Columns

Lupe Pimentel, a large, sweet-faced woman whose nickname is La Molacha — Gap-tooth, she is missing several upper front teeth — was at the door in tears. Her eight-year-old son, Chuy, had broken his leg, she thought. Could I drive him to the pueblo’s clinic?

The techniques, exasperations and informative joys of bargaining are familiar subjects to long-time foreign residents and visitors in Mexico. But the proliferation of supermarkets and the merchandising practice at many public and street markets of placing fixed prices on goods has confused some newcomers to Mexico, muddying concepts of inter-cultural exchange.

Lake Chapala, presently at about 40 percent of its recent historical capacity, was once more than the republic’s largest inland sea. At one time it was Lake Jalisco, a massive body of water that not only covered most of this state, but substantial parts of adjoining regions.

King corn rules the countryside now. The rains, stuttery or not, send farmers into the mountains surrounding Guadalajara armed with talaches (a heavy-bladed, pick-handled hoe of ancient design) and machetes to cultivate their upland milpas.

It has often been pointed out that the institutional reverence accorded Cuauhtemoc, the last Mexica (Aztec) emperor, is the result of Emperor Moctezuma II’s poor showing against the Spanish.

On a visit in 1978 to the old province of Tuspa, we had the privilege of staying with a Nahua family.