Trejo there is so much to say of this place of 1,400 people. It is a little town with an old metal gate that stretches between two cement building corners. These corners belong to two of the eight buildings that make up the town square. At least three of the eight are food stores, there is also a clinic and a primary school, and I have yet to determine the rest.
It is a slow town. Slow meaning that time has very little value in this place. Time is in excess.
For example, Chris was questioning me other day. He asked me about the people who are sometimes not there until you talk to them.
These are the people who sit on chairs and benches, and sometimes behind store stalls with their eyes glazed over for minutes or perhaps hours. When you start a conversation with them they sort of miraculously wake up.
Where do they go in that in-between time?
Still, I ask myself what would I do, and where would I go if I had to sit without any particular purpose for so much time?
Schedules and days are less important to these people than politeness, security and awareness. These have higher priority than time. In this little small town, time is the one things that they have in excess. So, there is no excuse to not say hello to a neighbor or help someone out. Everyone knows that you have the time to do so. People do not make excuses to not help someone. On the contrary, visiting and helping someone else sounds like a nice diversion to fill the hours of time that are available.
I have had some first hand experienced at this at the clinic where I was told to come in at 8 on a morning when the clinic was not opening. People don't really pay attention to time and in this case they didn't notice or apologize for it later- which differs from the US.
The lady 'Meli (from Amelia) who takes care of us is an exception to this timeless world. She fills her days with activities and people come from out of city to speak her.
She is a beautiful person with quick clever eyes. Eyes that watch and care and sometimes laugh at us as we stumble along learning the culture of Mexican farm life.
She is one of 11 living siblings with one stillborn. Five of the siblings are married. She is not one of them. She lives in this small city and out in the fields with her nephew (Jose) who she cares for as a son. He is her brother's child and was born in the US. He never knew his mother and Meli has cared for him since he was 2. The two of them regularly switch between homes as the one in the city has no kitchen. Sometimes, they stay in the grandparent's home -a farm- with Meli's three siblings and sometimes they stay in the city. Jose is 11 though he insists he is 12, and he has school at 8 am.
He is a full of life and spirit and always looking for things to do and convincing others to play with him. For example at 10pm he convinced us to play uno (a game he had never played before). After promptly winning the first round, he entered a fierce battle with Neal. Where creative insults were traded left and right. He is fast and you can tell from his cleverness that he is used to holding his own with children who are older than him.
My favorite insult of his was "Saliste de la piedra de un caracol" - you were born in the shell of a snail. :)
The land here is full of fields. North, south, east, west- it doesn't matter which way you walk your feet will eventually tread in fields. The fields are beautiful and are like strolling across a scene from Pride and Prejudice with one exception. The irrigation water that feeds these fields is green with bits of trash floating in it. Still, the trash is only a slight distraction the overall impression being beauty.
The clinic... a small five space apartment a sitting room for the patients, an office for the doctor to be, an office for each of the two nurses, a back room. It is run by a -in July I will be a doctor- who is 24 though her nurses are middle aged. They mostly see diabetes and cardiac problems. Everything else is immunization and health/education programs. There is an interesting dynamic between the three of them.
I don't have more time to write.
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