Salmonella Typhi - Not Simple Food Poisoning.

Salmonella Typhi - first, my story
I have been seeing a naturopathic doctor,
Not because anything is wrong,
But to do my annual checkups, blood work etc.,
Plus to see what kind of herbal tune-ups would be good
For a person my age (58).

One of the things she does is biomagnetic testing.
You lay on your back and she places magnets
Around your body, lifts and moves your feet,
And by some miraculous divining,
Kind of like water witching,
She said everything looked really great
Except, that strangely, I tested positive
For salmonella typhi (aka typhoid fever).
I wasn't sick, no fever, so I dismissed it
As a fluke of the magnet testing 

This was in early May
It took me a day or two to let that one sink in,
Then I suggested we do a lab test to see what it said.
The test came out showing 1:40 for all four items they test,
Which basically means I didn't have it now,
But I could have been exposed,
Or I could have had it in the past.

Now, when you go reading about salmonella typhi
You don't want to think you have had it in the past
And you certainly don't want it in your future
Because it can find ways to lodge in the body,
Show up later to haunt you,
Can cause very serious health problems.
Be life threatening.  
On top of that,  you can be a carrier and not know it.
If you are, and you don't wash your hands carefully
After every bathroom trip, 
You can give it to others.  
As in typhoid Mary.
After getting a second opinion
About whether my test showed if I have it or not,
We determined I did not have it.
It did bring on a frantic search for information, however.
And a frantic, OCD level hand washing experience,
Before and after I touched anything,
It was hard not to obsess.
There's more, but first...

John's Story..
A week before I had this testing,
John walked in the living room one day,
Laid down on the couch and said,
"I am so tired I can't move."
He didn't get off the couch for three days.
The following week he had work up in the states,
So he went see the accupuncturist
To see if he could help with his energy.
He was so exhausted he couldn't move.
He didn't have a fever, but felt like he had one,
His body temperature felt like it was all over the place,
But no real fever - strange.
Aches and pains, no appetite.

This, of course, was during the second week
Of the swine flu epidemic,
Where you had to wear masks in the airport,
Pass physical inspection and hope
That you didn't pick up something life threatening.
The bus was almost empty.
The plane was one third full.
He had a row all to himself. 
He made it past the inspection
Got on the plane and went to sleep,
Landed in the US, took Ibuprofen for a week,
And worked.

Normally he calls every night
With something to talk about.
This time, he didn't call, and when he finally did,  
All he could talk about was his exhaustion,
How he had to go to sleep, good bye.
He started to scare me,
It sounded like the way you think about people
When their life is up and they've given up. 
I was thinking, this isn't my life,
I'm not ready for this, 
He's just going to come home
And never get out of bed.

Well, he made it home and went straight to bed.
By this time I had had my magnet testing,
Followed by the lab work.
Putting two and two together, I wondered
If he might have contracted Salmonella.
He tested with very strong high positive numbers.

During all this we realized that we had 
No doctor here in town
No hospital information
No telephone numbers written down
No idea what to do if something serious happened.
And this was feeling very serious. 

This started me on my research for
Medical insurance here, doctors,
And information on the various medical facilities.
Beginning with Dr. Roberto Maxwell,
Everyone's favorite heart doctor,
Which we don't need, but nevertheless,
A place to start, and we think a good person to know
If you need to go to a hospital and have someone on your side.
He says all of johns lab results are just fine.
Salmonella - yes the numbers are high, but!
The definitive test is the stool test
Which of course he did not have, so therefore,
The Dr. was reluctant to say it was definitely Salmonella Typhi.
He was thinking on the lines of:
Candida,
Lymphoma,
Lupus,
Autoimmune disease,
Epstein Barr syndrome,
Mono,
Fibromyalgia,
Things you really don't want to know you have. 

The naturopath says with numbers like his,
She was positive it was salmonella typhi
Even without the stool test.
So antibiotics it was. 
500 mg twice a day of ciproflaxocina
For 14 days.  The normal treatment.
It is common for certain strains
To be immune to the various antibiotics,
But this one is the treatment of the day here.
Slowly, it worked, but his energy was so low
He could just get up, move around and eat,
Go lay down again and start all over.
That plus a lot of sleeping day and night.
At the end of the 14 days of antibiotics,
His energy was still so low he could do nothing
But basic getting to and from bed and eating.

After two weeks on antibiotics
Still acting like this was scaring me even more.
Once he quit the antibiotics,
His energy started returning. 
Over the next couple of weeks,
All the symptoms began to subside,
And he's back to normal.

During this time,
I had done a lot of reading on the subject
Plus doing the totally fruitless mind game
Of trying to figure out where
This could have been picked up.
Street food?
Yes, we have eaten street food.
Anyone in one of those stands
Could be a carrier - not washing their hands
Except in the shared bucket of water
Which the entire crew rinses off,
After handling chicken, beef, chorizo
With their bare hands.
Maybe the fish stand at the tuesday market.
Eating salad at a restaurant.
A waiter who doesn't wash properly
After using the bathroom.
How about the peanut scare in the United States?
Easy to think it could have been picked up there
As we were both there several times during that scare.
No point going there because we'll never figure it out.
The water here?

What now?
Once you know you have  had it,
And I mean being tested for it to be sure
With a stool culture, not just a blood test,
You need to follow up over time,
We've been told every 3 mo. the first year,
To be sure it isn't still in you.

It's not the typical food poisoning
Which everyone calls salmonella poisoning
For lack of a better term for it.
There are definitely other kinds of food poisoning.
Salmonella typhi IS Typhoid fever
And should not be taken lightly.
So for the next year,
It's stool cultures for both of us,
Just to be sure,
And if at any time we feel 'off' 
For more than a day or two,
It's off for testing.
Most likely, since it was treated,
It won't show up again,
But you want to be sure.

Here are the basic symptoms,
Sudden onset of sustained high fever,
Headache
Body Aches
Loss of appetite
Nausea
Diarrhea
Enlargement of the spleen (serious if not detected)
General malaise
Possible meningitis
If not treated can be fatal if not treated early
Lives in human hosts only
Passed through contact with feces
There is a vaccine, mixed results they say
Various antibiotics are used, some not effective any more.

As for me and my results
The fact that I had numbers instead of negative
In my lab results can mean,
If I am hearing them right,
I could have had it
But maybe not,
I may have been exposed but didn't get a full fledged bout.
I need to watch to be sure.

Back in January,
I did a blog post - Miss Smartypants
Where I talked about coming down with something,
Wondering if it was something I ate at the market
Or at a street stand, feeling like John felt
Wondering if perhaps this was my little bout with it.
I'll never know for sure, but the symptoms,
Although for a very short period of time,
Compared to John's (8-10 weeks of being sick)
Were sure similar.

We have to live with a lot of not knowing here.
Then you also have to realize
That all the ways we think it could have occurred
May not even be close to the real story,
So life goes on,
It's kind of like thinking about
How to keep from contracting the swine flu,
Probably impossible to know where 
You might have picked it up if you actually get it. 

A little side note -
When we were at Dr. Maxwell's
He asked how we cleaned our vegetables.
We told him we soaked them in microdyn.
He says, that isn't enough. 
Salmonella (and other things) are bacterias.
They can be washed off.
Wash your hands.
Use a tiny bit of dish soap and rub/scrub each piece.
Yes, even the lettuce - especially the lettuce and cilantro.
The scrubbing moves bacteria,
The water washes off all the residue,
Don't worry about things tasting soapy, 
They don't if you rinse.
Then soak them in the microdyn.
Yes, it takes a little more time,
But he says, it is most likely, 
That hand picked vegetables here in Mexico,
Are often picked by workers in fields,
Who have no facilities to clean their hands
After using the bathroom.
Many food born illnesses get passed this way.

My personal advice.
If you get what you think is food poisoning,
Or something flu like that just does not go away,
Or very high fever.
Ask for a stool test for 'febriles'
To see if salmonella typhi is involved.
You need to do the test BEFORE taking antibiotics.

The result of all of this
Is a lot of research into the medical services 
Here in San Miguel and beyond including,
Doctors
Hospital services & when/why you to go one or another,
IMSS
Seguro Popular
International medical policies
All of which is the subject of another post that I am working on.

More Sounds of Mexico

Part of my daily routine
Is to video the various sounds here.
This time we have:
The knife sharpener
Who walks around the town
Sharpener thrown over his shoulder,
With a whistle you can't miss.

But first, here's a clown on his motorscooter
On the way to work, I guess


Then 6pm Saturday evening in the Jardin.
Full of people, a beautiful evening,
The estudiantinos on one side,
The mariachis have a captive group on the other side.


Back home, the cutting of a lone Eucalyptus tree
And finally, the call of the milk truck.
I finally caught a good long honking -
Fresh, unpasterized milk
From the rancho.

Here is the movie of the sounds

How To Throw A Baptism Party

As you've seen from the previous posts,
Parties are a really big thing here.
Even the 5 month old baptism party
Is equal to or greater than all the others.
Little Diana was baptized on a Saturday,
In Atotonilco, in what they called
A very special place to be baptized. 
Atotonilco is a very special place
Which you can read about and see photos here 

[caption id="attachment_1681" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Little Diana, 5 months old - it's her day"][/caption]

I was unable to attend the baptism,
But I have been to Atotonilco on other baptism days.
Where families with young babies,
Dressed in the typical white flowing gowns
Wearing white garlands of fabric flowers on their heads
Line up across from the church to register their children.
This is followed by a ceremony at the church,
Where a nun at the front,
shoos everyone who is not an immediate family member,
To the back of the church, so there is room
For the families
To watch the blessing of their babies
By by the priest.

Upon the return to the house,
There is food first, 
Exactly like the description in my previous post

Afterwards,
While the family was awaiting the musicians,
The ice cream truck arrived.
The padrino yelled for all the kids to go outside,
Order an ice cream, and he would be out to pay.
So, before cake, there is ice cream all around.
Ice cream trucks here don't sell the packaged bars.
It is home made ice cream and nieve,
Served out of big metal milk cans
In flavors of mango, limon, guayabana, pina, chocolate.
When in season, there are the unusual flavors,
Zapote, chirimoya, and others.


Kevin hogs the ice cream cup
While Ramon patiently waits,
A worried look on his face,
Wondering if he will get some too.



Little Lupita loves hers and shows me what flavor.



Everyone is quiet, for a moment
while they eat their ice cream. 



While this is going on, the musicians arrive.
This time, four of them.
The father, accordian player,
Two sons, on guitar and drum,
A friend with the bass fiddle. 



They walk right in,
Set up along the back wall,
Under the white balloons and streamers
Which Barbara spent the morning setting up.
You know the rest.
They started playing at 5pm today.
And ended at 5am tomorrow.
Everyone kept chipping in by the hour
So they could dance all night. 
It was the all out baptism,
That's for sure. 



At 11 pm
I went home to rest  a while
John returned from a trip to the states at midnight.
We returned so he could eat some mole,
Send his good wishes to the family,
Ended up dancing until 2:30 am,
When we pooped out.
The party went on until 5am
When everyone either ran out of money
Or lost steam, I'm not sure which. 



Parents of little Diana, the first dance



Grandma Petra and uncle Nabor, 
The second dance 



Grandma #2



And the movie.....

Corpus Christi

Or body of Christ.
The feast day which commemorates
The gift of the Eucharist, which occurred
During the last supper,
The Thursday before Easter.
That's the short version.
But here, it is also another day to celebrate
By decorating the town in red velvet and gold

Constructing altars in the entry of colonial doorways


Red and white satin curtains
Hang in the entrances of the portales
Flags across the streets.
 
More satin flags across the street,
Reminiscent of the modern renaissance fairs. 



At 3:00, traffic is still being let through.
The  town is being decorated.
One of the wonders of this town - at least to me,
Is how they set up a major event,
Elaborately decorate the entire centro parade route,
Then pull off a beautiful procession
With full regalia,
The men in white shirts & black pants,
Wearing satin ribbons on their arms,
Carrying Jesus' coffin.
Younger men in white shirts and jeans,
Carrying candles.
Little girls dressed as angels,
Priests under red velvet awnings,
Statues of saints,
Floral Altars,
Satin altars with the nino Jesus
Flowers covering Jesus' body,
In an elaborately decorated coffin
Trumpets playing slow, sad, funeral songs,
Women in black
Groups of girls dressed in indigenous clothing,
Thousands of people participating.
Thousands watching
All in a five or six hour period.
I'm sure I have forgotten something. 

Afterward, the clean up crews
In their blue and orange suits
Whisking the streets
With their rustic brooms,
Follow the end of the procession,
Cleaning everything up
In less than a half an hour.



I don't know why,
But I just don't feel like going back into town today,
Even to watch this beautiful procession.

While I have been sitting here writing this,
The church bells have been ringing the entire time.
Several years ago, I documented this
On my store blog, in photos
Here's the link 
For the 2007 photo journal of this procession.

[caption id="attachment_1546" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Flower shop at the market making an altar of white roses to be carried in the procession"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1561" align="alignnone" width="358" caption="Altar from the 2007 celebration"][/caption]

A Thing Or Two Learned About Mexican Weddings

Last month I wrote about Anai's upcoming wedding
 Which we were told would be in November.
On Monday this week, we were told
That the civil wedding would be this Friday


And the religious/church wedding on Novemeber 28th.
Will we please come with them?
I have been trying to learn what it means
To be a madrina for Anai's wedding.
Thank god for the internet because I found a great site,
A Mexican woman who was raised in the US
Who discovered that the tradition of the madrinas
And the Padrinos, is really nothing more
(and this is a little simplified...)
Than that the family, friends and extended family
Are  each given a job, related to the wedding.
This means that you could be the madrina for the music,
Or the madrina who buys the dress, the jewelry, the shoes,
Or the madrina who buys the cake, the carnitas, the tamales.
Or in our case, we were asked to be the madrina/padrino
For printing the invitations, which we accepted.
Really, it's a great way to pull off a wedding
Delegating as much as you can to everyone
Who will attend -  I rather like this idea.
 

For years, American friends of mine have always said
'Whatever you do, just don't ever agree to be a madrina'
You'll be paying for college educations, operations,
Medical treatment, and whatever else the family cannot afford. 
Naturally, when I was asked to be the madrina
I did a little polite backtracking,
Asked for more information
Tried to buy some time to find out
What I was really getting into.
So now I know, or at least I thought I knew
What there was to know about a Mexican wedding.

So, on Friday, Anai had her civil wedding
I assumed this was the formal wedding
Signifying the beginning of living together,
As they were now legally, formally, married.
We all drove over to the Registro Civil, 
Upstairs from the 'old Gigante,'
For those of you who have lived here,
You will know that atrociously ugly,
First attempt, at a mall here in San Miguel.
Nevertheless, this is where everyone in the town
Files birth, death and marriage papers,
Plus civil weddings are held here.
Similar to a justice of the peace.

Anai and Julio enter and go to the counter.

Both families, about 15 of us,
Wait near the door while they fill out papers,
And more papers, And more papers.
Then they sign, the parents of both sides sign,
Both sets of witnesses sign,
While Aron, Anai's father,
Who is normally very open,
Stands with his arms crossed,
Looking very stern. and serious, while Ariel,
Keeps trying to get his attention
With an action figure.
 
The families don't talk with one another.
Eventually, the signing is done,
We all go into a small room,
Crowding together around Anai and Julio,
Who sit at a table, so they can sign more papers,
Anai, Julio, the parents, the witnesses,
The magistrate, or whatever they are called here,
Everyone signs the final document.

The magistrate, who is a woman,
Reads the rules of marriage.

This is not a game,
It is for life,
You are committing for good and bad,
For health and life and death,
You get the idea...
She reads to Anai, who agrees
Till death do us part, then to Julio, who agrees.
Anai cries
The parents join them, and they are married. 
 

There is a court photographer.
He takes their photos.
Then asks for photos of all the witnesses,
All the family, including me. 
Outside the office, on the steps.
The families exchange very stilted hugs
And back to the house for the festivities.
 

At the house,
It is clear there is judgement
On behalf the brides family,
About the family of the groom.
They don't quite want to accept his family.
I can't quite figure out why,
Because they seem quite nice,
Although a little quiet and reserved,
Except for the grandmother,
Who loves champagne, 
Gets a little tipsy,
And rambles off a brindis - a toast,
For about a half an hour
While everyone on both sides,
Roll their eyes, as politely as possible.
 

As the evening goes on
I notice that Anel,
Who is Anai's sister,
Whom she lives with,
Has not come over.
It turns out they had been fighting
Over sisterly things, and Anel
Decided to punish her by not coming.
Normally, you can't keep her away
So I bring it up to Marta & Aron,
Who eventually go get her and her kids.
They don't like it either, and want her there.

Now, I'm sitting there thinking,
This isn't good, It's your wedding night, 
And you have to go back to your sister's house
With whom you are not speaking
Have to go to bed in the room next to hers,
Be civil - or not,
Enjoy your first night together. 
So to help out with things,
I give Anai and Julio money
For a hotel.
They graciously thank me
And the party goes on.
 

Shortly, Julio's mother,
Takes the two of them into the living room.
It is clear she is lecturing them heavily
On what I don't know but it seems serious,
And goes on for at least 45 minutes.
They come out for more partying.
Next, Marta, Anai's mother calls them in.
An hour later they are still there.
Anai is crying,
Julio is looking right at Marta
Wringing his hands.

I ask Anel what they are talking about.
Anel says that they are ordering them
To live apart until the wedding in November,
Not to sleep together,
Not to be getting in a situation
That sleeping together would happen.
Telling them to put that aside
While they organize their lives
And not make any babies before November
When the REAL wedding takes place,
The church wedding,
Which is the one that counts.

Taking all this in,
I realize I have just given them money
To go do exactly what both mothers
Have ordered them not to do.
I tell Anel about the money for the hotel.
She bursts out laughing,
Tells me this isn't the real wedding,
They can't go off and be together,
They have to WAIT.
The civil wedding is only paperwork,
Not the real marriage.
Meantime, she is laughing away,
Calls over her husband Moises and tells him.
Laughing and pointing his finger at me
He says, oh no, you are in trouble!
Of course they all think this is hysterical,
Now I don't know how I am going to tell Marta,
Who is my friend and I don't want to offend.
And Anel is telling everyone else
Who all think the joke is on me,
And are having a good hard laugh.

Moises pulls me aside and says
"Suzan - that's why I didn't ask for Anel's hand.
Once you ask the parents, you have to wait,
Live by a bunch of rules, which are impossible.
So Anel and I just started living together
And having babies, maybe we'll get married in December'

So the lesson learned is -
There is a civil wedding and a church wedding:
1. They don't happen at the same time
2. They don't mean the same thing
3. There is a reason for two parties instead of one.
4. The civil wedding - is kind of like an engagement party
5. It gives the parents and families time to get used to the idea
6. It gives the bride and groom an event with a lot of people
    to ask them to be madrinas and padrinos, to help
    with the expense and party for the real wedding,
7. Which is held at the church, with a mass
8. Followed by a reception
9.  Then the night in a hotel.
10. If you give money for the hotel early
       the mother will confiscate it and save it.
       for the night of the REAL wedding.

Eventually, everyone found out I had given money for a hotel.
No one was angry,
My reputation in the neighborhood is intact
They all understood that I didn't understand.
But, they do bring it up and have a good laugh,
At my expense - every time the see me.

Flash From The Past

The other day
We were walking from the bus station home
When we passed by a big open comedor.
John went in to get a bottle of water
And I noticed these old photographs on the wall.
San Miguel from other eras.
Canal street
The Jardin before the trees were trimmed,
The parroquia San Antonio
Which you will hardly recognize. 

[caption id="attachment_1528" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="This is Calle Canal, with the view of the Quebrada Bridge"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1530" align="alignnone" width="402" caption="The Parroquia and Tower from the corner of Calle San Francisco - notice the cobblestones in the street and the wood cart street vendors."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1529" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The Parroquia and tower and the Jardin with ficus trees before they were trimmed into the circles as they now are.  The tower and chapel attached to it look rough and unfinished."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1531" align="alignnone" width="398" caption="The church in San Antonio (currently the parroquia of San Antonio) "][/caption]

First Communion Mexico Style

My neighbor's grand daughter, Cassandra,
Had her first communion.
Another in a series of events across the street.
A  happy and fun event this time,
Following the two deaths
Which occured the spring.
There's finally something happy to celebrate. 


Depending on whom you talk to in the family,
Or in the neighborhood,
Petra has either 13 or 17 children,
Of which eleven are living now
Ages 22 to 48, all grown,
With families of their own.
They still follow all the traditional rituals,
Baptisms, communions, quinceaneras, 
Weddings, birthdays, religious holidays etc.

Before the deaths in the family,
Some of the brothers and sisters were a little estranged,
Some not speaking to each other,
Some refusing to speak to each other
Some just living far away,
Some too busy, like we've all experienced.
But the death of one sister,
Followed by the murder
Of a brother in law,
 Seems to have changed all that.

The children of this family of 13 or 17,
Whichever the number is,
Are now enjoying doing things together,
Talking to each other,
About growing up poor in the rancho,
No water but the creek,
Not always enough food,
No doctors or medicine
And especially, how their lives are so different now,
That they can give to their children
What they didn't have...
A birthday party
Balloons,
Fancy dresses for special occasions,
A very special day that is all theirs to remember.

Now, I know this isn't totally  exact
For every child in that family
Because I've seen old photos of quinceaneras
Girls in big fluffy white gowns,
Brothers in black pants, boots and a cowboy tie,
Petra, dressed pretty much as she is now,
A skirt, white blouse,
Wearing a nice rebozo
Instead of her apron.
So something changed during the many years
These children grew up
That allowed them to have at least some of that.
 
But for now,
This is one of the things they speak of,
Giving what they didn't have
To their children.

The communion,
Was held in the chapel next to Las Monjas church,
Behind Bellas Artes, in a small quiet room
With five small kneeling altars,
Covered in satin with a white flower garland
Atop each altar and one chair in the middle for Cassandra.
She is having a private family communion.



On the side altar she is watched 
By San Judas, senor de Jesus, Maria milagrosa
And the Nino Santo Jesus. 


The time:  1pm
However, the day before,
The priest called the family,
Changing the time to 12 noon.
At 12:30, I begin walking town
When I meet up with one of the uncles
Who offers me a ride.  
We get there ten minutes early,
Or so we thought.

They had already finished the communion service,
Standing outside posing for pictures,
Aplogetic to those of us who came late,
(we thought we were on time)
About not informing us of the time change.
As a matter of fact only three people
In the entire family,
Were informed of the change.
It went on without just about everyone
Ooops.  
But no one seemed to mind.



Earlier in the morning I had gone by Petra's
To check in on things.
She was in the upstairs kitchen,
Stirring the largest cazuela of mole
That I had ever seen, over a wood fire.  
The traditional way. 
It was not like the Oaxacan mole,
Or the Puebla mole
Or the mole I have seen in Queretaro and Guanajuato.
A rich deep terra cotta color,
Not very thick,
Full of all types of chilis,
Chicken broth,
Spices, and a few mystery ingredients.
Delicious, served over chicken and rice.
I don't think the whole batch would have fit
In my entire freezer.
I plan to go back for a cooking lesson. 


For the party,
First everyone sits around tables.
Food is served, and people are talking.
This type of formalized dining
Used to make me nervous.
Especially before I spoke Spanish well.
I must be getting used to it,
Because I jump in with the rest of them now.
Eating, sitting back, having a good time,
Not thinking about what else I might have to do,
Or what I might be missing.
It's very relaxing.

Eventually everyone is served and has eaten.
Mind you, this takes about three hours.
They start to bring out the cake,
When another round of people come,
More food is served and the cake waits.
This happens a couple of times.

After the funerals, the novenas, the birthday parties,
I am almost able to understand
How everyone is related to each other.
The son of a brother,
The sister of the musician, whose husband,
Is the Uncle of one of the cousins,
The two daughters of one brother
Who I always thought belonged to someone else
I discover are really part of a family of four.
It's endless, the twists and turns inside this family.
I guess that is what happens
When each family has thirteen or seventeen children.
Plus their original family, which also has that many. 

There is a tiered cake that belongs in a wedding,
Everyone gathers around  the celebrated girl.
There's a specific song they sing
While she shoves her face right into the cake.
Her three year old sister follows along for fun.
Mom cuts the cake. 
Everyone is enjoying all the attention and fun.


The party is really just beginning now.
Cassandra's father has hired a mariachi band
Who doesn't show up.
He is beside himself that they don't come
Gets on the phone,
Goes out in the car,
Returning with out them.
Ni modo everyone says. (nothing you can do)

Shortly, however, a trio of Nortenos arrive.
A bass fiddle,  an accordianist, and drummer.

They are related to Petra's sister's son's wife.
Another one of those extended family connections.
But no matter about the mariachis,
From here, the momentum has been building anyway,
It's kind of a free for all
With music,
Dancing,
Kids running wild.
More people arriving,
This group is sent to the kitchen for food.
The toddlers 
Are allowed out on the front steps
With the older kids watching.
The adults begin dancing,
The tequila bottles get passed around,
The men are singing,
The music lively,
You want to dance, you just can't help it.
It's almost been forgotten
That this is a first holy communion party. 
 

And then....
The mariachis show up outside
Wearing blue and white suits
Playing mananitas for cassandra. 



The girls are thrilled and excited 
Just the right age for all this excitement
With a capital E.
And they know all the songs.   



About 20 young girls age seven to 14
Line up on the step,
Put their arms around each other
And sing (well, singing screaming) along.

The parents, who had hired the mariachis,
But were unable to find them to cancel
Are now paying for the Nortenos
And the mariachis.
There's discussion on how they can afford it.
Without a moment's thought,
They decide nothing can be done
And they'll figure it out tomorrow. 
If you have ever hired mariachis before,
You know this is no small budget item
In this fiesta. 

Cassandra's father tells everyone 
Let them play for the kids.
This is meant as a punishment to the mariachis, I think,
But eventually, everyone ,
Including the punishers,
Are  back and forth
For a favorite mariachi song,
Then inside for a dance,
Another song,
Another dance,
And so it goes, back and forth,
Between the street and the patio. 

The mariachis play for an hour and a half.
The Nortenos stay inside.
Every hour, a hat is passed
To see if they can collect enough
To pay the Nortenos for another hour of dancing.
At 2am, everyone calls it quits.



Here's the movie - 
I especially like the part in the dark
Where all the kids are lined up on the steps
Yelling and singing along to Mariachi Loco.

Up Up and Away and More Sounds

Twice this week,
While walking down the hill from my swim
There have been major events in the Jardin.
On Monday, the entire area was covered
In big white tarps, shade cloth,
A stage and bleachers
With go-go dancers on the stage
Wearing red and yellow
Singing a repetetive song
Whose main words were
MEXICO! MEXICO! MEXICO! 

Televsion Azteca had semi trucks
Wrapped around the Jardin,
Filming a commercial is my guess.

Later that day,
They were still there,
Dancers still going at it,
The tarps and shade cloth removed,
In the hot sun, against the backdrop
Of the Parroquia.

Today, a hot air balloon,
From up above,
It was hard to tell  if it was landing or taking off
Nevertheless, a hot air balloon in the center of town?

Apparently so,
And just about to take off.

Below, not quite a hot air balloon,
But one of my favorite vistas
Cactus in flowerpots
On the edge of buildings
Against a blue sky 

A moment before takeoff
There were no filming teams
Just a bunch of guys,
Taking a ride  

Heading southwest today...

Back on the sounds theme, 
Here's the latest from a walk around town.
The town garbage crier first
Banging his metal plate 
As he walks down the street
Then a drum and bugle corp
In Parque Juarez, early evening,
Then the transito cop
Directing traffic outside of las Monjas church
At the corner of Zacateros.
Finally, a brand new gas truck
Almost makes you want to dance.