tales from guzman

the fair has been in town for nearly a week, but i haven't bugged anyone to go.
consuelo has been busy what with the funeral and looking after uncle lalo and everything. he has diabetes, and he has to inject himself three times a day. except he can't see properly so consuelo does it.
and now granny luz has gone we have to find something else to sell besides grenadine punch because only granny luz knew how to make grenadine punch and she didn't ever give anyone else the recipe. we still have a few bottles, but they won't last long.
so consuelo is going to sell candied yams and candied pumpkin from the front door, and also baked sweet potatoes with condensed milk.

i would have asked mariela to take me to the fair, because actually she even enjoys stuff like that. she always wants to go on the most dangerous rides. she drags everyone else to the first ride she sees that spins or goes upside-down- especially if it looks like it'a all rusty and jimcrack and will break any second. and jose always makes excuses "i ate a bad taco, i'm not feeling too good, maybe i shouldn't..." but mariela just carries on walking straight to the ride and drags me along with her, and jose ends up going, too, because he hates being left alone.
but i haven't asked mariela. she is getting paler. and, since granny luz died, i don't think she's said one word.

and jose? well, jose is always at work these days. at the print shop. he took me once. there are lots of computers, and they just let me sit and play online games, and this guy who works with jose who has lots of piercings in his face showed me how to take a photo and put it in photoshop and put on crazy backgrounds. he printed it out for me, and i have it in the little plastic label-holder on my bookbag.

so i hadnt been to the fair yet, even though everyone else at school has. alejandra martinez and maria-julia both have necklaces from the joke stalls. they light up and flash- the necklaces, i mean- each bead a different colour. maria-julia also has a little stuffed monkey with wire inside that you can bend to sit on your shoulders or hang from your bookbag. she had it at school today, sitting on the desk next to her.
i wish i had a monkey. a real monkey, but even a stuffed one would do.
so i walked home in the heat of the day, kicking up the dust. it gets dustier and dustier the further i get from school and the nearer i get to home. and when i got home i didn't even bother going inside. i didn't want to see uncle lalo's toenails, or watch mariela disappearing. i just sat on the front step, bookbag beside me, and kicked some more dust.
i was watching a fat house lizard sun itself when the door opened behind me. A hand patted my head. "hey, gordita!" it was juanito. "what's up?"
i don't think juanito has spoken to me since he got back from the united states. he definitely hasn't called me 'gordita'- fatty. he used to call me that before, when i was a little kid with hamster cheeks.
"wanna go to the fair?"
i just stared up at him, gobsmacked. and as i looked at him, i noticed that i recognized his eyes. i nodded.

we walked for a block and threw stones at a window until it opened and a shaved, tattooed head popped out. "whassup, juanito my man!"
"whassup, wolf! wanna give us a ride to the fair?"
"uh huh. let's go!"
i wanted to jump in the back of the pickup, but juanito said to ride in front with him and wolf. i sat between them, right in the middle, and wolf showed me how to choose songs on the mp3 player. "you can be dj, gordita!". i chose the 'gasolina' song.
we stopped on the way to the fair at a little dusty store. "what do you want, gordita? beer?" he laughed and patted my head. "i'm joking... you want apple soda?" i nodded. he remembered my favorite.
while he was in the shop, wolf just nodded along to the music, staring ahead. then juanito came back out carrying two litre bottles of beer and an apple soda. he was grinning. "guess what else i got you?" -looking at me. he didn't wait for me to answer, just pulled out two straws. "two straws- your favorite!" and he looked so happy that i didn't say that i preferred to drink straight from the bottle these days.

when we got to the feria we went straight to the duck shooters. it's where you have to shoot at these plastic ducks that hang from a string that goes round and round, and if you shoot three with three shots you get a prize. juanito just picked up the rifle and shot three just like that, as if he'd been shooting guns all his life. juanito let me pick out a stuffed animal. i chose a tiger because it had its eyes closed, and often the eyes of feria toys are scary to have in your room at night. then lobo had a turn, and shot another three. he let me choose another stuffed animal, and i chose a turtle. its eyes weren't too scary. then it was my turn, and juanito helped me point and shoot the first two, and i hit them. then he made me do the last one on my own, and i missed. but he bought me another turn, and helped me again and on the third time, when i did it on my own, i hit the duck! and it was a duck with a red spot underneath, which meant i got a supersize stuffed animal! although actually those were the scariest. i chose a flourescent green pig. i figured i'd give it to mariela, and maybe it would cheer her up.

as we walked away from the stall, we saw a trailer with painted writing "come and see the freak show! the craziest animals! 100% natural!" and some painted dragons and animals with three heads. "look at that!" laughed lobo. "crazy shit they have here... in mexico, anything goes!". i guessed lobo must be a friend from the usa. except he sounded like he was more mexican than the chile... "let's see it, man" that was juanito. "what do you say, gordita?". i nodded. i was curious.
we bought our tickets from a boy who was maybe 11, maybe 12. he was taking a lightbulb apart, sitting on the steps of the trailer.
"three tickets, please. do kids get a discount?"
the kid jumped up, suddenly hyper. he nodded. "25 pesos for all three. 10 each for adults, 5 for children"
juanito paid (where does he get all his money from?) and the kid waved us in, before turning back to his lightbulb on the step.
"see that lightbulb?" juanito whispered to me.
i nodded.
"he's taking it apart to make a pipe. to take crystal"
"who's crystal?"
"a drug. if you ever, i mean E V E R, see someone doing that with a lightbulb, stay away from them, ok gordita?" i nodded again.
"what does it do to you?"
"it makes you so crazy that you might never come back. it turns people into monsters. don't go near it, gordita, promise me" juanito had bent down so much he was almost kissing me, his eyes- his familiar juanito eyes- right in my eyes: all i could see. i nodded urgently. "'kay, i promise".
"hey check this out, guys!" lobo's voice came booming from beyond the little passageway in which juanito and i stood. we followed him in, past a chained goat and a rabbit in wooden crate. lobo was pointing at a scruffy once-white dog. "check out its feet!". i followed his finger and, sure enough, the dog had two feet on one of his legs. two, whole paws at right angles to each other, so when he put his leg down it made a 'v'. the next animal was a perfectly normal- if a little mangy- looking owl, in a cage made out of chicken wire. "what's freaky about this?". that was juanito. "yeah, and the goat and the rabbit?" i added. so lobo just boomed out:
"Hey, muchacho! come here!"
and the boy came, all hyperactive again, jumping arond in the little stinky trailer.
"what's freaky about the goat and the rabbit and the owl?"
"the goat's got four horns, look!" the bog grabbed it by one of them, twisting te animals' head round so we could see. It did have four horns, two curling down and two up. but then i starting questioning myself- don't all goats have four horns?
"and the rabbit's giant" the boy grabbed it out of the box. "see?"
it was pretty big.
"and someone just gave us the owl. she's pretty, isn't she?" the boy tapped her chickenwire frantically. then he waved us on towards the exit, and as we moved to go, he suddenly was in front of us, all jumpy and crazy. he grabbed a big white bucket, like the kind for cement, which had a square of chicken wire balancing on top like a lid. "look at this!" he shoved it under my face. At the bottom of the bucket was a big snake. "see?" he thrust it under lobo's nose next. "it's a rattler". then, suddenly, he began to shake the bucket from side to side, then up and down, and then P U M he tipped the bucket right upside down, and the snake was thrusting and writhing and angry on the floor of the tiny trailer.
i don't really know how we got out, just that lobo and juanito grabbed one of my hands each, and we headed backwards, and then we were outside the trailer, and it was nearly dark and the feria was full of people eating feria cakes and going on the rides and shooting plastic ducks.

I was woken up by strips of wind which gushed through the gaps around my window. In my room there is only space for my bed, and a chair I have next to it that Mariela painted for me. It is mainly pink, with turquoise and green and yellow flowers and purple butterflies. The window takes up one main wall, and the door the other, and the two little walls have: a tin mirror, a postcard from San Miguel de Allende, and opposite a stripey sarape.
so what I am trying to explain is that in my room, if the wind decides to come through, there is nowhere for it to go but through me. And that's what it did this morning, rushing through me, through my skin and my flesh and my bones. Turning it all to ice.

Consuelo was already up when I went into the kitchen.
"you're blue, angelita!" she picked me straight up and hugged me so tight I thought my frozen bones might pop right out of me. "Come and choose a jumper". And she took me to her room, and opened our closet. She let me choose between all her jumpers, and they all smelled the same- musty with vanilla, too. I chose a beige one, which is fluffy, fluffy, and put it on and smelled of musty and vanilla.
Then Consuelo began to make a big pot of chocolate. She makes it really well- with cinnamon sticks and vanilla pods.

Uncle Lalo is still staying. He came for the funeral and hasn't gone. He smells funny, and walks around with no shoes on and his toenails are yellow and curl over. But Consuelo says not to be rude because he is old and can't see properly out of one eye, and that he always has a home with us if he wants it. But I don't see why he can't cut his toenails or why he smells funny.
We had what Consuelo calls a 'sad' lunch: leftovers; some from as long ago as the funeral. Uncle Lalo doesn't mind, though. He eats anything, as long as he can put chile and pickles on it. Consuelo served us- tacos from yesterday's meat- but forgot to put the pickle jar on the table. So Uncle Lalo leant back in his chair 'hmmmmf' and got up all rickety and shuffled over to the refrigerator, came back clutching the pickle jar in both hands. It was a new one, full right to the brim. He swayed back to the table and sat down 'pumph', put the pickle jar down in the middle of the table. Then he tried to open it, but it wouldnt open at first. He tried again, and it opened a little with a 'pssssssssssht' sound I had never heard before. He turned the lid a little and suddenly P S S H T !! the lid exploded from the jar, and bubbly vinegar and jalapeños and onions and garlics and carrot slices were all over the table. And all over Mariela's purple sweater.
Mariela just got up, wordlessly, and left the table.
Uncle Lalo picked a carrot slice off his vest and popped it in his mouth.
Then a piece of onion.
"fermented" he concluded, picking up a garlic clove and eating that, too.

so granny luz died today.

she wakes up really early in the morning, usually before any of us, and goes for a walk. she buys the morning bread, or cinnamon for the coffee, or fruit if there is something nice in season.
so today i got up first, and it was wierd because the door was still bolted and the curtains drawn. usually they are open, because granny luz has gone out. but today they were closed.
juanito was here, too, asleep on the sofa, head on the armrest in a little puddle of drool. so i couldn't really put the tv on or anything. i opened the door instead to sit on the step while i waited for someone else to wake up. i figured it must be really early.
i watched the chickens in the front yard of the neighbours across the street, scrabbling around aimlessly. animals always seem so hyperactive in the mornings. animals and children. why are grownups the opposite?
then one of the chicas from across the street emerged, her hair already done up in a high, high ponytail. she had an white plastic bucket in her hand, like the ones for paint. she went to the little shop on the corner, came back with the bucket full- spilling milk a little, and a bag of sweet bread under her arm. i waved at her, and she smiled.

and when i had finished watching the chica across the road, consuelo was awake and sweeping the floor.
'what do you want for breakfast then my consentida?' she said, and patted my head.
'sweet bread and milk?' i asked, quick as a flash.
'and some fruit' said consuelo.
she doesn't approve of meals without fruit.
'mmmmm... pineapple' i said.
'how about papaya?'
'ok. but only if it doesn't smell of farts'. i think some papayas smell a lot like farts, and i have to hold my nose when i eat them.
'go and get some bread then, before they run out. here's 20 pesos- get a packet of corn pops as well' she nodded at juanito, still asleep in his drool.

so i went to the shop, where the chica over the road had just been, and i got sweet bread like she had. i chose two shells- a pink one and a white one (i don't like the brown ones, even though they're jose's favourite), a little custard horn, and four jelly cakes. i hoped they were pineapple jelly.
'what else can i get you m'hijita?' asked the shop señora. she is old but beautiful, with pearl earrings and big brown eyes.
'oh, some corn pops please'
she reached up, slowly slowly to the top shelf where the corn pops where, her hand trembling to grab the box. i hoped she wouldn't hurt herself. i wished she'd let me get them. i could scale the shelves in a second.
but she grabbed at the box, and somehow it wobbled and fell into her outstretched hand.
'how many breads are there left, mi hija?' she asked.
i checked under the cloth (to keep out the flies)
'just two, señora'
'take them too then, sweetie' she said 'and have a good day. say hello to your mama'
i didn't tell her that consuelo's not my mama.
'thank-you, señora. i hope you have a good day, too'.

one of the breads she gave me was a cajeta pie, and the other was a brown shell. so jose would get his favouite, after all. and we would ave a nice breakfast with everyone- even juanito, and we would eat what the chicas across the street ate.

only we never did. because when i got back everyone was up and wailing and rushing. except mariela, who had gone whiter than usual (which is really white now she has pneumonia) and was just walking around with a duster, cleaning things that were already clean and things that don't ever need cleaning.
because granny luz had died.
and mariela found her. in her bed. dead like green jesus.

so we are all deparasiting today.

granny luz doesn't agree with deparasiting "when i was your age we just lived with parasites... didn't need to spend all this money on pills... anyway parasites make you strong. they're good for your defenses"

but mariela said we needed to because it was gross, and anyhow she was sick enough already what with the pneumonia and all.
and consuelo and i changed all the sheets on all the beds. and i got to go with her to the laundry- we carried all the sheets all the way there is the plastic baskets all messy, and then four hours later we went back and they were all folded and clean and smelled wonderful... i love the smell of clean laundry, and it smells better when we don't have to do it ourselves.

charlie just ran in. he is really hyperactive. it's charlie's fault we are deparasiting: we took him for vaccinations today with the vet who has a funny twitch in one eye, where he always blinks it and kind of flicks his head back at the same time. he's a good vet, though. he put a syringe up charlie's butt and took a sample, and showed it to us under the microscope. there were big circular blobs moving around- just like in the pictures he showed us of parasites.
so now we all probably have them, and we get to have super clean sheets, and brand new toothbrushes! consuelo took me to choose toothbrushes too, while we were waiting for the laundry. we went to the social security pharmacy, and there was- like always- the l o n g e s t line outside, of everybody waiting for subsidised medications. there are always lots of little old ladies like granny luz- all wrinkly and sunbaked like raisins. and always little babies with dirty t-shirts covered in booger trackmarks. and while consuelo stood in the queue she let me go off around the shop and choose toothbrushes and toothpaste- whichever ones i wanted as long as six toothbrushes (we bought one for juanito too, even though we haven't seen him for weeks. we know he comes home sometimes, though, because he leaves behind dirty t-shirts and uses jose's razor, and then jose goes all silent and venemous) and the toothpaste together didn't cost more than 80 pesos. i got really good toothbrushes, and chose all the colours: lilac for mariela, red for consuelo, black for granny luz, green for jose and blue for juanito. oh, and i chose a yellow one for me. and i got the gel toothpaste.

the neighbours opposite are having a fiesta. they are three teenage girls- i think maybe their parents have gone away, because they are playing reggaton really loudly and singing out of tune. they do that every night, but this time it's different because they have boys there too and they are all drinking beer and maybe tequila.

charlie is still hyperactive. jose is sitting in front of the tv eating corn pops out of the box, and charlie is trying to get inside the box, too. but i don't think he wants corn pops, i think he just wants to be petted.

only mariela could get pneumonia in october!
rainy season's over and the sun is blinding. it's fiesta month, but mariela's missed all of it.
maybe that's why she's grouchy.
but actually she's way less grouchy than usual. she's really calm and sweet and slow, just sits in front of the tv all day petting charlie.
i have never seen jose so anxious, though. it's like he thinks she'll die if she doesn't bring her the exact brand of soup she asks for. and mariela just being mariela 'no, i just want want a red apple. no that's all i want, i'm not even hungry'
'but there aren't any red apples, mariela... they said it was the wrong season. i went to the market and everything, and they said there just aren't any...i got some yellow ones'
'thanks. but i don't like yellow ones. but it's ok, i'm not even hungry'

consuelo keeps making her big vats of things she doesn't eat. like today it was meat in its own juice with chilli and tortillas and raw onions.
but mariela just ate canned campbell's soup and bread.

she says she's going back to mexico city- that she can't be here anymore; that the provinces drive her crazy. whenever she mentions going back to the city, jose gets so upset. like its all his fault, and he pleads with her and looks more like a puppydog than charlie.

today mariela cooked chilaquiles. i love mariela's chilaquiles.
and she was fine while we were eating and then suddenly she ran to the freezer and stuck her hands in.
it turned out that she burned her fingertips with chile.
she didn't go to work this afternoon, just sat while consuelo squeezed aloe juice on her fingertips and then, when there was no more juice left, covered the burns with the aloe skins.
and mariela just sat there. but she didn't cry, even while blisters came up on her fingertips. didn't make a sound.

today is another sunday.
i can't really believe they comearound so fast.
yesterday everyone had bad stomachs, maybe because of the pozole we ate for lunch yesterday, but i think its because of the milk jelly we had for dessert. it was the kind with tiny pieces of canned orange and pink fruit suspended in it. milk jelly always makes me think of a giant maggot.

so sunday. granny luz was up early today. before me even. when i got up she was already halfway through packing up the jars of bottled fruit she's planning to sell in the plaza tonight. she makes them all year round, every time we use up something that was in a jar. i offered to help her pack them into the back of jose's truck, but she told me to go away and eat some breakfast. except there wasn't any breakfast. because all the people who make breakfast (consuelo and mariela) were still in bed. so i just watched her pack up the truck. mostly bottled guavas, but also bottled cherries and bottled apricots and bottled nancies.

consuelo was the next to wake up. she tied a pink cloth around her head, and made me eggs with chorizo and a glass of mango water.

mariela and jose still weren't awake, and consuelo and granny luz wanted to go to mass so they dragged me along too. even though the crucifix behind the altar gives me nightmares and they both know it. jesus is too green and his eyes look very, very dead.

and today was one of the last days of rainy season. the sun didn't come out once. but it didn't really rain much, either. just chilled me to the core. in the cold, cold church with the dead jesus. and it freaks me out when i have to eat a piece of jesus' dead, green body.

today was a nice day. sunny and bright.
when i left for school, only consuelo was awake. she made me my breakfast (oatmeal with banana and a glass of chocomilk with a straw), and fixed my hair while i was eating it- two plaits. she did them really nicely, but then when i was on my way to school i remembered how alejandra martinez and maria-julia made fun of carmelita when she wore her hair in two plaits. they said she looked like an indian, and where were her huarache sandals?
and i was even wearing my sandals today. they're not huaraches, but the navy-blue leather is kind of crumbling from scuff and sun. i looked at my feet: they look too big right now. all clumsy, and they slap against the floor like duck feet. especially with my backpack full of books.

when i slapped into school, maria-julia was getting out of her mama's silver jeep. all immaculate, and not wearing slappy sandals. she had a high, high pony tail and a side-parting at her foehead. consuelo won't fix my hair with gel or anything. she says it's gross american chemicals, and when she was a girl...

in english class, i got put in a group with maria-julia and alejandra martinez, and also esperanza, who is always perfect perfect perfect but never says a word. so then it was breaktime, and everyone kind of stayed at their desks to eat their breaktime snacks. consuelo had packed me a tamal- still warm from the pot and the wrappings consuelo packed it in. but i didn't want to eat it with my plaits and my sandals. alejandra martinez had an american sandwich on white bread, and maria-julia had some homebaked banana bread. esperanza just drank a carton of chocomilk.
"don't you bring anything?" that was alejandra martinez. to me.
"yeah, but... "
"but what?"
"um... i'm not hungry right now"
"what did you bring?"
"um... i don't know..."
"so check"
"i guess a sandwich or something. i always bring a sandwich."
"what kind?"
what kind of sandwich? i don't even know. what kinds of sandwich are there? alejandra martinez had ham in hers.
"ham. usually"
"so what did you bring today?"
she wouldn't shut up.
i shrugged.
"so check".
i swear her eyes are more, like, concentrated than other people's. i just couldn't not open my cooler bag- then one jose sent off for with coca-cola caps. so i opened it and it smelled of corn everywhere.

alejandra martinez' eyes went big, and she looked at maria-julia.
my stomach kind of dropped. now i really didnt feel hungry.
"you brought tamales?" said alejandra.
"i guess they must have given me tamales today..."
"swap you?"
what?
"swap you the rest of my sandwich? or my chips? i looove tamales.... what kind is it?"
"just plain corn"
"my favourite!"
i gave my tamal to alejandra, and she split it with me and maria-jose.
it tasted better than usual.

on the way home i walked past san mateo chapel, and there was a fiesta going on outside. the whole chapel had decorations and flowers, and outside were big trestle tables with disposable plates and cups, and bottles of refresco. it smelled of pozole, and i felt hungry.

and when i got home mariela had cooked, and i love it when she cooks because it always tastes good, and also she always makes it look so pretty on the plates.
and in the afternoon i just hung out at home with jose, and we played video games.

i just looked at my feet and actually they are not too much too big.

today i woke up like 4 hours before everybody else. i finished my book- its about a girl who moves to california from new jersey. it was really good- i'm still thinking about it.
and then mariela was the next one to get up, at like 10 or something which is wierd because she and jose went out last night. i guess mariela didnt get drunk, cos she was in a good mood. anyway so she fixed us both a fruit shake and talked to me about cool stuff- not about how much she misses the big city and how lame it is in this fleabitten dusty town or anything. we talked about dogs and how maybe she'll buy me a teacup chihuahua, and we talked about how it was turtle season so we should go to the beach for independence weekend, and then spongebob squarepants came on the tv and we just talked about that. and about how if she lived in the sea she would be a seahorse and what would i be? but i dont think she'd be a seahorse, i think she'd be a dolphin. because she's too clever and always has a little smile like she knows something you don't.
so jose didn't get up for another couple of hours, and mariela and i cleaned the house a little and then when jose got up he gave us a lift to the pool.
mariela showed me how to dive but i'm still scared to do it from standing, and we did handstands in the shallow end. then some kids came- two little girls and their tiny brother, and they came up to me amd mariela like they wanted to hang out with us. that's the thing about mariela. everyone wants a little bit of her.
but she doesnt really give it to anybody.
anyway so we all played a little while, and then we went off to the slide and all went down in a chain. it was fun. and then mariela dared me and the oldest girl to go down headfirst and she even did it first to prove it was easy, but then the little brother wanted to go down headfirst and mariela was like 'actually maybe we should all just play ball in the shallow pool' so that's what we did.
when we got back she cooked spaghetti for us all and jose helped make limeade. and i dont know where everyone else was, but it was nice just eating with jose and mariela. they can be nice.
now its the afternoon, and maybe we'll go look for the chihuahua!
it's been a nice day so far.

so today it was still raining when we woke up. which is good for the farmers i suppose. but its not too much fun for anyone else. everything looks ugly when its cloudy.
when its cloudy you can suddenly see all the walls that need painting- all peely and grey. and suddenly everyone looks poor. their clothes look ragged and their faces looks sad and angry.

i wonder if in countries where it rains all the time everyone looks miserable? and everything looks poor and unappetizing?

i had a mango smoothie for breakfast, and even that wasn't quite enough to make the day happy. even mango, which is the happiest fruit i know, next to watermelon.

i was the first to wake up today. well, not true actually because when i woke up juanito wasn't asleep on the sofa anymore. i didn't even notice at first because i got so used to him not being here, and i just sat down to watch the jetsons on tv. but then i noticed juanito's backpack in the corner of the room. its different to the one he left with- its a gringo backpack. just like now he has gringo sneakers and baggy jeans. and tattoos.

he didn't come back home until lunch. consuelo made chiles rellenos- juanito's favourite. and he came just when she was serving them, so he sat down and she served him two first time, because she knows he likes them. and he just sat there, looking at them. so she served him tamarind water, but he didn't drink that either. and the chiles that used to taste so good didn't really taste good anymore and we all let them go cold on our plates.
and then juanito excused himself 'thank you, it was delicious. may i please be excused?' even though he hadn't even tasted anything. then he just got up and walked out.
and left us all there, watching the chiles get cold.
and consuelo just standing by the comal, heating tortillas which no-one was going to eat.

so today was an angry day.
it all started with mariela... but then it always does.
if she's smiling when she wakes up, it'll be an ok day. and if not? well. i guess its always interesting.

its only just stopped storming- with thunder and lightening and everything all crazy, so i only just dared to turn my computer on and blog. i hope it'll be alright now. its still raining pretty heavily, but i think the lightening's over. its good that its raining- this year we've hardly even had a rainy season and the corn's all drying up. so i'm glad it rained. also the storm's been brewing all day- ever since mariela got up, and maybe everything'll quieten down now.

so today i guess she got her period or something because she was all cranky and achey. and she decided right first thing in the morning that the house was starting to stink of cat, and so she blazed through the apartment with a mop until everything smelled of fabuloso, amd anything that got in the way (like mickey, who is still really little and likes to scamper after peoples' shoelaces) got mopped away.

and she was all grouchy because she wanted to go swimming, but it was cloudy, all waiting to rain. jose offered to take her but she was like 'why are there no pools with heating in this town?'. and jose always gets really hurt when she starts dissing guzman- its like she's dissing him. and then he gets all moody and glares at everybody.
he really shouldn't be so obsessed with mariela. but then i think we all are. when she's nice, she's so very, very nice. and fun. and beautiful.

but not today.

and then juanito came home. he just appeared. and i suppose because it was an angry day no-one was like 'juanito! welcome home!', instead everyone was like 'whydidntyoutellusyouwerecoming? andwhatonearthhaveyoudonetoyourself?' because juanito is really big now and built, and wears baggy pants. and his whole body is covered in gang tattoos.
so granny luz was like 'you're going straight to hell juanito'.
and juanito didnt say anything.
didnt even want any of the tinga that consuelo made us, even though he used to like tinga.
just went to bed.

and when he was asleep granny luz set the iron to heat up, and then went to where he was asleep on the sofa and put it right on his chest PSSSSSSSSSS and it all smelled of burning meat and juanito's tattoos all smeared and him shrieking.

either she was trying to get him into heaven by smudging the evil images, or she was trying to get him used to hell.

like i said, today was angry. and mariela started it all.

once upon a time, in a land far far away, there was a volcano. and at the bottom of the volcano was a lagoon.
and between the volcano and the lagoon there was a town, adn the name of the town was ciudad guzman (although it was really called zapotlan el grande, but that's another story and will be told another time).

ciudad guzman was a bustling, busy and dusty town. it was not a rich town; nor was it an especially poor town; but it was a happy town, and the people who lived in it were happy.
this is a blog to share the stories of this happy town with eveyone else in the world- maybe they, too, may feel the happiness of guzman!