Day Nine

On Saturday, January 13th we had a lecture on Liberation Theology and a tour of the Cathedral of Cuernavaca. Afterward, we left for Santa Fe, where we met our Host Families! Santa Fe is a community built into a ravine in Cuernavaca. We walked up and down over ¼ mile of stairs four times to reach our host family’s home! Three students and I were to stay with the Familia Garcia-Hernandez. We arrived too early at the home and, instead, walked back up out of the ravine and visited for a few hours with some other folks, who also fed us lunch. While out for a walk (more stairs), we did meet our host-mom, and she took us to her home, after we first walked down the stairs to get our things at the other house, then back up to where she was waiting, then down other stairs to her house. There, she, Evelina, and Antonio Garcia-Hernandez welcomed us into their home and, together with their daughters Ana and Adriana and their son David, made us feel like part of the family. We began the evening by sitting out on the patio visiting for a few minutes and then decided to go for a walk (more stairs!) around the community (Colonia Popular). While out, a neighbor (the one who fed us) asked our hosts if he could cut some sugar cane from their yard. That seemed like a good idea so, when we returned, we did the same, standing outside in the stairs (which function as the sidewalk) eating fresh sugar cane. Afterward, we walked up to the house where some other students were staying and brought them a taste (then walked back down again, stopping at the store for micheletta supplies!). We sat in the back yard of this four-room home drinking micheletta, which is beer and lime juice. We made tortillas for dinner and sat in the yard laughing, talking, eating, drinking, showing pictures, exchanging gifts, looking at a scorpion on the wall, and getting to know one another. Of the 4 of us, only one student and I speak Spanish, so we were the official translators, which is exhausting! After hours of talking and laughing, we went to bed . . . all four of us in one room, while the rest of the family shared the other bedroom. Let me describe this house: It is cinder blocks and concrete, built into a ravine, with two bedrooms for five people, one bathroom with no door and no running water (showers involve a bucket, water drawn from barrel, and a drain in the floor, while flushing the toilet involves the same bucket and same water drawn from the barrel being poured into the toilet), and a beautiful backyard with a shrine to Nuestra Señora de (Our Lady of ) Guadalupe. Humble digs, for sure. But, the hospitality and generosity of this family was amazing.