Tequila

This past weekend, we took a trip with some of our friends: Steve and Sue, Jeanne and Paul, and Fred and Mardele to the town of Tequila. Tequila is in Jalisco, about two hours from here. As its name suggests, it is the center of the tequila industry, with the Herradura, Jose Cuervo, and Sauza distilleries all nearby, along with countless other smaller distilleries.

We chose to tour the Jose Cuervo factory. It's right in town and one of the most esteemed distilleries. Tequila is such a presence in Mexico; I was curious to learn a bit more about the industry and the process of making tequila. As you probably already know, tequila is made from the nectar of the blue agave cactus. Jalisco is the center of the tequila industry, and the vast majority of tequila is made in Jalisco. (The are apparently a few manufacturing facilities in towns neighboring Jalisco, but they have been certified by the Mexican government.) When you drive through the area west of Guadalajara, you see hillsides covered with blue agave plants. It is quite striking.

The first step of the manufacturing process is the cutting of leaves off of the agave plant to expose the head, or core of the plant. Each plant takes about 8 years to mature. Here is a statue of a worker using the traditional method of removing the leaves.

The shorn heads, or pinas, are then gathered and prepared for baking.
The heads are then baked in an oven for about 36 hours, and squeezed to produce a sweet nectar. It takes approximately 6 pinas to produce one liter of tequila. Here the baked pinas are being conveyed to be squeezed.

Yeast is added to the juice, and the juice is fermented for about several days to produce an alcoholic brew. This is then distilled twice to produce a white tequila which is 55 percent alcohol. This is diluted with water to become "blanco" or clear tequila, the lowest quality tequila. When this is aged in oak barrels (oak from the US or France) for 3-4 months, the tequila takes on an amber color, and is considered "rested" or :reposado." This is a smoother tequila, better for sipping. Tequila that has been aged for a year or more is considered "anejo," the highest grade tequila. We were able to taste all grades including the 5 year anejo, Cuervo "Familia" brand which, until the 1990's was only for the Cuervo family. It was very good, but at $80US a bottle, a bit steep for my tastes. It discovered that I prefer reposado, which is good since it's less than $20 US a bottle. Here are the distilling tanks. (The image is a bit blurry since I could not use a flash, and it was difficult to hald the camera steady enough.)
Here are the oak barrels in which the reposado and anejo are aged:
We finished the tour of the factory with a tasting where we were taught to appreciate the finer points of tasting tequila. It was fun, although most of us are not going to become regular tequila sippers!

The young people at the end of the table are university students from Lyon, France who are studying in Morelia. There was a grenade attack during the Independence Day grito in Morelia, President Calderon's hometown, on September 15; seven people were killed. This was a terrible attack by the drug terrorists trying to intimidaete the Mexican government which has been finding and arresting the drug lords. These students reported they were just 50 meters from the blast.

I was surprised that Tequila was such a small, unsophisticated town. I guess it's my American mindset; I thought that a town with such a tourist gold mine would be more like a theme park. Instead, it's just a moderate-sized town where Mexicans live and work in the tequila industry. Here's a view of the town. The red, white, and green flags in the plaza are left over from Independence Day.



On the house front, we are enjoying having our privacy back. However, a new problem has emerged. We have noticed that we are going through our propane quickly (We use this for cooking, hot water, and our dryer, which we hardly use). A tank of gas, which costs about $100 USD should last 3 months; ours is used in a month. We think we have a leak in the line somewhere. Problem is, the lines are all buried within our concrete walls. Hmmmm. We need to contact a plumber, according to the gas guys. We'll see how much of a problem this is!

Here's a poem I wrote which was inspired by the tequila trip:

Tequila

I watch as they squeeze

The baked agave heart

To extract the sweet nectar

Which will become

A fine añejo.

How did the Aztecs discover

The secret of this blue cactus

Which would blunt their senses

Perhaps, and make sense

Of their blood sacrifice?

For this tequila is

The story of all Mexico,

The beauty and the tragedy.

For as the blue agave spreads

Upon the hills of Jalisco

Stunning against the crimson sun,

And reliably generates wealth

To a lucky few,

Always the same few

Who squeeze the labor

From the brown bodies

As they squeeze the juice

From the cactus.

And it is this same spirit

Which has nourished the

Bloody violence of the Revolution

And naked exploitation

Which has burned a hole

Into the Mexican soul.

I stopped my car

In the hot sun

One morning

By a group

Of dark-skinned, unshaven men

To ask directions.

They staggered and slurred

And offered me

A bit of their tequila

And I tried

But could not see

Through their glassy eyes

Into their pain.

And I think of those men

And gaze at the beautiful garden

As I sip my reposado

And remember to remember

How I have been lucky

To have been born

On the right side

Of this beautiful blue agave.

16 de Septiembre: Viva Mexico!

The sixteenth of September is Mexican Independence Day, and my observation is that Mexicans celebrate it with abandon; they are very proud of Mexico and show it with the phrase, "Viva Mexico!"

On the evening of September 15, at 11PM, municipal officials all over Mexico ceremoniously read the "grito", the words read by Miguel Hidalgo on the evening of September 15, 1810, to publicly declare Mexico's independence from Spain. All the plazas in Mexico are clogged with patriotic citizens partying with tequila and cerveza, eating tacos and sopes, dressed in red, white and green. This year, runners with torches ran to points throughout Mexico from Guanajuato, where Hidalgo and his confederates were captured and beheaded in 1810, and from where the War of Independence was launched. (To avoid confusion, the Mexican Revolution started in 1910, and overthrew the dictator Porfirio Diaz, and implemented many land reforms and socialistic labor laws still in effect today.)

We went to a unique event in Ajijic which included the parade of the robozos. Rebozos are the colorful shawls Mexican women wear. Peasant women use their robozos to keep warm, as a blanket at night, and to swaddle their babies. This night was a night for celebrating the Mexican women and girls of all ages. Here are some photos:





























Well, the school year has arrived, and I am teaching another level one English class at the Wilkes Biblioteca. I asked that I could be assigned a time earlier in the afternoon, since my last year's schedule was 5:30-7:00, right during the dinner hour. This year, I have a much more desirable 3:30-5, but, as a result, my students tend to be younger, perhaps 70% teenagers from 13-17. This year I got smart and had them make name tags, then photographed them so I can learn their names. Here are four of the sweet faces I have in class:















Daniel and Dora, our friends from our rental last year, are both enrolled in my English class.

Our house painting has been completed. Now every inch of the house has been painted. Pixie, who has worried mightily about the color selection, is pleased and so am I. Here are some photos:
















































Finally, I'd like to show one last photo. Juan Jose, one of my former students, works construction, and his wife runs a small taco restaurant out of their Ajijic home. They have two sons. Juan Jose recently had the photo of one of his sons tattooed on his arm. He is saving up money to tattoo a photo of his other son on his other arm. He proudly displays his tattoo here:

Old Wet Gringos on a Bus

This photo shows some of our friends, from left: Paul, Sharon, Norm, Lew, and Trudy, as we made it back onto the bus after a downpour in Guadalajara after watching the annual parade which kicks off the city's Mariachi Festival. Mariachi music was popularized after the 1910 revolution and was founded in Jalisco. Each year, mariachi bands from all over the world gather in Guadalajara. We saw mariachis from as far away as Asia.

We were able to sit on the balcony of a local restaurant to view the parade. Here are some photos of our friends and some of the parade:






























Clockwise from top left: Pixie, Steve and Sue; Fred and Mardele; Sharon, Angela, Bebe, and Trudy; Lew, Jeanne, Paul, and Norm. These are some of our best friends from our UU Fellowship, probably all Obama voters.




























These are photos of the parade festivities. (You can click on the images to make them bigger.)

On a more serious note, you may have been hearing about increasing violence in Mexico these days. This is definitely true, and it is almost all drug-related violence. There have been many kidnappings and brutal murders. Mexican President Felipe Calderon has "declared war" on the drug cartels, who are moving drugs from South America through Mexico to the USA border. He has ordered the Mexican army to lead the fight, along with the federal, state and local police. Most of the people being targeted are rival drug gangs, police officers and journalists. Although there has been crime in the lake Chapala area, it is mostly theft. Security is a concern, and most of the gringos here take it seriously, but we are not worried about our safety here. The only incident I have heard of recently is a drive-by shooting in Chapala, which was drug-related , and a kidnapping in Jocotepec of a loan shark. The victims in both of these cases have been Mexican. So far, there seems to be little concern for retired expats, other than theft. I will post more about this in the future because it does concern relatives and friends up north, and especially those considering moving here themselves.

We have a crew here this week finishing up the last of the immediate work we are doing on the house: painting the exterior. Picking colors has a been difficult here in Mexico because none of the old rules apply. We see so many wild colors that would look ridiculous in Maine but are just fine here. We want to select good colors for this type of architecture, but with so many choices, it's difficult to decide. We spent some time riding around looking at houses and comparing the colors to our color charts. We finally selected a dark tan with terra cotta trim, with a lighter tan for the outside wall. It's looking great so far; I'll post photos soon!

Below is a photo of our dinner club group celebrating Jeanne's birthday just before we all sat down to watch Barack Obama's splendid speech last Thursday.

Note: The following paragraph is for mature Democrats and Liberal Independents. Some Republicans may find this content offensive.

Since the weekend, we've all been astonished at the selection of Gov. Palin to be McCain's running mate. Although I originally thought it was going to be a disaster for MCain and help Obama be elected, I have come to my senses and realize that this is the same electorate which elected George W. Bush twice! Could they put this young governor a 72 year-old heartbeat away from the most powerful position in the world?!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Well, we found our first black widow spider this morning. Actually Maria Elena, our maid, found it when she was dusting around the fireplace. It was bigger than I thought, and very much alive with a web with a baby in it. I was, however, able to overcome my Buddhist instincts and killed them both! We have been spraying the house once a month which has just about eliminated cockroaches and we've seen no more scorpions, but spiders seem to be less affected by the spraying. Anyway, I think this is a cool picture.

Last time I wrote about our maid, Maria Elena and our gardener, Horacio. I finally took photos of them. Horacio has been helping us do more in our garden. Plants are very inexpensive with lots of viveros (nurseries) in the area. So it's a good deal: We buy the plants and he does the heavy work!
Here are two of the garden projects we've been working on. On the left are the "cupo de oros" we have planted next to our terrace to eventually provide shade in the late afternoon. Now the sun streams in. On the right is Pixie's new rose garden.



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Maria Elena comes every Thursday to clean, but she does a little bit of everything. When we were putting on a dinner party with Mexican food one night, she jumped right in to show us how to prepare the chilis. We needed some sheets fitted to our bed, and she altered them for us. She's now started cutting my hair too. I, of course, pay her more for this, but she does a beautiful job, and it beats waiting in line at a Pelequeria (barber shop).
We have been experiencing a few water/sewer-related problems lately. The water comes from municipal wells here in Riberas, but the water has a lot of sediment and is very hard water. We have been having some problems with the water having a sulfur smell. It's not dangerous; we haven't become sick, but it is an unpleasant smell. It comes and goes, but we can't seem to get rid of it. I've been changing the filters on the water purification system and putting chlorine into the underground water tank (ajibe), but we have switched to bottled water for drinking, although we use the tap water for cooking and washing.

The other unpleasant problem is with our septic system. Our leech field is under our back yard. When the septic system, which is on an automatic pump, pumps the effluent into the leech field, we can smell it. It is unpleasant, but it only lasts a short time. But when we moved in, we did not have the problem. After talking to a septic professional, he told me it's because of the soil here. During the rainy season, the ground is saturated, so it takes longer for the effluent to percolate out. Once the rainy season is over next month, the problem should resolve itself. I hope so. Whew. Ultimately, we are supposed to get a sewer system here, so that will solve it.

The other big news for me is that I published a volume of my poetry. My friend Vicente did the cover illustration, and his partner Donna translated my title poem, "Sacred Lake" into Spanish. Here's the cover:
And here is the title poem:

Sacred Lake

I have come to a place where rivers

Flow from all directions

Into an ancient sacred lake

Which draws those

Searching and yearning, craving

Its cool waters and blood-red sunsets

To calm their souls and please their gods.

I was not looking for a lake

For I had traveled to many lakes

And I did not feel thirsty.

Yet, as I came upon this lake

So resplendent with spirits

Of many lives lived, I found my muse

And it quenched a thirst

I never felt till I fell at its bank

And drank deeply of its richness.

And I sense the presence of stunning

Aztec youth sacrificed to Quetzalcoatl,

Their fluids draining, with their lives,

From the mountains into the limpid waters

Far below. As now I see the old men

Casting their nets, content in their solitude,

Hoping to catch their dreams here.

And now as I drink from this lake

I taste the blood and desperate tears

Of those who cry and bleed for moments lost

Yet their fluids still seep

Into my heart; I embrace my muse

Finding my deep trembling voice

To create every moment anew.

And I bask in the heat of everyone

Who has learned to love again

By this ancient sacred lake.

A Day In the Life (continued)

Continuing the theme from the last post, I'll discuss more about "what we do all day." I hesitate to write much about this, because I don't want this to turn into a ridiculous diary of our life here, self-indulgent and not so interesting (as SO MANY blogs turn out to be), but I figure if you're not at least somewhat interested in this, you won't be reading it.

One of the benefits of living here, and one that took me a long time to get used to, is the opportunity to hire people to help with the cleaning and maintenance around the house. When we bought our house, the previous owners employed Maria Elena as a maid. She came once a week for five hours, and had a specific routine for keeping the house clean. They also employed a young man as a gardener, Horacio, who worked 2-3 hours a week. The yard looked superb. We decided to keep them on, so now they work for us.

There are some interesting issues, though, with hiring domestic help. First of all, you are considered their patron, which means you are assuming some responsibility for them. Accordingly, when we go away, like we did in the spring, we still pay them to come and work, at the same wage, so they don't lose any money. We are expected to help them, as we can, if they get sick, etc, by paying them even if they have to miss work. Mexican law requires that we pay a Christmas bonus, according to a specific formula. We also need to pay generous severance pay if we terminate their employment or sell the house. This, too, is determined by their length of service. In the case of several years of employment, the severance pay could amount to several thousand dollars! On the other hand, the pay is very reasonable. Maria Elena was earning $150 pesos ($15 USD) per five hour week. We immediately gave her a raise to $200 pesos, very cheap. Horacio earns between $80-120 pesos per week, depending on how much work there is to do. So, for us, the bottom line is that for about $120USD a month, we have the house thoroughly cleaned every week and the yard and gardens tended to.

Now Maria Elena and Horacio will do whatever we ask, but my experience is that they have been taking care of this house and yard for a number of years before we arrived, so I try not to get in their way. We do ask Horacio to plant plants which we buy, move or remove other plants, and he freely gives us advice on what/where to plant things. But generally, we let him do his thing. Maria Elena, who is in her early 50's is a whirlwind. She starts every day by slapping the furniture and window areas with a towel. This is how she dusts. I'm not sure she's getting rid of the dust or just moving it around, but it does look good when she's done. I try to stay out of the way to avoid getting slapped with the towel! She sweeps, mops, cleans, shakes rugs, scours, all with energy. If I put music on, she dances while she works. The other thing she loves to do is talk, enthusiastically, in Spanish, as though we understand every word she is saying. (As a result, we are learning more, and can 'hear' Spanish better. Pixie often understands better what she's saying form the context than I do.) If she sees us unloading groceries, she helps, and gives us advice about how to cook the items she is unloading. She brings us crafts she makes, and sometimes food. If we have any type of pain or illness, she goes outside and finds herbs to make us a medicinal tea. She gives us decorating advice to help us make our house "muy bonita." ....Sometimes we need to leave while she's here because she's exhausting. But she's a wonderful woman and we love being her patron. We gave her some plants the other day, so we drove her home (she usually takes the bus) and got to see her little house and garden in Chapala and met her family; we were, of course, introduced as her patrons.

So, we DO have housework to do, and some maintenance outside. But the heavy work is taken care of. This is an amazing advantage for us. And we get lots of care and loving advice along the way.

We both have activities we do, which I have written about before. Pixie takes her water aerobics in the mornings, has several women's groups she meets with, is taking Spanish with a group of women in the area, and will be working at an orphanage in the fall. I teach English two afternoons a week, participate in a men's film group, and participate in the Ajijic Writers' Group. We both participate in a political discussion group over dinner at a local restaurant, a Great Books discussion group, and are active participants in our Unitarian Universalist fellowship each Sunday. So, we're busy, but can always skip something if we are tired or feel like doing something else.

The afternoons are usually the warmest parts of the day, especially in the spring, and we like to take siesta time when we can. Pixie often just reads and relaxes, and I read then nap. For dinner, when we eat in, we usually either cook on the grill or prepare vegetables and fish or something inside. We tend to eat light in the evening. We have several options for eating food prepared elsewhere. There is a Taiwanese buffet here in Riberas with enough food for both of us for $38 pesos. Or for $35 pesos we can buy half a roasted chicken with potatoes, salad, salsa, and tortillas. As I've written about before, this area has many restaurants and the cost is affordable. We can easily eat out at a nice place for about $200 pesos. But, because it still adds up, and because it's harder to eat healthy food (or more tempting not to) we eat in a lot.

In the evenings, if we're not out with friends socializing, we tend to watch movies (which we usually buy at the market for $35 pesos, borrow from friends, or rent from the Lake Chapala Society library). We recently picked up a Rummikub game at a yard sale, and enjoy playing that or gin. We bought a scrabble game too, my particular favorite, but, of course, it's a Mexican version, so the letter distributions, and even some letters are different ("ll", "ch" "rr" and the "enyay," --the "n" with the squiggle over it-- are separate letters), but we manage.

We're usually up until after 11, mas o menos, reading. I usually conk out before Pixie.

Addendum: last night we went to celebrate Jesus' and Dora's birthdays. As usual, we were the only gringos at their family party. It was a fun night with Dora's tamales, two pinatas, and cake. Here are some photos:

A Day in the Life...

When we returned to the US for a visit this spring, several friends asked us what it was like for us living in this area of Mexico on a day to day basis. "What do you do all day?" they wanted to know. We don't spend our days eating tacos and listening to mariachi music, so what is a typical day like for retirees living in the Lake Chapala area? I was stuck for what to write about for my next blog entry, and Pixie suggested this. The truth is, our lives now are not very exotic.

Being retired has its advantages and disadvantages. Obviously, not having to worry about going to work is huge. Living here offers many opportunities for getting involved in various activities, so, you can be as busy or idle as you wish. The downside is the fact that we have to live on a limited income. We are living on a state pension, and we try to put money aside every month for our trips north, and we basically live on what's left. Generally this is not a problem. Now that we own an house and are in the process of furnishing it, it is tempting to spend more than we can afford. Mostly, though, we have no problem living on our income because of the generally low cost of living here.

So...a typical day. I am an early riser and enjoy getting up early to have a cup of tea, check my email and read the newspapers online. I always enjoyed reading the paper newspaper in Maine, but here, The Guadalajara Reporter, the English language newspaper comes out only once a week, so I read the newspapers online. I regularly check the NY Times, The Washington Post and sometimes The Boston Globe and the Lewiston, Maine, Sun-Journal. Since we now have a Mexican mailing address, I cancelled all my magazine subscriptions and now read them online. My two favorites were The Atlantic and The New Yorker. But now that I can access other magazines online as well, I often read the Nation, The National Review, and the Economist. I still miss the paper versions of periodicals, but the cost for international subscriptions is high.

Sometimes I do some writing in the mornings while it is quiet. I have written enough poetry to publish a collection. I am collaborating with an artist friend, Vicente, to do a painting for the cover, and Donna, his partner, is translating my title poem, The Sacred Lake, into Spanish. I have been working on that project in the mornings recently.

It stays dark here late because we are very far west in the central time zone, so it doesn't get light until about 7:30, so I am usually up in the dark. Pixie usually is up by about 8:30, but is not good for much conversation for another hour or so. She makes tea and turns on the news. (We have DISH network here. It thinks we're in New York, so we get local NY stations, but the usual list of cable channels.) Maggie often sleeps even longer! She does not like to get up.

Generally, I have to water the gardens every couple of days. This time of year, we often get rain at night, so it isn't as necessary. I usually do this in the morning. Our ajibe (our underground water tank) fills only through the day, so if we use a lot of water at night, we may run out till it fills the next morning. It usually takes me about half an hour or so to do the watering, but I love the tropical plants, and it's very relaxing to just walk around with the hose and generously water. We have a young man, Horacio, who comes once a week for about 2 1/2 hours to mow, trim, prune, and weed. He has been taking care of this garden for years and keeps it looking beautiful.
On a typical day, we usually have things we need to do. Today, for example, is market day. Since we generally buy our fruits and vegetables, yogurt, cereal, flowers, honey and spices at this market, it is a regular Wednesday morning chore. Pixie is doing water aerobics now, and she has this on Wednesdays, so she generally catches a ride with a friend while I go the the market alone. If she's around, she always comes with me. This usually takes a couple of hours, because we have to check over all the produce and we invariably run into friends, so we get talking. We have our regular vendors we like. We always buy our produce from Aaron and his wife, Carmen. They help us pick out the best pieces and usually throw in some cilantro and chiles for free. Several times I've inadvertently left something (produce I've bought, or another package) at Aaron's stand, and he always saves it for me for the following week. He takes good care of us, and we are loyal to him. We buy our cereal from an Indian woman. The granola is excellent. She recently broke her hip, so her husband is running the stand. We usually check to see what new movies are available from the movie guy. He knows me now, so when I walk up to the stand, he hands me a stack of the new movies he has. The movies are 35 pesos, or three for 100 pesos ($10). They are all pirated, but in English and generally good quality. We buy flowers almost every week, and fresh yogurt. The hardest part is hauling everything back to the car.

Even if it's not market day, we usually just shop for our evening meal the day we are eating it. It's easier to do this because we may have a sudden change of plans if friends invite us to join them for dinner. Also, the fish and meat is much fresher if we buy it and consume it immediately. Usually we eat fish, shrimp, chicken, or beef, either grilled or stir fried when we cook in. Pixie has lost about 17 pounds, and is keeping me eating much more healthily than when we first got here. Mexican food is delicious, but uses lots of fat (like lard!) and the tortillas are delicious but very fattening. We eat Mexican food sometimes when we go out, but, except for fresh tortillas to make quesadillas and tacos, which I love, we don't cook Mexican much at home. I recently ordered a book from Amazon The Gringos' Guide to Mexican Cooking, though and I want to try some healthier Mexican alternatives.

Also on a typical day, we may have other errands to do. We may need to pick up a prescription from a 'farmacia, ' which can take a long time. Drugs are generally available over-the-counter, but the prices can vary widely. We might find one drug at a good price at one store, but another at a different one. So comparison shopping works. We need to check our mail in Ajijic a couple of times a week. We sometimes need to pick up printer paper, fill and ink cartridge, or pick up cleaning supplies or any number of other things. These are usually sold in different stores, so shopping can take a considerable part of the day.

I will continue this post next week...

Unexpected Leaks

Well, we thought our renovations were complete, but the heavy rains brought some unexpected leaks into the house. We thought we were in the clear. We had experienced some heavy rains early in the season, and we'd had no leaks. BUT...after we finished our renovation and painting, of course, several leaks appeared, dripping water onto the floor and leaving mildew stains on the ceiling and walls. Here's what water does to concrete walls and ceilings. Doesn't look too bad but it needs to be fixed to prevent more damage:



I thought they could be easily fixed, so we called our good friend and construction guy, Antonio, and asked what we should do. Ahhh...not so simple. The clay tiles on the roof needed to be removed, and the flat tile roof underneath needed to be sealed with a plastic paint they use here for waterproofing. Apparently this needs to be done every few years, and the previous owners did not do it. Antonio suggested that while we have the tiles off we should do all the areas of the roof where leaks have appeared. So, we now have a sealed roof, but we have to wait for the leaky areas to dry before sealing and repainting.

I was feeling a bit sorry for myself since we hadn't planned to spend this extra money. So when our Mexican buddies who did the renovation cheerfully showed up and told us "Don't worry Mr. Guillermo...we feex your casa. No more agua!" and went to work, I was glad at least to be getting it fixed. However, as I began to chat with the workers, I was able to put our problem in perspective. They all started telling me, very cheerfully, often laughing, about the terrible leaks in their homes. Here they were fixing our leaks while they were having worse problems which they could not afford to fix themselves. When we ran out of tiles (some inevitably break when being removed), Jesus went home and retrieved some tiles form his OWN house to put on our house. I was, of course aghast when I discovered this. "No problema, Mr. Beell, that part of my house need fixing anyway." What do I say to these guys???!!!

This very unequal situation prompted the following poem I wrote and read at the writers' group yesterday morning:

Mexican Rain

They accept the rain
Without grudge
As the clouds empty
Over the green mountains
Bringing waves of mud
Cruelly into the cobbled streets
And into their homes
Darkening their lives.

We, however, insist
On stopping all leaks
Which, to us,
Represent failure
And calamity.

And so they work
Conscientiously
To patch our roofs
While the rain
Pours into their homes,
For they know
That water is not
A tragedy.
It comes and it dries
And keeps us connected
To the earth
And that patching a roof
Only provides
The illusion
Of permanence.

One last note: I did a funny "dumb gringo" thing when they were fixing the roof. I borrowed their ladder to climb up on the roof of the terrace over the BBQ area at the back of our yard to see if I could see the lake from there. I did NOT realize that the tiles are not strong enough to support my weight. So....I realized almost immediately that this was NOT a good idea, and turned to go back, but it was too late, my legs had fallen through and I was hanging onto a support bar. Jesus saw me and ran with a ladder to provide me with an escape route. "Senor," he sympathized," It is NOT so good an idea to climb on the roof." Obviously. They were all sympathetic, and returned the next day to fix the roof, but I bet they had some good laughs that evening. Here is a photo of the damage I did:













I did get a peek before I fell. Unfortunately, I could NOT see the lake.