending Heidi off to the airport, a meal cooked by the Aceves girls, tres leche and las mananitas to celebrate Rafael and Tarsis' Birthdays, and then I was off in Rafael's car for the adventure home. Paty, a girl around my age who works in international marketing in autoparts sales, and a man who is originally from Guerrero, were generous in guiding me into a combi, from the combi to the metro, one change of metro lines, and to the bus terminal Tesquena. 5 minutes and I left on a bus that took me to Cuernavaca where I boarded another bus to Chiconcuac. I realized after I boarded that I was on the route that would take me through Temixco and every little pueblo along the way instead of the direct route via the autopista; but no matter, I had all afternoon. And it was all afternoon, including the departure of our driver from the bus for 10 minutes; he returned with a Sprite, but I suspect it also had something to do with the futbol game Mexico was playing.

You may count, but I believe that makes 9 changes in transportation in 24 hours, not counting the walking which brought me back up the brick sidewalk to the Zocalo, a rest on the park bench, and finally to our gate and Bruma and Trueno's barks of greeting.

De jueves

Thursday's highlights:

*I had a amazing latte this morning with my nutella covered toast and melon cubes. Four plates and a cup later I finished my breakfast.
* It was Karina's birthday (Karina works here in the office and does all the errands, in addition to delivering to and taking orders from the local restaurants in Cuernavaca with Nora's dad). Kristina brought us all cake: a tres leche that had a strip of flan in the middle for filling...deliciosa.
*I sat with Gerado as he completed the invoice and export paper work for the week's shipment of Albahaca verde (basil) and Romero (rosemary) to our cliente in Canada.
*We had dinner at Nora's dad's house which I always love: one day we played El Gato (tic-tac toe) and he royally beat me; he announced his intentions two moves before my defeat. Another day he shared his tan and red block of candy flavored by the seed of the sweet squash (pumpkin). That was the same afternoon he took me around the house to show me how he and his late wife had planted 10 seeds (trepadores:vines), that 50 years later now completely cover three sides of the house: beautifully framing each window and french doors out the bedroom onto a small awning. He pointed out the little arms of the trepador trying their best to sneak there way in the house.
*We had nopalitos (little pieces of chopped cactus with cilantro, queso and tomatoes.) Rice soup with lime and fresh onion. Chicken enchiladas verdes. Beans. Mango juice. Gelatin for dessert. Delicious dinner.
*We drove the FAST car. So the suburban went 140 k/h. Today the car went 190 k/h, Luis has gotten it up to 280 k/h and the speedometer is reads to 300 k/h.
*We went to Liverpool: the big huge newest mall.
*Nora's favorite song came on the radio. She turned it up all the way and sang and danced like a "locita", as she called herself...there were police in the truck in front of us stareing, but weren't as amused as we were. ;)
*We went grocery shopping at Superama. I got to see our products in the store for the first time. They were priced 4.75 pesos for .20 gram cucuruchos(packages). Nora pointed out our competition, love this Kari, organic: 19 pesos.
*Something else I learned: Walmart isn't just Walmart here. Walmart also owns: Sam's Club, Bodega Aurrera, Superama, and the large chain of restraunts called Vips.
*Both of Nora's daughters, her father, and grandson are coming for dinner tomorrow. The table is going to be outside somewhere. We are having mushroom soup which I can't wait for because Nora does such an amazing job seasoning everything. Kari's response to this tid-bit was, "of course, she's an herb farmer." Perhaps tuna too?

Primera semana

My first week ends tomorrow. The days have been overwhelmingly full. Here are two moments that I've captured in film to share. Thursday was Karina's Birthday and Kristina brought the basic of every Feliz Cumpleanos celebration: pastel de tres leches. This one was filled with a layer of flan. Yummm.

Las Mañanitas

Estas son las mañanitas
que cantaba el rey david
hoy por ser día de tú santo
te las cantamos a tí
despierta mi amor despierta
mira que ya amanecio
ya los pajaritos cantan
la luna ya se metío
que linda esta la mañana
en que vengo a saludarte
venimos todos con gusto
y placer a felicitarte
ya viene amaneciendo
ya la luz del día nos dío
levantate de mañana
mira que ya amanecío.

A la bim-bom-ba,
a la bio, a la bao,
a la bim-bom-ba,
Karina,
ra-ra-ra!

Tonight Nora cooked a fabulous dinner for her family.

Menu
Hot tortillas, queso requeson, queso oaxaca, and guacamole with the pit
Soup of mushrooms and oysters
Seared tuna with seseame seeds, green salad with fresh yellow and french beans from the ranch, and pureed golden potatos
Amaretto ice cream with almonds; chocolate ice cream with nuts
After dinner shot of expresso

A long beautiful evening in what Nora's dad correctly called, paraiso: paradise.

Salsa Verde

Nora took me on a walk through the ranch yesterday, checking on the man cleaning the chive beds, the group harvesting green beans; on the way she asked Esteban to pick cilantro for our lunch. The cilantro bloomed out of my hands into a bouquet.

tomates: tomatillos quarter enough to fill a blender
cebolla: onion 1/2 inch thick round slice
serrano chile
sal: salt to taste

Blend down; you can blend it for a long time.
Add a around 5 stems of cilantro, a small bunch. Blend again.

So far I've had it on: the most tender piece of carne asada I've ever had in my life, my morning egg, and quesidillas deliciosas.

S

Demasiado: too much

Demasiado...I've been repeating this word all day long. It has been an amazing, full first day.

I have been welcomed into the family. Nora spent the drive from the airport to the office explaining Mexico City to me and naming all the barrios/districts of the city: I need to look at a map immediately so I don't waste all the time she spent. We also talked about our families. Her and her husband both have children from previous marriages. I met Lorena her youngest daughter who has a beautiful modern corner office; Lorena is so very charmingly annimated--I love listening to her tell stories. Then there is Jade who has a two children. When we first came into the office Luis was talking to his son in China. Luis' office is full of treasures. Half of the walls are covered by book shelves with the most beautiful book collection: gorgous old faded books and an endless supply of large coffee table arte history books. I spent the majority of my day either on his sofa or in his chair behind the huge mahagony desk. I was entranced as I watched the daily business play out in Luis' office. Nora pulled out her laptop and sat in one of the arm chairs facing her husband's desk for the day; at one point she was sharing her husband's chair as she edited a project on his computer; the rest of the time she would be standing somewhere around the office. At one point Luis was editing a paper for Nora: I assisted him with the spelling of commission: "it has 2 m's and 2 s's." Family and conversation: to go back to the conversation with Luis' son in China shows how the office is all day long. Luis was sitting in his chair and talking via the computer. Nora would slip into the conversation including sending "abrazos y besitos: hugs and kisses". Alejandro, Luis' brother would wander in and out all day long. Even business discussions with clientes were held over speaker phone with everyone in the room listening. At one point Alejandro, Luis, Nora, and Alejandro's son Oktavio, and I were all listening to Luis explain the process of entering the international market to a man sold women's shoes. People are constantly talking over each other: during that particular business call Alejandro and Luis conferred straight over the top of the man's explaination. I was witness to absolutely all business that took place; there was no closed door. The family at the office all came down to the dining room for dinner at around 4pm. It was wonderful wonderful family conversation. I guess I didn't realize until just now that except for one or two Nextel conversations...the meal conversations were virtually work free: past vacations, future vacations, and jesting Oktavio about eating 4 eggs earlier in the afternoon at the time we American's would have ate lunch (it was difficult to dissern what exactly was humorous in the jesting, but with eggs and balls being the same word in spanish...) Dinner was cooked and served by Elli at a dinner table which was beautiful painted from Michoacan. We started out with soup that was made from the flowers of the calabaza(squash) and followed by a plate of beautiful mole enchiladas with a tiny scoop of white rice and a tiny scoop of beans. Then she cleared our things and brought dessert out to those who wanted it. Nora, Luis, and Oktavio had their after dinner cigarettes and Luis left for his coffee: black black real coffee. This summer looks to be a long way from the instant-coffee Mexico of last year.

S

Viaja conmigo

Travel with me...through my first days in Mexico.

De mangos

I watched men embrace barley,
horsemen sink into sky,
and laden wagons pulled by lowing oxen
travel down to the coast fragrant of mangos.

De Biografía para uso de los pajaros
Jorge Carrera Andrade

Nací en el siglo de la defunción de la rosa
cuando el motor ya había ahuyentado a los ángeles.
Quito veía andar la última diligencia
y a su paso corrían en buen orden los árboles,
las cercas y las casas de las nuevas parroquias,
en el umbral del campo
donde las lentas vacas rumiaban el silencio
y el viento espoleaba sus ligeros caballos.

Mi madre, revestida de poniente,
guardó su juventud en una honda guitarra
y sólo algunas tardes la mostraba a sus hijos
envuelta entre la música, la luz y las palabras.
Yo amaba la hidrografía de la lluvia,
las amarillas pulgas del manzano
y los sapos que hacían sonar dos o tres veces
su gordo cascabel de palo.

Sin cesar maniobraba la gran vela del aire.
Era la cordillera un litoral del cielo.
La tempestad venía, y al batir del tambor
cargaban sus mojados regimientos;
mas, luego el sol con sus patrullas de oro
restauraba la paz agraria y transparente.
Yo veía a los hombres abrazar la cebada,
sumergirse en el cielo unos jinetes
y bajar a la costa olorosa de mangos
los vagones cargados de mugidores bueyes.

El valle estaba allá con sus haciendas
donde prendía el alba su reguero de gallos
y al oeste la tierra donde ondeaba la caña
de azúcar su pacífico banderín, y el cacao
guardaba en un estuche su fortuna secreta,
y ceñían, la piña su coraza de olor,
la banana desnuda su túnica de seda.

Todo ha pasado ya, en sucesivo oleaje,
como las vanas cifras de la espuma.
Los años van sin prisa enredando sus líquenes
y el recuerdo es apenas un nenúfar
que asoma entre dos aguas
su rostro de ahogado.
La guitarra es tan sólo ataúd de canciones
y se lamenta herido en la cabeza el gallo.
Han emigrado todos los ángeles terrestres,
hasta el ángel moreno del cacao.