A Lifetime Away From Here

Francisco F.

How many people have been to Mexico in their lifetime? I am not talking about the border towns that are along the Texas and California borders, the towns where you hear about killings, kidnappings, drug cartels and other hideous crimes. I lived in San Diego, California, for a time and the Tijuana border was minutes away. I crossed the border to Tijuana several times to entertain myself, but never in this lifetime would I like to live there. Drugs, crooked cops, prostitution and just plain mean people are on every corner. I'm talking about the part deep in the heart of Mexico, where you can live cheap and set the days on cruise control and relax. It is like a whole different world and a thousand miles from here, almost like traveling back in time. It is a totally different experience than living in the states. The culture is different, society is different, and life is taken at a much slower pace.

My parents emigrated from a small village in the state of San Luis Potosi. The name of the village is Derramaderros. The reason my folks traveled to the U.S. and left their homeland behind was to find a better way of living. For people that reside in this area, it is somewhat difficult to make a living. I wouldn't say that Derramaderros is poverty stricken, but people watch the way they spend their money. Work is available but when a local finds a job it pays poorly. Tourists can take half of what they would spend in a month to live in the states and live for a month in Mexico like royalty.

The economy is deprived in this part of the world. At the age of 10, I remember my grandma counting a handful of pesos and putting them away in a cabinet. The total amount of pesos was equaled to about 3 dollars. To me it did not seem like much, but to her it seemed like that was worthy of putting in the bank. People get along in life by doing odd jobs at very sorry pay. About 8 months ago, I went to Mexico to spend a couple of weeks there. I walked to my aunt's house and caught her making a large batch of corn tortillas. She told me they were for the next door neighbor and she was making them for a total of 50 pesos. The amount of 50 pesos equals out to be five American dollars. The time she put into making them was about three hours over a hot stove and to me this is extremely poor pay for a job of this type. You might ask yourself, "what can I buy with 50 pesos?" For three hours of work and the 50 pesos my aunt received she can buy a new t-shirt. Products are relatively cheap, but the consumer needs more money to buy the products. For this reason many people emigrate illegally to the U.S. for jobs. A job that pays 300 dollars a week in the states for a family of five is meager, but that kind of money in Mexico is good quality pay for a family of five. This is the reason behind my parent's immigration to the U.S.

It is a change of lifestyle living down in Mexico. The houses are all made of cinder block as opposed to lumber in the U.S. and very close together. The cinder block keeps them cool but the closeness of the houses doesn't let a breeze through and the temperature gets a tad warm during the summer. My grandma has a gas stove in the kitchen, which she hardly uses. Most of the time she prefers to use her wood stove made out of cinder blocks and she wakes up at the crack of dawn to chop firewood. Running water is only available on certain days, and there is no hot water available to take showers. My grandma always keeps a fire going outside the kitchen to place a bucket of water to heat up. The water runs for a couple of hours on certain days for certain parts of the village. If there is no running water, which means there are no dishwashers, or laundry machines for use. That is the reason that my grandmother along with the rest of the population of Derramadersos washes clothes and dishes by hand.

People still get around on horseback and everybody has a least one bicycle in their household because it is cheaper than a vehicle. All families have a plot of land used for cultivation which is called a milpa. The plowing and planting of the land is done physically with two steers and a plow, and the thing most commonly planted is white corn and a small amount of sugarcane. The sugarcane is for the person with the sweet tooth in the family. One cuts the stalk close to the ground, peels the outside layer of the stalk and chews on the sweet inside and spits it out. The corn is harvested and stored to make corn tortillas. The corn is soaked in water for a few hours in the evening; it's then drained and sits out overnight and taken to the mill the following morning to be ground into dough. After everything is harvested the left over stalks are cut with a sickle and fed to cattle.

The beauty of this area rests in its architecture, geographical landscapes, the weather, and the festivities. The churches are enormous and have vaulted ceilings with beautiful paintings. One example of a church is the Parish of the Immaculate Conception located in the mountains of Real de Catorce. People travel here to pay homage to Saint Francis of Assisi or also known as "Panchito." At the center of every town there is a plaza with beautiful gardens where people gather and pass the time. The area I visit is located in a valley, and surrounded by mountains. The mountains are massive and covered with wildlife for the nature buff. To the south of Derramaderos a crystal clear spring feeds the lake called the Media Luna (half moon). People can enjoy a nice swim and picnic for the day. Weather is not a thing to complain about here either. It is never too hot and never too cold, always right for a B.B.Q. and a cold Corona with one's friends. It also seems to me that every time I turn my head there is some party going on. Somebody's getting married, somebody's quinciera (sweet 15), or somebody's birthday. People know how to have a good time in Mexico. There is always a huge feast first and then there is a dance with a live band. You are probably asking yourself, "how do you pay for all this?" The neat thing about this place is that everybody in the village pitches in and everybody is invited for a good time.

This lifestyle is not for the person with weak qualities. The living here is set back a few years compared to living standard in the states. There is no running water for hot showers, no washer machines for your clothes, or no mini malls. But if you don't mind doing a few chores and living without some of the luxuries you have now, you will enjoy this place. The experience you get by living like this is unforgettable. You live life without the rush hour and watch the days roll by.