Image on the wall in the Church of Tamaula, la Virgenita.

El hermanito de Lupita

Ana Guadalupe y Paloma


Marisa

We got invited to a party by one of the prepa students. The prepa students are ages 16 up to 21. They do not have any professors that come to Tamaula so they take courses through the Prep@net program. Prepanet has been set up in communities in order for the youth to have an education without having to leave their communities. Some might not have money to send their children to Irapuato and this enables them to get an education taking courses in math, chemistry and other subjects while staying in their communities. Below you can see the inauguration of the new Prepa building. They had a library with books donated for them and computers that are connected to internet. It is a little weird to think that a town like Tamaula can have access to internet but has yet to have running water! Anyways getting back to the point, we partied with the prepa students and we learned how to dance to Norteño and Cumbia music! Picture this, we partied outside below the moonlight, the stars our feet in the mud, we could hear donkeys, goats, chickens and the turkey while we admired the unique scenery of the nightlights of the surrounding cities. It was wonderful. I really felt in Mexico! We danced a lot and we even introduced them to some “American” music and dance moves including the cue tip move inspired by the Hitch movie and the shopping cart! It was a lot of fun! I danced with one boy whose name is Juan Manuel, he is 16. He told me about his family situation. He lives in Irapuato with his older sister and his younger brother. His father left to the U.S. He told me that the last time he spoke to his father they had a fight. The father wanted Juan Manuel to come to the U.S to work and he did and still does not want to. He told me that if he were to go “al otro lado” it would only be on a vacation visa. He has no intent to stay in the U.S to work. He also told me that his father started a new family “al Norte” and he must have 4 step brothers and sisters. He does not go to school and told me that he prefers life in Tamaula to life in Irapuato. Life in Irapuato brings him to the “calle” and too many drugs and marijuana are in circulation. He told me that he prefers staying with his grandfather Don Pedro in Tamaula than staying at his mother’s which is to escape any social pressures.

Life in Tamaula is an escape, a refuge.

He told me that there are “chollos” in the street and I asked him what he meant by that. He described them as shaved headed and tattooed guys. We then moved on to discussing politics.
Juan Manuel dreams of traveling and now he wants to come to France! He told me that he wanted to see of his own eyes what life is like in the United States. The echoes he gets is that everyone is equal in the U.S. and this appeals and adds to the pulling and pushing effect of migration, and I can testify that little towns like Tamaula are greatly affected by migration.

In the back of a pickup truck

Students in their school uniforms.

Amadelia

Rico

The view from my balcony at 7 in the morning.

We traveled down the mountain of Tamaula in the back of a pickup truck with our luggage and bags packed for 4 days. The family that took us down was on their way to vote. I will let you know what the elections results come out to be. On the way down in the pickup truck, I got to chat with a young man who hitched a ride down as well. He told me that he is studying to be a priest. The length of studies is 14 years. He told me that they have class from 8 in the morning until 2p.m. and then they clean their dormitories and play sports such as soccer, basketball and volleyball. They are 7 in the program. They learn theology of course but also math, history, physics and chemistry. His name was Manuel and he is 19 years old. He was about 5.7, dark skin and a tint shy. He was traveling with one suit case slightly bigger than a carry on size bag. I asked him if he got to come home to Tamaula every weekend since he seemed to be traveling pretty light. He told me he came back every month. Although he was shy and did not seem very talkative, he enjoyed knowing about the life in the United States and life at the University of Notre Dame, a Catholic University. I told him about dorm life, the chapels in all the dorms, about Saint Adalbert Parish i which offers mass in Spanish for the large Latino community of South Bend, IN. Once we got to the bottom after a 30 minute drive down a red rocky dirt road we were dropped off and waited for our mini vans. We jumped into our transportation and traveled to Mineral de Posos. Mineral de Posos is a mining town where several minerals were extracted including copper, silver and bromine. We got to visit some of the ancient mining lands. We threw rocks down a mine of 200 meters (!) and tried to hear the impact the rock should have made at the bottom…we hardly heard any noise! Mineral de Posos has a lot of artists and there are hidden beauties behind the unrevealing walls facades we can see through the streets. Compared to Tamaula, Mineral de Posos has of course a lot more inhabitants about 1200, the streets are paved and the weather seemed to be a lot drier looking at the surrounding vegetation. There are a few projects that are on their way. One is to build some little casitas that would be less costly than the nice hotels built by Americans and would offer a relaxing immersion in nature and in the midst of the mining land, offering amazing view of the country side. Martha a woman who owns a business selling Chichimeca pottery instruments has the project of building a hostel. She is having architectural plans made for her project by three IBERO students. This hostel would be cheaper than the hotels in town and another advantage would be the proximity of her location. She has her land in the city and this would offer another touring place for all those backpackers looking for a low cost place to spend a few nights in Posos.