So I just recently returned from the motherland, which I call Mexico. My brother and I decided to drive down taking a total of 36 hours and according to Google.com 2030 miles. This was way too much time to spend in a car. I hadn’t visited Mexico in 2 years and with the drug wars and kidnappings that have started in the last few years the trip was a little tense for me when I crossed the border in Mexico. Also driving in Mexico makes you appreciate the roads and driving in the United States since double semi trucks drive at about 70 mph and have no disregard for other vehicles on the road. Anyway, it’s a little sad to see that the drug cartels have begun to infiltrate my parent’s hometown and violence has slowly begun. In the last few months there’s been two shootings and this one guy was brutally beaten and tortured and executed in the town. Like I said this trip was a bit tense, but I was assured that I would be safe as long as I didn’t go looking for trouble. So I usually kept my distance and actually had a lot of fun during my short stay.
For starters, the day I arrived there was a huge party. This party was a bit special because it was essentially my cousin’s prom. However proms in Mexico or at least this one was a bit different from the ones we’re used to. This prom was not necessarily a party for the graduates as much as it was a party for everyone in town. Also since my cousin pretty much organized the party he sat us down at a table right next to the band and set up two bottle of tequila on our table, which later multiplied to 5. Needless to say we were pretty drunk and we had to wake up the next morning at 9:00am to vaccinate the cattle on our ranch. It was quite an interesting day especially since the sun was also blistering hot.
As far as parties went that was pretty much the craziest it got while I was there. However, I am sure my liver is glad to be home since on average I think I consumed at least 2 beers or 1 drink a day. My excuse, I was just partaking in the culture of Mexico but it seems like Mexicans just really don’t stop drinking sometimes. They even wake up to it sometimes. My brother was really excited about drinking this drink that is pretty common with people who work on ranches and farms. The way the drink, known as a pajarete (pah-jareteh) is set up is you take chocolate powder and sugar in a cup you pour some alcohol that makes everclear look like water and then you add freshly milked milk. And I mean fresh the milk goes straight from the cow to your cup. I was a bit skeptical at first, but it was actually quite tasty and I also didn’t get sick, which often occurs to people who don’t regularly drink fresh milk of this sort. With this drink I also got my first crack at milking a cow. This task is a lot more difficult than it seems but I did get some milk out. However, the cow did not like my milking and almost knocked out my teeth. Luckily her back feet were tied up.
While in Mexico I also got a chance to try Mexican moonshine raicilla. It is no wonder some of this stuff is illegal since I’m sure I could have run my car on it, but when it was mixed with something it wasn’t too bad.
Aside from drinking I did some things that I thought were pretty cool. I taught myself how to drive stick. I drove a truck that was stick for the first time and only staled once which is cool considering that the road was windy with many ups and downs and was significantly bumpy. I also fired a firearm for the first time. That’s what happens when rival drug cartels come onto our turf, no I’m just kidding. The person who takes care of our ranch when we’re not there loves to go hunting and has quite a few rifles and guns. So one day when we were out working he brought out his rifle and asked if we wanted to shot some cans. For being my first time I was pretty good I managed to hit 2 can on three shoots and the cans were about 50 meters away. The next time I was not so good though. This guy brought out his favorite rifle, which is a 243 and has a scope on the top. After the last time I was feeling pretty confident about my shot but the last rifle didn’t have a scope and it didn’t have as much of a kickback. Well anyway we put the target much farther about 150-200 meters away. I set up to shoot and when I fired I realized I had setup with my face way too close to the scope and the kickback from the rifle caused the scope to split part of my eyebrow. Luckily it didn’t split deep enough to require stitches but it still bled a bit. I didn’t give up though; I went up again this time with my face farther away from the scope and managed to hit the target. Take that scope.
Well I hope all of you are enjoying your summers and I will post more of my adventures as the summer goes on.
Alfredy out.
