Life in Romita: Part 3

The rooster did his job very well. I didn't get up when he first crowed but I did wake up early this particular day. I figured I would take advantage of this and shoot some photos. The light is always nice in the morning.

There was a Gardenia plant growing in the courtyard. It smelled amazing.

Grasshoppers were everywhere and I mean everywhere. Driving down the road, there would be so many you could hear them squishing under the tires. Olivia would get kind of freaked out by them.

Here is Abuelito milking the cow.

This would be me milking the cow. From Abuelito laughing in the background, it's obvious I had no clue what I was doing. There is definitely a skill to this. Poor cow, lo siento.

We had cups ready to fill with milk for Pajareta. We had put chocolate powder and a little Tequila (However much you want really. I didn't put a lot b/c seriously, it was about 8am and who drinks a ton of Tequila that early?) in the cup first. Then we squeazed milk from the cow straight into the cup. Yep, I would call that hardcore. I was a little hesitant in drinking this but I had to try it.

It was actually quite good. This would be me after my first drink.

We decided to visit a nearby town called Temastián shortly after. It has a church made out of a pink rock called cantera. Temastián is famous for their cantera work.

The church

There was a room filled with photos, letters and paintings. It was from people who left ex-votos.
An ex-voto is where a worshipper seeks grace or gives thanks. They can take many forms.

Later during the day, Ariana showed me around her house where she grew up. It is on the ranch next to Abuelito's house.

Ariana, Olivia and I would go to San Francisco to try and visit her Aunt Lupe. San Francisco is very close by to Romita and is very small. On our second attempt, I noticed there was a church down the road.

There was a creek nearby. Ariana wanted to show it to us. There used to be a path to it but someone had built a new house and it was fenced off. We saw some people off in the distance and Ariana went to go ask them if we could see the creek. She told them who her aunt was and they gave us the go ahead. The lady who lived there came along with us. She was very nice. I have forgotten her name though.

Ariana, Olivia and the nice lady.

Down by the creek, Olivia was "fishing."

We headed back to see if Ariana's Aunt Lupe was home. She wasn't, so Ariana left this in the gate to let her know that she had been by.

The following day Ariana and her Aunt Teresita took Olivia and I to a waterfall nearby. The waterfall is called El Salto Colorado. We had to hike to it which wasn't too bad. There were a few spots where it was a bit difficult for Olivia but we managed to get her there. She was a trooper.

View of where we hiked to get to the waterfall.

A really cool tree.

Teresita and Ariana helping Olivia down to the waterfall.

Later that day, we went to visit Ariana's Aunt Toña but she was not home. Her cousin, Alvaro, was though. They chatted for a bit. He gave her some cheese and cajeta.

This was the cheese they had in their kitchen.