3/2003
Cattle were formerly sold into Sonora, by way of
herding the cattle to Tarahumaris, which is a town near the road to Ciudad
Obregon, coming out of the Sierra. Coney is the name of the man who buys and
sells the cattle. He is a remarkably well educated guy, knowing all about US
foreign policy and after seeing my salmon pictures from Alaska, told Tavo and
family about how salmon spawn in fresh water, mature in the sea and then return
to fresh water to spawn again. Gerrardo seems to be the guy in La Mesa that
works the most with Coney, and Tavito has worked as a cowboy, herding them, for
little pay. Tavito was recently offered $50.00 dollars, for 3 days work, and he
refused. They go out there and do your basic cattle drive, sleeping on the
ground around the fire, with minimal gear, just like all the songs and stories.
Now, and for the last year, cattle from Chihuahua have
been quarantined by Sonora and restricted for import by the US government and
Sonora, because they have brucellosis and tuberculosis. According to the people
in La Mesa, only cattle from the eastern part of Chihuahua have these diseases,
and their cattle are disease free. However, the only way to certify this is by
having a veterinarian come and test each cow, and it’s mother too. This is an
onerous task when all cattle run free out in rugged, steep canyon country. (The
men go out often to check on their cattle, all using and wanting as strong a
binoculars as they can find.)
As well, the terrorist attack of 9/11/02 impacted the
ability of cattle to cross the US border, and sales dropped drastically. The
people sell calves (becerros) and young cows (vaquitas), rather than full grown
cows. Adult cows with long horns, from the area of Moris, are desirable and
sold for rodeo, as they can more easily be roped.
Now, the people in La Mesa are selling their cattle
back into Chihuahua, from a corral they have made jointly between the pueblos
of the comisario (the smallest local municipality), El Cordón, El Encinal,
Campo Americano and La Mesa de Abajo. They must herd the cattle from out in the
Sierra, after buying them, to the corral close to El Cordón. Then they load
them into their trucks for transport to Yécora, Sonora. For the most part, the
men go out into the Sierra Oscura, the dark Sierra, and buy cattle from
smaller, remote villages. They also buy from places where relatives and in-laws
live, like La Mesa Atravesada.
Selling calves and young cows is the primary way to
make money for these people. Also, by butchering a cow, a person cam make a
little money by selling the meat and have a goodly amount of meat for
themselves left over. The meat is cut into thin strips and coated heavily with
salt and hung out to dry. The people always seem to have some meat, cow or
deer, and in September, they go to their respective ranchos down in the valleys
(barrancas) and make cheese and butter, which may last them for the whole year.
They are a cattle ranching people. Here in the US, we
have been raised to cut the fat off our meat. In the Sierra, they eat every
piece, of everything edible, and use as much of the animal as they can. Indeed,
I sit on a chair right now with a seat of rawhide (vaqueta) made from local
cattle, and wood from local pines. When we are at a restaurant in Yécora, I
notice that at the end of a good carne asada dinner, my plate is heaped with
pieces of fat, while the plates of my compadres, is clean, all fat eaten with
gusto. When you grow up with few resources, it does not make sense to not eat
the fat.
Many times when I sit at the table, and smell the meat
cooking, I look forward to the savory taste of hot, salted meat, and when my
plate is delivered by Maria, Alba, Dora, the woman from whichever family, I
start to salivate, and then, after I have put a healthy spoonful of grated
cheese into the beans, and crushed a few chitlepín peppers in as well and
perhaps a lime, and taken a hot tortilla, I prepare to eat and get that meat on
my spoon, only to find attached a huge chunk of fat, dangling, jiggling,
dripping grease, (into the beans which taste great because they are made with
pork lard).
It is interesting that the Mexican cuisine, water,
whatever, no matter if from the city or the country, has an immediate impact on
a gringo’s intestinal tract, not necessarily in a Montezuma’s revenge context,
but just a change in the character, quality, texture, gas level, a noticeable
difference, that lingers for a number of days after returning. I personally eat
whatever the villagers serve and drink themselves, and I suffer not any ill side
effects and indeed, I have more problems with food from women’s kitchens in the
city. Country cooking women know how to get by without refrigeration, city
women who try the same style
Types
of cattle in La Mesa de Abajo: there are few pure breeds,
all are mixed
huaco- Hereford
cebu- Cebu
charolay- Charolay
angus- Angus
Cattle
names from the family of Octavio Clark Moore: 44 cattle
BULLS: el gato (the cat), el rojo (the red one)
COWS:
pelona prieta- dark hairy one
fresa- strawberry
casita- little house
regalada- given
carrucha- hat
ojo negro- black eye
chilicota
careta
pochipinta
pochicolorada
pluma- pen
la lepa
mensajera- messenger
dorada- gold one
cachanilla
naranja- orange
maizena- corn starch
limona- lemon
gaviota- sea gull
quelele
lepa amarilla-
tejana- the Texan
sabrina-
caricia
ruma
empanada- sweet tart
rayada
liona
suflamera
ceda negra-
la de Jaime- the one from Jamie
la canasta- the basket
mariposa- butterfly
pelona colorada de Tavito- red, hairy one of Tavito
dorada huaca- golden Hereford
dorada prieta- dark golden one
pulga- flea
fane
juana- Juana
cascarita- little skin
grulla
princesita- little princess
dorada huaca dos- second golden Hereford
tejana dos- second Texan, we ate her
Cattle
of José Luís Clark Moore:(partial list given by
Tavo, Maria and Tavito)
BULLS: el huaco, el amarillo
COWS:
bonita- good looking
nica
pancha
esponjita little sponge
cochita
la de Don Senso- the one from Don Senso
tableta
panocha- brown sugar
china huaca- curly Hereford
pelona china- curly hair
china huaca #2- curly Hereford #2
zorilla- fox
la de Juanito- the one from Juanito
turnia
la de Doña Maria- the one from Doña Maria
tortuga- the tortiose
pelona prieta- dark hair
ombligona- big belly button
joquita
mosca- fly
mosquita- mosquito
lujenia
Cattle
of Tomás Clark Moore: (partial list given by Tavo, Maria and
Tavito)
COWS:
simpática- sympathetic
sabrita
jarito
frontera- border
espuma
zorilla- fox
la de Santa Ana- the one from Santa Ana
tres colores- three colors
gata- cat
sandijuela
corrua
esclava- slave
nube- cloud
la de Juanito- the one from Juanito
yeguita- little colt
espuma
mil colores- 1000 colors
Cattle
of Gerrardo Clark Moore (names given by Gerrardo, “Why do you want to
know this?”
BULL: el borrego- the ram
COWS:
catrina
coneja- rabbit
coyota- coyote/ or empanada
mona
almohada- pillow
golondrina- swallow
tusa-
peineta
culebra- snake
borrega- sheep
pimienta- pepper
cola blanca- white tail
guitarra- guitar
coquena
le juerfana- orphan
choluga
bitache
negrita- little black one
guilami
venada- deer
chuparosa- hummingbird
tontita- little fool
prieta huaca- dark Hereford
roma
le de Benjamín- the one from Ben
le de El Encinal- the one from El Encinal, a village
in the comisario
la vaquilla-
panda
la de El Cordón- the one from El Cordón, a village in
the comisario
tontita zorilla- foolish fox
Don Facundo permitted a Guarijío Indian couple,
Gregorio and Panchita, to build a small house on hi land, immediately behind
his house. The Guarijío are from farther east in the Sierra relatively, from La
Mesa de Abajo. Tavo’s brother Emilio has a Guarijío ranch hand named Lolo, who
he refers to as “Don Lolo”, a show of respect. Gregorio’s brother built some
very nice new rock walls in front of Tavo’s house and as well in front of
Sigifredo’s. When I asked who did the wall, Tavito told me “un Indito”. I heard
that a woman had made some baskets, and when I asked who, I was told “la
Indita”. At various times, the people of the village referred to Gregorio and
Panchita as Indito or Indita, and that struck me as curious, that they had no
names. This belies some remaining sense of racial classification in Mexico, a
clear sense of race and class. When I first met Panchita, she was quite shy and
would not look me in the eye
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