Friday, April 4, 2008

Today was a day of much travel and disparate experiences. We had a leisurely start – an 8:30 breakfast to send Carl on his way home for the weekend, followed by an 11:00 rendez-vous with Chuy to visit a pulquería. Pulque, we learned from the patrón, is a lightly fermented and perhaps slightly alcoholic traditional beverage. We followed the patrón – we in Chuy’s car, he on his Italik motorbike – out to the fields where he collects agua miel (the liquid produced in the heart of the maguey cactus). Back at home, he strains the agua miel into a large olla (clay pot) where it ferments. The primary customers for the pulque are the workers in the surrounding fields.


We had time before our next obligation for ensalada de frutas and sopas in El Carruaje.


Capping a week of visits to satellite programs, we headed out to Ocampo at 4:00 with professor and program coordinator Jaime. The students there pack their studies into Friday evening and all day Saturday. Most work, many have families, and many must travel long distances into Ocampo from rural communities. They are VERY impressive! In Ocampo you may encounter “Los Locos,” a merry band of masked clowns who both startle and entertain!


A simple dinner of quesadillas, ranch steak, and rice and beans was just right. Jaime brought us home safely at ll:00 p.m.


THOUGHT

The struggle of today is not altogether for today – it is for a vast future also.”

Abraham Lincoln

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