Most everyone knows that the poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) was adopted in the United States as a Christmas decoration when Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States Ambassador to Mexico, introduced the plant into the United States in 1825. So since this weed was so highly esteemed by the neighbors to the north, the Mexican too adopted this plant as a holy Christian symbol giving it the name Flor de Nochebuena (Christmas Eve Flower).
However, it was valued prior to Christianity reached the shores of México. The Poinsettia, or Cuitlaxochitl as it was known in Nahuatl, was used by the pre-Hispanic indigenous people to make clothing dyes and treat fevers. It was also thought to host the souls of fallen warriors making it a symbol of new life.
Nochebuena grows wild in many areas of Mexico. It isn’t a small potted plant that you may be accustomed to seeing at Christmas though. It can grow between 10 to 15 feet high if left it its own devices.
There is a mistaken belief that the Flor de Nochebuena is toxic. Although other plants in the spurge genus are, the Euphorbia pulcherrima has a low toxicity level. The latex from the sap can cause allergic reactions. If the sap gets into the eye, it may cause temporary blindness. Ingesting parts of the plant is mildly irritating to the stomach and may cause diarrhea and vomiting.
In the states of Guanajuato, Michoacan, Puebla, and Mexico, the sap is applied directly to the skin to treat warts and labial herpes. The latex from the sap is also used as a depilatory in some areas. Apply the sap to the hairy area, allow to dry and then rip off.
In the states of Morelos, Puebla, and Sonora, an infusion of the bracts is used to increase the milk supply of nursing mothers. Sometimes the woman will lick the sap or eat raw leaves as well. This use comes from the Aztec belief that the plant contains milk since the sap it exudes is very milk-like in appearance. In fact, this use was recorded in the Florentine Codex as well as by Francisco Hernandez.
The leaves are used for external inflammations and arthritis. They are warmed and applied directly to the affected area. For a treatment of a swelling caused by a blow or a bruise, the bracts are boiled to make a poultice then lime is squeezed onto the area which is then wrapped. The ground leaves are also used to treat ringworm.
Infusions made from the bract combined with bugambilia and gordolobo (mullein) are used to treat heart conditions and respiratory infections. Infusions from the bracts are also used in to regulate menstruation. Another decoction from the plant is made to be used externally as a vaginal wash when there is excessive bleeding.
So this year, instead of tossing this decorate plant out after the holidays, perhaps you should add it to your home apothecary.
Since we’re practically bursting at the seams with our animal population, we had to move Lady from her stall to the patio to make some extra room for the new kids. The result of the move was a seriously injured Lady.
What it looks like happened is she lay down in the night to sleep. When she stretched, her hoof went under the fence, which wasn’t a problem while she was on the ground. However, when she got up, it got stuck on one of the bars of the fence. She panicked and pulled up, and the bar went through the top of her foot and embedded itself about 2 inches into her nail.
We heard her thrashing about around 6 am. I don’t think she had been stuck too long, maybe 15 minutes or so. When we came out to investigate, we were shocked she hadn’t screamed, because it looked pretty bad. My husband was feeling woozy just looking at it.
I held Lady’s head, stroked her flank and talked to her throughout the whole ordeal while my husband cut the wires on the fence. That wasn’t enough to get the hoof out, so he had to use a saw and cut the bar several inches above where it entered her foot. Once that was cut, she could stand but still had this 6 inch metal bar in her foot.
Ouch!
My husband tied a rope around one end and had my son pull straight up on it while he held down the hoof. In a few minutes, the bar was out and the wound was bleeding profusely. My son pulled so hard that when it came loose he gave himself a black eye. My husband also cut his arm on the wire in the process. Personal injuries aside, we distracted Lady with some alfalfa as my husband sprayed some “azul” antiseptic on the wound. Infection is something we definitely want to avoid.
The Puppers wanted to help their big doggy friend (or at least that’s what we think they think the horses are) and tried to lick the wound. Since it already had some antiseptic on it, we didn’t want that. So Terry had to head to his doggy day care up the road (the backyard of my sister-in-law’s house) so the Puppers could be in our backyard since George and Terry still aren’t friends.
Terry wasn’t thrilled to be alone in the dark up there, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
The next day, my husband brought home a tetanus shot for lady. After reading the directions and understanding that we had to wait 21 days after the application para sacraficio (sacrifice), we headed out to administer the shot. As my husband is afraid of needles, he told me he’d cover Lady’s face and I would give the shot. Fine. I attached the needle and was all ready, but my husband didn’t think it was tight enough. He took the syringe from my hand and pressed the two sides together–ejecting all the medicine in the process. So much for the tetnus shot.
Looking a little thin there Lady!
She’s sad and depressed, but still up to her old mischief. She managed to unhook the latch on her restraint by pressing it against her food dish. Then casually wandered over to the barrel full of corn and popped the lid, helping herself to a cob or two. I watched her do this from the front porch. When I called my son to latch her restraint again, she lifted her hoof to him showing him her injury. She got two more cobs of sympathy corn from him.
Still, she’s been off her feed lately and is looking positively scrawny. Fortunately, the wound in her foot hasn’t been infected and is starting to scab over. Poor Lady.
Since we were getting all our ducks in a row with our vehicles and had successfully navigated renewing my husband’s tarjeta de circulación (permission to circulate) for his motorcycle and registering my moto in my name, we decided to tackle the truck papers.
Some years ago, the government decided it would be a good idea to send the tarjeta de circulación in the mail instead of giving them to each person in the office. We never got that envelope. Shocking, right? Anyway, we continued to pay the fee each year without the tarjeta, but since in May we’ll need to make a trip to San Miguel de Allende and we are always stopped in Celaya, we needed to get that card.
When we asked, the same girl at the Oficina Recaudadoras we spoke to before said we would need two letters, one from Moroleon, one from the state of Guanajuato that said the vehicle had no outstanding traffic violations. The local Constancia de No Infracciones could be obtained at the Seguridad Pública Transito y Transportes office which is located at the jail near our house. So we went there. There were several large, gun-toting police officers just shooting the breeze at the entranceway. We walked past them to a short guy with the sign-in book. My husband signed in and we walked to the back of the compound past all the police vehicles, some of which were running without a driver in them. I guess since they don’t pay for gas, there’s no need to worry about it.
Inside, my husband explained what he wanted and gave the clerk the old card. She handwrote a receipt for 60.75 pesos and told us to go around the front to pay. So we left the compound, past the vehicles which were still on and more police officers standing at the door, walked a block forward and entered the Barandilla Municipal. There my husband paid an officer near the door who wrote us another receipt to take back to the clerk. The clerk gave us a letter valid for 30 days saying that there were no outstanding tickets and we left.
The second letter can be requested online. However, since I don’t have a way to pay for things on Mexican websites now that Paypal has decided to do whatever it is it is doing, that wasn’t an option. This second letter cost 69 pesos. The enterprising ciber (cyber cafe) across from Oficina Regional de Movilidad de Moroleon offers to obtain Constancia de No Infracciones for 150 pesos per letter. Since there wasn’t another option, that’s what we did.
Armed with these two letters, we returned to the Oficina Recaudadoras and the girl said that my husband had two outstanding debts that needed to be paid before we could get the reissued card. One was for a vehicle we sold about 8 years ago to someone from Michoacan and the other was for my first motorcycle that we junked after the meat truck hit me.
Since Michoacan and Guanajuato are not the same state and the truck was not registered to the new owner in Guanajuato because he lived in Michoacan, we owed over 5,000 pesos. We didn’t have the two license plates or the tarjeta de circulación to prove we didn’t own the vehicle anymore because they went with the vehicle to Michoacan.
As for the motorcycle, well that would be more than 2,000 pesos. We still had the license plate so that was in our favor, however, my husband was unable to locate the card. I’m pretty sure he threw it out in one of his cleaning frenzies. I mean, we haven’t had that motorcycle for over 5 years. So back to the Seguridad Pública Transito y Transportes office we went.
The clerk on this day was feeling generous and only charged us 60.75 pesos for both letters. So that was something. Apparently, there are three types of letters, one that is because the tarjeta de circulación is lost, one because one or both of the licenses plates has been lost, and one if both the tarjeta de circulación and the license plates are gone.
Since I couldn’t request the State Constancia de No Infracciones online, back to the cyber cafe we trekked. Unfortunately, the official site wasn’t working so no letters for us.
It took several trips into town to find someone manning the cyber cafe to get those letters. Although in theory, those letters can be obtained at any place with computer capacity, only this particular cyber was willing to do it (and charged heftily for their expertise). Finally, we managed to get there when the place was open. We watched as the guy used his iPhone to pay the fee to the state. I’m not sure how someone who works at a cyber cafe can afford an iPhone, but then again, since they charge double for the letter and are the only place in town that provides that service, maybe it’s a pretty profitable setup.
Anyway, we got the letters and headed to Oficina Recaudadoras. When it was our turn, we explained our dilemma. The woman behind the partitioned and most likely bulletproof glass printed out our payment slips. There was also an issue with the tarjeta de circulación about to be reissued. The old tarjeta had the truck listed as an S-15. My husband says it really is an S-20. In order to make any changes, we would have to bring the factura (original sales receipt). So we went and paid at Farmacias Guadalajara, picked up the factura from home and headed back.
After the woman processed our payment, she handed us two packets of papers that were the “bajas” with “pagado” (paid) stamped all over it. Now, those vehicles will never more appear in my husband’s vehicle file. Then she examined the factura of the truck we still own. Neither the words S-15 nor S-20 appears on the document. It is just generally listed as a “pik-up” (pickup). I don’t see how it makes a difference, but sure as all get out, some transito will stop us and say that the card does not match the vehicle and impound it, so it needed to be altered to avoid that eventuality.
The new card had a cost of $264 pesos which we went and paid at Banco Azteca down the street. My wallet was feeling considerably lighter after the day’s transactions but we now have a tarjeta de circulación for the truck. Of course, we’ll have to pay for the three vehicles we still own again in January for 2020’s fees, but it won’t nearly be as much.
Surviving Mexico 