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.

This was shot from their garden.

Heading back to the truck, I took this photo.

A Romita sunset, a beautiful way to end a day.

Next blog: Making Cajeta....cajeta is a candy from fruit. It is a very laborious process.

Life in Romita: Part 2

Early the next day, a lovely rooster woke us up before the sun rose. He would continue his crowing until about 9am, I'm guessing on that. It was pretty hard to sleep with that going on. I suppose it isn't as bad as hearing car alarms though.

The lovely rooster and a chicken.

Early that morning, Ariana's Abuelito milked the cow. I've never had fresh cow's milk before.

We made cheese called nudo de queso. While the milk was sitting to thicken, Abuelito poured a capful of Cuajo in it. This kills the bacteria. Then he got another bucket and laid cheesecloth over it. Once the milk thickened, he started to scoop it into the other bucket.

There was still liquid. You have to drain this liquid, suero, to make the cheese. Abuelito invented a way to do this without having to hold it the whole time.

Tie knots at the end of the cheesecloth.

(Ariana received a "lesson" in knot tying)

Then place it on a four prong tack harness hook hung from the ceiling with a bucket underneath.

You can drink the liquid, suero. I tried it and it was... interesting. Apparently it has many nutrients in it though.

While the cheese was draining, Ariana, Olivia and I went on a little hike on their land. It was so nice to walk around without hundreds of people around.

Olivia became obsessed picking these pinkish feathery weeds. They were everywhere and she wanted to pick ALL of them. We made a lot of stops.

The top, looking over part of Ariana's families land.

When we came back to the house, the cheese was ready for the next step, smash it up.

Once it's smashed up pretty good, you form it into a round shape.

It's ready to eat.

(I hope I have all of this right. If not, I will update it.)

Here's some random photos I shot that day.

Chuntara, overall a good dog but there were times I was somewhat skeptical of her.

This little guy was cool. I forget his name though.

Abuelito's hat.

When we came back from our hike, Abuelito was sitting by the front door shucking corn.

The aftermath of corncobs, elotes.

There were pigs. Olivia was fascinated by them. We got to watch them eat a few times. They really chowed down. I explained to Olivia that there is a phrase, "eat like a pig" people use. I think she understood but who knows?

At this point, Olivia decided to do some "cooking" with some random pots laying around.

I took more photos.

Next blog: Life in Romita: Part 3.... Early morning photos, I milk a cow, cow's milk with tequila, churches

 

Life in Romita Part 1

Apologies for this post being so late. Everything seems to be stockpiling now. Ahhh!

Romita is where Ariana grew up as a child and some of her family still lives there. It is three hours north of Guadalajara located in the state of Jalisco. I was looking forward to a little country life after being in the city for some months.

We decided to leave at night to reach Guadalajara, which is a six hour bus ride. We left our apartment at 9:00pm and rode the metro to the Autobus Norte terminal. For some reason, I thought it wouldn't be crowded because of the time. I was completely wrong. As usual, it was crowded and we had backpacks stuffed so it was even more fun being on there. I will never assume again that the metro will not be crowded. I have learned my lesson, finally. It took about an hour to get to the bus terminal. It was also crowded and bustling like mad. We took a Primera Plus bus and it was $535 pesos for one adult, $268 pesos for Olivia. We left at 10:30pm. I was hoping to fall asleep on the bus but I had difficulty. I didn't really sleep. I fortunately had a MP3 player so I listened to that the whole time. Everyone else seemed to have fallen asleep. I felt like I was in a weird time warp trapped on a bus.

Arrived at Guadalarjara around 6am and decided to just go straight to Romita instead of resting. Bought another bus ticket for Tlaltenango. There isn't a direct bus to Romita. This was a three hour bus trip. I forgot how much the ticket was. Most of the way we were driving on this road which went up a mountain. The view was incredible but I was somewhat nervous. We were moving pretty fast on a curvy road. We made it there safely though.

We then took a taxi to Ariana's Aunt Teresita's house in Tlaltenango. We dropped our stuff off and decided to walk over to one of her grandfather's house in town. I decided to take some photos along the way.

A random house. I liked the colors.

We arrived at her Abuelo's house but he was not home. We chilled there for a little while and I took more photos.

There was a lima tree in the courtyard. The fruit is kind of a blend between an orange and a lemon. Ariana really likes them. I didn't really care for them myself. They were too tart for me.

Olivia pulling a lima off the tree.

Ariana eating her limas.

After chilling for a little while, we decided to walk to the main square.

This is the church on the square.

Ariana saw these guys selling churros, which is fried cow skin. It wasn't too bad. They served it with a delicious salsa.

At this point, we decided to get a taxi and head to Romita. It took about twenty or so minutes to get there. It is pretty remote and small. Small as in not a lot of people live there. I liked it. The exact opposite of what we have been living in. Her grandfather, Elpidro, was home. Ariana calls him Abuelito though.

This is Ariana's Abuelito's casa.

Justin, ready for some country livin'.

We decided to drive around the area. These next photos are from a graveyard in a small town called Momax.

Driving around some more, Ariana wanted to show us a place where she spent some of her childhood. The area is called Los Ranchitos. Along the way, spotted another graveyard. I took more photos. Barbie makes another appearance.

We arrive at the house in Los Ranchitos. A family was living in it though. Ariana went and asked if it was okay for us to look around and take photos. They allowed us to do so. They were very nice.

One more destination for the day. Ariana and me in the truck. Justin took this photo.

We went to the small town of Totatiche.

There was this cool old building beside the square.

View of the clock tower in Totatiche.

They had incredible bread here. So bad, but so good. We would use the internet cafe here and get basic staples.

I think I'll end this post here. My next blog will continue our time in the Romita area.

UPDATE: The fried cow skin is not called churros. It is called cueritos. Churros are fried dough covered in sugar. The ones I have seen on the street are long, straight prisms.