A Mexican Village
Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 8:06 am
This is another post following the suggestion of one member to write something about my experiences.
I am now working in a camp close to a Mexican village of about 250 people. There are no unmarried women and about 3-5 men who have never married. It is a day's drive to the nearest city that anybody here would know. Women go there to give birth. The dead are attended in the village and buried in the cemetary.
There is all the usual range of personnality types from very quiet, introspective guys to some with an element of small town hood to very loud, boisterous guys. All of the guys who I have talked to in their 30s-40s have eight to ten siblings and two kids, although one told me there were a few in town who have big families. One guy who is a helper has 40-60 cattle that he runs on comunal land, so he works and then goes home on days off and works. Another worker doesn't want the hastle. He wants to go home and vegetate. They all run to open (not walk) the gate and when there are a bunch in the car they rotate among themselves doing that. All are in good physical shape. Their sense of humor is pretty basic. You joke about sex, alcohol, how gates we have to go thru (sigh), etc. etc. I notice that laughing at somebody elses embarrassment is a common thread. Some guys are pretty sharp and have a more developed sense of humor. Absolutely one of the most enjoyable and most productive days of my life was with two Mexican helpers who do NOT have a college education. As we were working, one was kidding the other about how he needed to get into politics. Thru the day we planned the guys life as we worked. You know, if he was conservative, you put him under Diane Feinstein. If liberal, put him under Dick Chaney. Every politician needs a Lewinsky scandal, so we had fun planning that. Next time you are bored, take the Mexican idea and plan a political career for the Red Nun.
All of the older guys have a 6th grade education. The guys in their 20s have a 9th grade education. To get a high school education, the kid has to go one of two towns 3 hours drive away. They make that work by staying with a relative there - the old extended family bit. Because of full employmet in the resource business, kids have been exposed to gringos with a college education and now know there is a different path in life than staying in that town. A couple of the most inquisitive are now taking that path. In fact, one young lady is working for us for the summer. They call it doing their practicas. They go out and actually work with sweaty gringos doing the real work. You don't have to scratch any of us very deep to know it gives us a deep pleasure to help a kid get started on a different path just by our existence.
The food is generally OK to good. Mexican cooking is an exercise in how many different ways you can prepare corn, beans, onions, potatos, chicken and beef. There actually are quite a few ways. They days with our lunch bag full of bean and potato burritos I could do without, but otherwise it is fine. Lunch is the big meal. Dinner is usually soup with a dessert like flan or fruit. The lady cooks are living testiment to the wisdom of never hire a skinny cook. They can hold their own with the life and, by my decorous midwest upbringing, are brassy. But I have learned thru the years to enjoy that type. I am usually one of the first up when the generator gets turned on. I go to the kitchen and they are already up getting breakfast ready. Coffee there is spelled Nescafe instant (double sigh). I fix coffee for myself and them while talking trash and when we come in all beat from the heat, they have a liter or two of cold juice waiting for us. The joke now is what are they going to do when the gringo goes on days off and there is nobody to fix their coffee. Despite the brassiness, when it is time for somebody to go on days off, hugs are readily given and received.
I enjoy learning new things. The young Mexican professionals are teaching me to use an analytical instrument that I have been wanting experience on. They also have helped me refine my use of one software and I will begin learning another on my next work stint.
Enough for now. Gotta run
I am now working in a camp close to a Mexican village of about 250 people. There are no unmarried women and about 3-5 men who have never married. It is a day's drive to the nearest city that anybody here would know. Women go there to give birth. The dead are attended in the village and buried in the cemetary.
There is all the usual range of personnality types from very quiet, introspective guys to some with an element of small town hood to very loud, boisterous guys. All of the guys who I have talked to in their 30s-40s have eight to ten siblings and two kids, although one told me there were a few in town who have big families. One guy who is a helper has 40-60 cattle that he runs on comunal land, so he works and then goes home on days off and works. Another worker doesn't want the hastle. He wants to go home and vegetate. They all run to open (not walk) the gate and when there are a bunch in the car they rotate among themselves doing that. All are in good physical shape. Their sense of humor is pretty basic. You joke about sex, alcohol, how gates we have to go thru (sigh), etc. etc. I notice that laughing at somebody elses embarrassment is a common thread. Some guys are pretty sharp and have a more developed sense of humor. Absolutely one of the most enjoyable and most productive days of my life was with two Mexican helpers who do NOT have a college education. As we were working, one was kidding the other about how he needed to get into politics. Thru the day we planned the guys life as we worked. You know, if he was conservative, you put him under Diane Feinstein. If liberal, put him under Dick Chaney. Every politician needs a Lewinsky scandal, so we had fun planning that. Next time you are bored, take the Mexican idea and plan a political career for the Red Nun.
All of the older guys have a 6th grade education. The guys in their 20s have a 9th grade education. To get a high school education, the kid has to go one of two towns 3 hours drive away. They make that work by staying with a relative there - the old extended family bit. Because of full employmet in the resource business, kids have been exposed to gringos with a college education and now know there is a different path in life than staying in that town. A couple of the most inquisitive are now taking that path. In fact, one young lady is working for us for the summer. They call it doing their practicas. They go out and actually work with sweaty gringos doing the real work. You don't have to scratch any of us very deep to know it gives us a deep pleasure to help a kid get started on a different path just by our existence.
The food is generally OK to good. Mexican cooking is an exercise in how many different ways you can prepare corn, beans, onions, potatos, chicken and beef. There actually are quite a few ways. They days with our lunch bag full of bean and potato burritos I could do without, but otherwise it is fine. Lunch is the big meal. Dinner is usually soup with a dessert like flan or fruit. The lady cooks are living testiment to the wisdom of never hire a skinny cook. They can hold their own with the life and, by my decorous midwest upbringing, are brassy. But I have learned thru the years to enjoy that type. I am usually one of the first up when the generator gets turned on. I go to the kitchen and they are already up getting breakfast ready. Coffee there is spelled Nescafe instant (double sigh). I fix coffee for myself and them while talking trash and when we come in all beat from the heat, they have a liter or two of cold juice waiting for us. The joke now is what are they going to do when the gringo goes on days off and there is nobody to fix their coffee. Despite the brassiness, when it is time for somebody to go on days off, hugs are readily given and received.
I enjoy learning new things. The young Mexican professionals are teaching me to use an analytical instrument that I have been wanting experience on. They also have helped me refine my use of one software and I will begin learning another on my next work stint.
Enough for now. Gotta run