October 23, 2015 · 7:00 am

A night at the movies

watching a movie

I have joked that we are a long ways from cave-dwelling in La Yacata, but a recent trip to the movies makes me wonder about the truth in that statement. So here’s what happened….

I had two class cancellations on Thursday afternoon, so my son and I thought we’d be spontaneous. Let’s go to the movies! Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials was playing, and although we had already bought the pirated version, it was too dark to see what was going on in the movie. So we headed to Cinepolis in Uriangato, which is situated in a strip mall.

Upon arrival, we saw that we had several hours to wait for the next showing. That was ok, we’d wander about and get something to eat in the food court. While this is not our first trip to the mall, typically we have very focused hit and run shopping excursions. We loiter about the door at opening time (where we discovered that Coppel does some sort of magical all-employee chant and clapping session before rolling open the doors), get the item we need and leave the store. So, this extended period of window shopping was all new for us.

We opted for Chinese food. It’s not exactly authentic. The rice had chopped chilies in it. The food is served with jalapenos instead of soy sauce. The chicken, well there’s always some doubt as to what the chicken might actually be. We took our trays and plunked ourselves down in front of the food court TV. The music video channel was on. It’s usually that or the soccer game.

After our refreshment, we headed to Blockbuster. Even though Blockbuster has gone bust en el Norte, the DVD rental chain is alive and well here in Mexico. I came across the boxed set of Game of Thrones: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2 and then the boxed set Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season  with a little Tyrion doll included. Oh, how longing surged up in my heart. Imagine how many hours of viewing pleasure were contained in those boxes! I checked the price. There were so many numbers that I couldn’t make sense of it. Apparently, I have been conditioned that anything over three digits is incomprehensible. My son pried the boxes from my hands, and we headed to the door. I was distracted by a light saber.( Star Wars Light Up Weapons Light Saber Keychain - Obi Wan Kenobi EP4) Of course, I had to pluck it from the display and turn it on. Only then I couldn’t figure out how to turn in off again.

I left it still on and rushed out of the store in shame. We headed to another store–Heaven and Earth, where I was very badly startled by towering mannequins with hair and nipples and confused by the manner in which the clothes were hung–sideways rather than upright on the hangers. I scurried out and into the bookstore.

There was a display for The Game of Thrones which caught our eyes. Among the books we already have, there were two which we didn’t. One was the.Game of Thrones: A Pop-Up Guide to Westeros The other was the prequel to the series.( A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (A Song of Ice and Fire) Longing welled up in my heart again. The books didn’t have any prices on them as far as I could see, and after the scare at Blockbuster, I wasn’t about to ask.

After this, we decided to go and purchase our tickets. Although there was no line, we wound our way through the ribboned off area to the ticket counter and waited to be acknowledged by the clerks. I asked for two tickets for The Maze Runner , and suddenly a seating chart appeared on a screen. The clerk instructed me to choose our seats, except for the green seats which were already taken. As there were only two seats that were green, I was puzzled. Ok, well I choose these seats then–and I touched the screen. Nothing happened. So I pressed harder. Still nothing. Maybe it wasn’t a touch-screen? So I told the clerk–I’d like E11 and E12. OK. He entered it, and the seats turned green. DUH! The tickets were $63 pesos apiece. HOLY CRAP! The minimum wage in Mexico is $70 per day! No wonder everyone buys piratas (pirated movies) (3 for $50 pesos) and hang the illegality of it.

Then we went for popcorn. There was a digital counter number sign like you’d find at DMV (or at the bank here in Mexico). It said we should go to counter 2. The girl at counter 4 said we could order there. I pointed to the sign that said counter 2. She hit some buttons, and it changed to counter 4. Okie Dokie. We ordered a popcorn and 2 sodas. They came on a large, awkward blue cup-holder tray. Refreshments cost $120 pesos.

We headed to the theater, leaving a trail of buttered popcorn behind us. After giving the young lady our tickets, we went to the designated theater, only to find that the theater was still closed. Apparently, the previous movie wasn’t over. We didn’t know what to do. We spent some moments lurking outside the door until the young lady came to our rescue. She explained that the movie theater wasn’t ready yet (which we had figured out on our own) and that we should wait in the lobby. I made sure that she would let us in again since we had already given her our tickets and she assured us that she would.

So we shuffled back to the lobby. There were no chairs there, so we headed to the mall area. I was pretty sure some sort of alarm would go off if we took the tray too far from the door, so we huddled on benches in front of the theater. There we sat people watching for a bit.

At 7:00 pm we tried to get into the theater again, only to be told by the same nice girl that the movie wasn’t over yet. We should try back at 7:20. So at 7:20 we went back and found that the ticket collector had changed. We had a few minutes of panic until the girl, who had been sweeping up our popcorn trail, came back and gave the nod to let us in.

Whew! We bolted to the theater and anxiously looked for our seats. I was afraid we’d find them occupied, but we were in luck, and they were vacant. However, each set of people that entered had me ready to defend my seat again. Good grief!

peter b

So after admonishing us not to buy pirated movies, support the special Olympics and save the Mexican eagle from extinction, the movie began. Continuing with the night’s Game of Thrones theme, Petyr Baelish (or rather the actor who plays Petyr Baelish) rescued the Maze Runner teens. My son and I both drew in breaths and whispered–NO! Don’t trust Petyr Baelish–having watched betrayal after betrayal in The Game of Thrones.

zombies

We quickly discovered that the movie had ZOMBIES! My son and I have a love/hate relationship with zombie movies. Zombies are such a primal fear for us, instinctive like snakes and giant spiders. Our fight or flight responses, already at high alert, went berserk watching the movie. We were literally paralyzed in our seats. Of course, there was the size factor. We’ve become accustomed to watching movies on a 5-inch screen. Zombies seem much less dangerous at that size. The movie screen was way bigger than 6 inches–the horror larger than life!

We made it through the movie somehow and stumbled out of the theater. Once in the light, we began to laugh hysterically at our evening adventures. Who would have thought we would have had such difficulty negotiating the modern world? We retreated to our cave in La Yacata, safe at last from the howling savagery beyond.

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October 16, 2015 · 7:45 am

Some days are definitely better than others–Ni modo

life better

Yesterday was one of those days that a series of annoying happenstances made a typical day (one with only two or three annoying happenstances) seem like paradise.

We woke up at 5 am. My son’s new school schedule demands it. We are not pleased about getting up before the sun, but we remind ourselves that it is only temporary. Secondary school is 2 more years, so a long temporary, but temporary. Ni modo. (This expression can be translated as It’s no big deal, That’s just the way things are, That’s just how it is, There’s nothing we could have done about it, There’s nothing we can do or Whatever.)

Of course, the day started out on the wrong foot when we realized there wasn’t any water to shower with. Ni modo. My husband generously went outside and filled a bucket from the ajibe (dry well) for my son and me to wash with. The water was cold. It is the middle of October after all. We could only bear to wash our heads, but even that was unpleasant, although it was enough to wake us up completely. The rest of the parts would have to wait until we could get a truckload of water delivered. (See Water Woes) After all, there was deodorant…oh but hold on, both my son and I were out, and my husband refuses to buy his own (he just uses ours). Well, a-stinky we shall go. Ni modo.

During the day, my son lost 2 pesos and therefore, didn’t have enough money for a torta (sandwich) at lunch. As food is life for a growing pre-teen, that made his school day less than optimal, and by mid-afternoon he was irritable. Ni modo.

My day was also annoying. Although I had enough money for lunch, I spent the morning working on the grades for report cards, which is not my favorite task. I dislike assigning a number value to learning, so I had gone out of my way to make the job more difficult for myself by grading everything from attendance and school supplies to the “exams.” All in all, it ended up to be 15 separate evaluations for each student. Ni modo.

I also had a slightly heated discussion with the school director over some proposed changes I wanted to make in classroom management. When my emotions are high, my Spanish is low, so it made the whole process even more frustrating. Ni modo.

In the early afternoon, my hungry and cranky son arrived, and we headed to the store to buy some deodorant. I bought 3 and each cost more than 50 pesos. Fifty pesos is what I earn for one hour of teaching. So I had worked more than 3 hours to buy that particular hygiene product for my family. Ni modo.

From there we went home. The house was a wreck–dirty dishes piled sky high. My husband had an unexpected morning job, so didn’t have time to tidy up. Ni modo, I would do the dishes. So I stacked and sorted and was ready to begin—only to be reminded when I went to turn on the water, that there was no water. Duh! Ni modo. The dishes would have to wait.

OK, time for dinner. We looked high and low, and there wasn’t anything prepared, although there were fresh tortillas. As my husband typically prepares something for his lunch and then leaves enough for us to eat when we get home—this seemed odd and aggravating. Ni modo. Back to town for something quick and easy, ham and cheese for quesadillas.

I returned home and lit the stove–blue flames swooshed out! It appeared that we were dangerously low on gas. Just great! Fortunately, there was just enough to heat the tortillas and melt the cheese–so dinner was saved.

After we had eaten, I continued straightening the kitchen. I went to throw a bit of leftover rice to the chickens but didn’t, realizing that I would be walking into a den of iniquity! What to my wondering eyes did I see but there in the new addition to the goat corral that my husband is working on–was Tinkerbell humping Stinky Chivo while one of the James brothers was humping her. Something was very wrong with the picture. Why was Stinky Chivo not doing his husbandly duties when it was apparent that Tinkerbell was in heat? (See Goat Genetics)

Upon closer examination, I found that Stinky Chivo’s head and leg are stuck in the food trough. Great! As his horns were wedged under the wire and he has some big horns, it took some maneuvering to release him.

The bondage and sexual scandal were not the only evidence of debauchery. The goats had taken the liberty of stripping the peach and pomegranate trees of leaves and bark. Not bad for a morning’s work. It’s their nature I suppose–Ni modo.

So later my husband explained that he didn’t leave dinner because it had been stolen. He had arrived home for lunch with meat and tortillas and heard some commotion in the goat corral. He went to investigate, leaving the goods hanging from his motorcycle handlebars. When he came back out front, only the tortillas remained. He had bought 60 pesos of meat, so that means more than an hour of work for someone or something to enjoy the meal. I suspect it was Chokis. Ni modo.

That evening, after the goats were rounded up again and the horses stabled, we realized we still had no gas to cook supper or anything to cook for that matter. Ni modo. There was nothing to be done but head out for some tacos. Our high-stress day was made all the better with a few tacos de tripa, bistek or chorizo (depending on the family member) and some nopales (cactus) and onions sauteed in grease. Our meal cost $150 pesos, which is a day and a half of work for my husband, so we were appreciative of this particular treat.

Ni modo. Nothing to be done but hit the sack and hope that tomorrow will be better.

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October 9, 2015 · 7:00 am

Playing Tourist–Yuriria, Guanajuato

church door

Mighty impressive church door in Yuriria, GTO

While we often travel for a day trip to Cerano, once in awhile we also head to Yuriria, the bigger town that Cerano is a municipality of.

fish soup

Caldo de bagre

Yuriria is pretty, and there is a restaurant with a one-armed waiter that serves delicious fresh-water fish soup. The market is also full of neat stuff to see, and the whole town has a different feel to it than Moroleon, so we enjoy it as a close-by getaway place.

lake in yuriria

View of the lake by Yuriria

The actual name is Yuririhapundaro although most people refer to it as simply Yuriria. It was founded the Chichimecas in 945 D.C.As with Cuitzeo, the name comes from the Purepecha language. It translates as The Place of the Bloody Lake. With such a name, it’s no surprise that Yuriria was built along the banks of a lake. It’s actually an extinct volcanic crater that is renewed through rainfall rather than an underground source.

Yuriria is also one of Guanajuato’s Pueblos Magicos, and on that official site, the bloody lake gets its name from the soil runoff, not from dead bodies. Well, as the idea of Pueblos Magicos is to get tourists to come, I suppose having tainted waters might put people off, so the run-off explanation is given out. However, Diego Basalenque made note, in 1644, that the oral tradition of the native people spoke of sacrifices that had been made in the center of the lake to the gods, leaving the red stain of their deaths behind in the waters.

A scientific explanation might resolve the issue of whether the sacrifices or the volcanic soil give the lake its reddish color. It may be that the coloration comes from the rapid reproduction of microscopic plants, like the chromatiaceae bacteria, that bloom under certain conditions. The plants subsequently poison the water for the fish. A whole lake of dead fish would cause the local population to perform sacrifices to appease the gods, beseeching them to allow the water to return to its normal color.

As the lake is not always bloody, the scientific explanation seems to make sense. Certainly, when we have visited, it’s been as blue as Lake Cuitzeo. Locals say that the two last bloody events occurred in 1985, before the devastating earthquake in Mexico City and in 1986, before the earthquake in San Francisco, California. Well, as I mentioned, the extinct volcanic crater is smack dab in the middle of the lake–things like shifting fault lines might cause such an occurrence.

yuriria ex convent

The impressive ex-convent of San Agustin in Yuriria

After the lake,  the most imposing structure in Yuriria is the Ex-convent of San Agustin. Construction was begun in 1550 by Fray Diego de Chavez y Alvarado, nephew of Don Pedro Alvarado, one of Hernan Cortes’ followers. Fray Diego is also given credit for the creation of the lake because he commissioned the construction of a canal that diverted the river waters to the crater in 1548. I’m not so sure he actually created the lake since the name of the area implies the village had been established by a bloody body of water long before the Spanish came (records indicate that the Tarascos, who conquered the area in 1350 D.C. made a note of the red tinted water phenomenon)…but you know how those Europeans like to take credit for everything.

yuriria church

The inscription on this church reads “Este templo está agregado a la Basílica de Roma por concesión hecha el día 3 de octubre de 1901.”

All things considered, Yuriria is a pleasant stop on the road to little-known tourist attractions in Mexico.

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