Stories about Huanusco

Ranches: Parish boundaries include many ranches. Getting to these ranches is very hard on the poor vehicles. Father Jesus Guerrero has 2 old pickups and a Volkswagen. None of the ranches is very far from Huanusco, but the highway ends outside of the small town. The roads into the ranches are not gravel, but beds with huge rocks. One rancher told me that in order to put his plow to the field he first took out and dumped 55 truckloads of rock. “Gosh, you could have sold them”, I told him. He smiled. There are rocks and more rocks everywhere. But God is good and always provides! Right now, when it is most arid, the tall cacti are ripe with fruit called “pitallas” which grow at the tips of the tall arms of these cacti. The cacti look like the ones in Arizona but these have many, many arms and their fruit looks like the cactus fruit but are less prickly. I have eaten half a dozen pitallas. Fr. Resendez once sat near me at a party and he ate like 16 or 18 pitallas. Goodness! The “agave” with which they make tequila is growing nice and tall. But because it is getting close to rainy season and just in case God forgets them, Father offers a Mass on a regular bases asking for rain. Many people attend that Mass.

At each ranch Father usually appoints a family to be in charge of the “flock”. They make all the announcements, take care of the temple, take the role of sacristan, catechist, etc. Father uses no parish bulletin so this family serves as his announcer and organizer, etc. Some leaders are better at their job than others. One or two ranches are extremely active and some are barely surviving. Some live from what they receive from their relatives in the USA and some have no income but what they can get selling milk, eggs, cheese, or handiworks. Every Friday is market day. It is amazing how they are able to just put up a small stand and sell homemade ice cream bars, fruit juices (most often these stands have tons of flies swarming all over the place). The families load Father up with all kinds of Tupperware containers filled with food…mole, chile, cactus leaves, etc. They are very generous. He gets no stipend and the collection from the smaller ranches is 50 pesos or less. He can hardly pay for the gas for his truck. Gas is almost 11 pesos a liter.

Whoever can afford them has farm animals. Some of the animals look great. The horses are used for travel and for carrying loads. People have chickens, a cow, a donkey or horse in their backyards. Many mornings I am awakened early by the crowing of the roosters. Some animals suffer from lack of feed. I wish there was a lack of scorpions and house and horse flies, too.

I have heard so many stories of animals who have suffered from scorpion bites. If a chicken gets bitten, she will try to breath but her throat gets closed up. So, a person can stick a carriage of a ballpoint pen across the neck, or, place a bucket over the frantic hen until it stops fighting for air. It should calm down inside the bucket and slowly recoup. If a cow gets bitten, she will not be able to drink even though she will go to the trough to drink. The water will fall out of her mouth. She can eat dry food for a day but cannot drink water. She will keep going for a drink but can’t drink. The man telling me the story said it was painful to watch. The cow eventually heals. The same goes for all the other animals. Some of the ladies said that if they can catch the animal they will try to give it lots of milk and garlic. That cures them.
One day I saw a horse’s carcass in a field. I had never seen a real carcass. The entire hide was still intact…head, tail, and small hip bones. This dead horse still had a rope tied around his nozzle. Poor animals. I saw a donkey with a rope tied—one front leg to one hind leg. I asked why. I was told that that way he would not run too far nor cross fences, etc. Often they get tied to a tree, no water nearby and in the blazing, hot sun! I am always hearing stories of cows being mean to other cows. One cow hit another cow and broke her jaw. She starved to death. One cow pushed another cow—a heifer over an embankment and killed her. As if the world was not already hard on them!
Dogs, cats and birds here are so different. The birds sing so uniquely beautiful. I love to hear their chirping. The lady next door showed me her 15 or 20 cages with parakeets, cardinals and others…what I thought were one-of-a-kind bird. The birds are so colorful. The cats…there are so many of them. But I’m not a cat lover. I do feel sorry for them because there are so many cats. One woman told me that her cat got a fever and died. She cried. But, dogs often shy away from people probably because people kick them and shoo them away. Some dogs roam the streets in packs at night and I hear the smaller dogs crying out in pain at night. My heart breaks.

Houses: The homes are mostly built of bricks covered with plaster. All the doors and windows have iron bars. Inside and outside the home one can see framed and unframed pictures of saints, Our Lady of Guadalupe or the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They also hang pictures and Rosaries in their autos, on things that move and on things which stay still. However, I don’t see many altars in their homes anymore. In olden days the home altar was a must.

The kitchen/dining room are often combined and most of the time homes don’t have a living room. Their kitchens and bathrooms have either very poor plumbing or no indoor plumbing at all. Dishes are washed outside in some concrete tubs. Their cupboards are very poor and pieced together. They have potable bottled water and it is dispensed from a wire stand. Some stands for this water are fancy with little faucets and others…like mine…are common wire contraptions which help with tilting the huge bottle so one can get water out. The bedrooms might have hard mattresses and no box springs but the bedcovers are often handcrafted pieces of art work. As are the dining room tables clothes. These pieces of art are: “des-hilados”, embroidered, cross stitched and crochet pieces. One older woman sent her table clothes and bedspreads to the USA so that her sister could sell them for her. She worked for months to complete a beautiful tablecloth made with “des-hilado” designs and she got $200 USD for it from a Japanese lady in California! So very sad!

Every home has an enclosed atrium or garden. There is often a lime tree in the garden. They use tons of limes in their cooking and serving meals. All water used is always recycled. Water is a rare commodity here. Most floors are tiled and need to be mopped daily but the water used is from after washing clothes, etc. One uses a broom to sweep the sidewalks and streets and not water. Every household owner must keep their portion of the street cleaned. The garbage trucks…small ¾ ton trucks…pick up on Mondays and Fridays. There are guys in back of truck sorting out the recyclables…cartons, cans, plastics, etc. I feel so sorry for them. They wear no gloves and are waist deep in the garbage sorting these things into gunny sacks. There might be needles, glass, etc. And, of course, no one drops toilet paper into the commode so it is thrown in the garbage, too.

The houses also have a place on the roof top where one can hang the wash. It takes me an hour or more to wash sheets, towels, and all the rest of my laundry. There is a concrete slab with “wrinkles” which serves as a washboard. I soak my clothes in a plastic can and take one piece out at a time. I scrub each piece with a huge bar of laundry soap. I throw each article into a basin which contains laundry detergent. I wash it there and then I put it in another container with rinse water and then it gets a second and sometimes a third rinse with Downy. I hang them up on clothes lines and all of the laundry is dry in an hour. In the Casa Central in Zacatecas we had available a couple of washers (with 25 Sisters there!). There is never a dryer available. In the nursing home in Irapuato we also had a 1950 washer but it eventually broke down. In the parish in Irapuato we had a washer but it was not connected to a water source or a drain so it took some ingenuity to fill and empty the washer.

Churches: Every sector, neighborhood, colony, ranch, and town has its own church. The people seem very proud of their small temples. They understand very well the difference between temple and church. I can’t describe the interior of these temples. Some have small altars to particular saints. Sometimes behind the main altar the people hang curtains as if to make a “retablo” and give it more importance, but the curtains can be faded, wrinkled, hanging poorly, etc. Though the church floor tile is clean, the pews are sometimes dilapidated and the fake flowers are old, too.

I have started going to the “colonias” with Father. He offers Mass out near someone’s home. Last night we got to the colony or barrio or neighborhood and there were some 25 or 30 people waiting for Mass. These folks can’t always get to the main church due to distance and lack of transportation, etc. They get a small table for an altar and Father brings his suitcase with all that he needs for Mass. The people sing and pray in such intimate and devoted ways. Father says that he has seen many return to the church because for the first time they got to see close up and personal what goes on when Mass is being offered. They get hooked or something. Whatever works! Father sure has a way with them. He talks to them in a way that they understand. Father is tireless. He does look old and tired but walks with determination and a positive spirit.

Most everyone knows and can sing by heart all kinds of religious songs. There are no missals or song books anywhere in the churches. The children know lots of prayers by heart. They were teaching me how to bless my pillow at night before lying down to sleep—“San Jorge, amara con un cordoncito bendito a todos los animalitos para que no me den un piquetito ni a mí ni a mis hermanitos. Amen.” (St. George, with your blessed little string tie all the little animals so that they don’t sting me nor my little brothers and sisters. Amen.) They know many prayers for rain to come, for the crops to grow, for the evil one to depart—“Cruz, cruz, que se vaya el diablo y que venga Jesús! (Cross, cross, may the devil flee and may Jesus come!), and for God to heal broken bodies and hearts.

The priests have a custom of having their mother, sister or lady to be their housekeeper. This priest in Huanusco is no exception. His 80 year old sister lives with him but he also has a live-in woman who is also the parish secretary. The people claim she makes all the decisions.

This is the month of May and it is a custom of this parish, as in most parishes, to offer flowers to Our Lady every day during the entire month. Different families offer to pay for the fresh flowers. I decided that in honor of my sister, Elida, I would offer to buy flowers on her birthday. The other day I also took my turn and led the Rosary in church. When I ended the Rosary I realized that I didn’t have a booklet to help me pray the litany. A 10 year old boy, who serves as an altar boy, offered to pray the Litany of Loreto all by heart! I was embarrassed for myself. I couldn’t believe it. The parish office sells monthly missals for 12 pesos, but many can’t afford to buy them each month. I am impressed that there are many altar servers who offer to serve daily Mass. They seem very spiritual and have great devotion to things of God. My delight is to tell them stories of saints. They seem to love them.

Families: Most families have two to three children. They say that even though they came from large families they can’t afford big families now. I see families with handicapped children: Downs’s syndrome, mental illness, or other physical handicap. These children are very loved and cared for. Most of the children dress nicely—hair neatly combed and braided (no boy has long hair), faces scrubbed and most of them well behaved. They wear uniforms to public schools. The children are always courteous and greet people on the streets: “Buenos días!” “Adios!” and so forth. They say that these towns have only women, children and grandparents because anyone who is able to work has gone to the USA to work. There are many hundreds of empty houses in these towns and ranches. There are some pretty nice homes built with money from the US. Some people say that they would rather build and leave their homes empty than have the USA tax their money since they know they will never get Social Security retirement funds there. Often they pay someone a token amount of money to oversee these homes and keep their yards. When they come on vacation they stay in their own homes.

Food: Tortillas and beans…pinto, “flor de Julio”, “Peruanos”, Lima and a huge variety of beans and rice are the basic foods. Chiles…all kinds and of different strengths, tomatoes, onions, garlic and cheese fall in the second most necessary food. Vegetables and fruits (mangos, papayas, pineapples, oranges, bananas and all kinds of limes) come in third place. Meats, fish and eggs are eaten often but in moderation. Milk is also used often. The necessary ingredients are the spices or “sazón” with which the food is prepared. I am learning to prepare food like they do. I don’t eat hot peppers much, but am trying. Quesadillas are regularly on the menu. Drinks are made by blending fruit with water. I have had cucumber drink…so very good and refreshing! I have had oatmeal water…blended with cinnamon, sugar and a little milk. Now, that is delicious! They use mangos, limes, carrots and anything else to make good and healthy drinks. My favorite fruit drinks are made with mango or pineapple. My least favorite drinks: guayaba, papaya, jamaica (a seed pod) or rice. My most favorite thing to eat—avocados! I like to eat fish as an alternative to meat. Meat is my least favorite food. When I’m in a hurry…I fix cheese (also a huge variety of cheeses) with tomato, avocado, cucumber and jícama slices and a little cilantro on a toasted tortilla. But I must admit that those who know how to prepare the special sauces for meats and other foods have my respect. Hats off to them!

Entertainment: How many channels do you think they offer on the basic $20 USD cable package? They gave me over 70 channels. Oh, my goodness! A good thing—these channels do not contain much low class stuff. On the contrary, there are many Catholic channels. Music is part of each day. One day I heard music and I looked out my window to see a whole bunch of “charros” on horseback going somewhere and musicians on horseback also playing their instruments and following the charros. The radios start off early in the morning and last all day. The children love acting, too. For any reason, any occasion there are dances performed in the plaza. Babies, as soon as they can stand up, know how to move their little bodies. I don’t like “ranchera” music. I guess I am old fashion and I like substance to the message. My hair salon lady in Irapuato gave me lots of good romantic music.

Speech: The people from Zacatecas speak differently from the people of Guanajuato. These people sing their words in a softer manner. But most young people use a lot of bad words. I was sitting next to a man while waiting for our tacos one day. The guy asked for a whole chile. He asked for a specific one but with a bad word in front of the name of the pepper. I was so sad I refused to look in his direction. Every other word is buey or “whey”…the name of a donkey! I want to start a club and then invite the young people to join. The club could be called, “El Santo Nombre de Jesus”. Goodness!

Stores: There are so many stores the same or similar to the stores in the USA. There are Wal-Marts, Costco, Sams, plus many auto stores with all the same goods. I don’t go to the club stores with membership but there are smaller stores which are just as good. I like going to markets to get fresh fruits and vegetables. Since I don’t buy meats I just avoid those stands…yuck! What I so admire are the works of art still made by hand. The needle works are fabulous.

The big fashion stores exist in big cities only. The merchants go buy clothes in big towns and come to the smaller towns and re-sell the articles. Shoes are not to be compared. In my opinion, they do not have good shoes. But some ladies here even wear “Pradas” …they might be fake! They wear such high, high heels! The heels are high and the clothes for ladies are super tight! Oh, my! Some items are more expensive; others are less. I miss USA ice cream. One kind of ice cream “La Michoacana” sells ice cream but no matter how good, it doesn’t compare to real USA ice cream.