We loaded my two huge, heavy suitcases in a small taxi right in front of the Casa Central in Zacatecas. I was glad that the Sisters had left early in the morning for their first day of congress talks at the Colegio del Centro in another part of Zacatecas. Earlier I had written a note on the board saying “Good-bye” to them all. It was hard. I was so nervous about starting anew in another town that there was hardly room available in my heart to experience the sadness about leaving my good Sister friends in Zacatecas who had grown fond of me and me of them.
A few days before the arrival of many Sisters from the different missions, we had all been put to work preparing the bedrooms: washing bedspreads, dusting, mopping, and putting clean towels, etc. in each room. There are many rooms in this house. Some have up to six beds but all have a full bathroom in each room. Most Sisters did not know who I was but they would greet me with a hug and kisses on both cheeks and a Christmas greeting.
I left the house at 11:15 for “la Central de Camiones”, bus station. My bus was scheduled to leave at noon. At 1:15 p.m. we finally boarded. I was planning to arrive in Irapuato (“Ira” for short) at 5:00 p.m. but I arrived at 7:30 p.m. The taxi from the bus station to the Casa Hogar-La Paz cost me $3.50 (35.00 pesos). The house was completely dark but one of the street gates was still open. No light at the front door but I found the door bell—switches are usually located high up the door frame. I rang and rang. Nothing. There was a man sitting in the dark on a wooden box near the gate and I asked him if he knew anything about the Sisters who ran the nursing home. He said, “Well, I know that they lock the gate at night. The gate is still open so they must still be up.” That gave me hope. I rang again and waited. Finally, an elderly Sister opened a little window on the door. I told her who I was and she said, “We waited for you all day.” I said, “Here I am!”
The Sisters were all in their dining room having dinner. There are 6 of them: Mari-Paz, the Director; Ana Maria and Aurelia, heads of the women’s wings, both young; Edith and Emily, both elderly; and Silvia, middle age, head of the men’s wings. They seem very nice. They wear a white dress with a full length white apron, blue sweater, white veil and white shoes. They are nurses, but the congregation has Sisters in schools and in parish work, too. The name of their congregation: “Hermanas Minimas de Maria Inmaculada”. They are celebrating their 125th anniversary this year. They have around 300 members scattered all over Mexico and Central & South America.
After a glass of water I was ushered to my bedroom. The room is right near the men’s wing. They keep the women completed separated from the men’s area. They even eat in separate dining rooms. My room is nice. It has a bed and a piece of furniture which is like a closet. Most of the room’s space is taken up by an enclosed room which contains a sink, a toilet and a shower head. I showered and the water splashed on the toilet and the sink. Oh, well! I keep the toilet paper outside the area. I am ever so grateful for my down pillow and blanket. The pillow on the bed was a huge, hard hunk of matted cotton. There was small blanket, too. I would have frozen.
Someone made a loud banging noise several times during the night. It was such a loud noise that it registered but I was so-o-o tired that I did not care. I asked about it this morning and they told me that it must have been one of the residents. No big deal. All rooms open to a patio with rose bushes which have all been trimmed for the winter and many palm trees and other exotic plants. Early this morning the hired help was mopping the corridor tiles. No unpleasant smells anywhere! Thank God.
I went to chapel for Mass on the Feast of the Holy Innocents and all the Sisters and residents sat for over an hour and waited for the priest who never showed up. The chapel is huge. The residents are invited to attend daily Mass. The Sisters pray Lauds at 6:00 a.m. followed by Mass at 7:00 a.m. I prayed to my heart’s delight but one lady kept saying in a loud voice, “Someone, please, get me out of here!” It was cold in chapel. The wheelchair residents are all bundled up and brought in to the front. The chapel is decorated with lighted Christmas deer and a crèche with Louisiana moss hanging everywhere. The director told me not to leave my books in chapel because the residents will take them.
The residents eat first and then the Sisters. The same food is brought to the Sisters in their dining room. I think you would all absolutely die if I invited you to eat in the Sisters’ dining room. When we turn the lights on, the cockroaches…all sizes and shapes scramble for hiding places. They are on the stove, inside the refrigerator—everywhere! The Sisters says that they’ve given up trying to fumigate them. The place is clean but the animals continue. Needless to say, I am eating very little.
The residents had a big bowl of beans freshly boiled, scrambled eggs, hot tortillas, a glass of orange juice, cold cereal and papaya and a cup of hot “café de la olla” which is coffee boiled in cinnamon water, with milk and sugar. Some women had to be fed. I helped feed some of them but I am now going to wait and ask the director first. The helpers are looking at me funny. They have a system. The help is mainly young girls who look about 15 but are probably 20 years old.
This morning I opened the door and went out the gate to find a store. There on the sidewalk were hundreds of baskets full of strawberries. I could not believe my eyes. Irapuato is the capital of strawberries in Mexico. I quickly took my camera and asked a man if I could take his picture. He said yes and asked me where this picture would end up. I told him I would take it to Oregon, another strawberry growing area. He said, “Take me instead of my picture.”
I left all my clothes hangers in Zacatecas so I headed to the market to buy new ones. They had 10 hangers for $2. I also bought laundry detergent & softener. I bought an extension cord. I wanted to get a mirror (no mirrors anywhere here!), a small lamp (they have sheer curtains in my room and with a big ceiling light I think people can see from the patio) but could not find those things in the market. I bought a small plastic stool to use as a bed side table. But,…in this market one can find fresh un-refrigerated meat and raw cut up chickens and vegetables but…it’s not a Wal-Mart like in Zacatecas. The odor can knock you over. I am not allowing those things to bother me. However, I was not able to connect to Internet either and that does bother me. Sister Aurelia and I could not get my computer configured to their modem.
It is nearly six. The Sisters gather in chapel at 6:00 p.m. and pray Vespers at 7:00 p.m. followed by dinner. At 8:00 p.m. they return to chapel to pray Compline and after that they retire. They sure pray together a lot here in Mexico! They have two long periods of meditation. So, their long 16 hr. days are from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m. Poor Sisters! These girls have no time for visitors like me. I feel sorry for them. Sister Ana Maria asked me to run to the drugstore yesterday where she went to “re-load” her telephone. They buy minutes…100 pesos gave her 400 minutes…that is $10. She is Americanized because she has lived in Arizona where they have a house of their Sisters. Anyway, all errands are “run here” or “run there”. I don’t see a car anywhere on their grounds.
Tomorrow the director will speak with me tomorrow to let me know what my “job” will be here.
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