We took a taxi to Luis & Rosalia’s house at 9am sharp and left for the country. We picked up another couple Roberto and Ophelia along the way. And off we went in Luis’ people carrier for about an hour and a half until we got to a dusty village called Villa Nueva. We asked a random stranger in a cowboy hat where we could find Don Jesús. “down there” he said smiling. Everyone smiles and waves in Villa Nueva. It must have 100 inhabitants at most and Don Jesús seems to be the head of the village with a nice, yet simple house down a lane under some tamarind trees. Chickens clucked around outside and the family came out to greet us. Don Jesús was a smiley, wiry man of about 55 and seemed very pleased to see us. Luis introduced us all. Rosalia brought in some tamales she had made that we could share later. We Don Jesús’ wife (I can’t remember her name (but we called her “Doña” out of respect), some of his grown sons and daughters and assorted grandchildren. Doña was sitting in their yard preparing vegetables that looked like peppers, but turned out to be called Chayotes. We later saw them growing everywhere and later still, sampled cooked ones. Very tasty - bit like potatoes so they were a hit with the Irishman. We didn’t stay long and Don Jesús was ready to escort us on a hike up the hill to see how the crops were irrigated. We all put on hats and tightened our hiking boots and off we went through the village. We waved and smiled at everyone. We passed lads (“Chavos”) going off to ply football and families sitting outside in the heat playing fiesta music. Not for the first time on this trip I felt like I was in a cartoon. We also saw boxes of chayotes boxed up ready to send to the United States and Canada.
We spent a few hours hiking. Don Jesús pointed out local landmarks, plants and crops and Luis talked and asked questions. We followed, just enjoying the day and feeling really lucky that we were seeing the “real” Mexico. I loved looking down on the valley at the ‘forest” of mango trees in bloom and at tiny villages with impressive churches. It was so beautiful. We didn’t speak or hear any English the entire day.
We came to a spot where a village used to be. They now call it the “hidden village” and there is nothing left. The lads went off to see what they could find of the old village while I stayed with the ladies and found out about useful things like how to make tamales and where to go to find a village that made shoes (I have to go there!). When they guys came back, we had to check them for ticks. Ticks gross me out. It’s the burrowing into skin that I can’t handle. I picked a few off David. Yuck. Don Jesús seemed to think that they weren’t dangerous, just a bit unpleasant. Nevertheless, we should check carefully when we got home
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