I sometimes miss being a kid and being a teenager because that’s when I spent most of my time going to Mexico with the family in Zacatecas, where I have a lot of great memories and I learned then that family is one of the five most important things in life. I loved the fact that from 1994 till about 2002 we would take regular trips down to Mexico, and I took sporadic trips in 2004 and 2006 but I haven’t gone back since. Just to provide some brief descriptions on these times I will document what happened in those years and how different they were.
1994: I remember this with a blur because it was my aunt’s qunicinera and I didn’t know what was happening because everybody was so happy for my aunt Graciela, who is probably my favorite aunt to talk with because we joke around a lot with each other. I just remember my grandparents being very happy that their daughter was turning into a woman finally and that was probably one of the last times that my mom’s side of the family was together which included the kids as well. I became very attached to my brother at this time because being in Mexico I understood very little of the language and I was afraid I would be looked down upon because I was born in the United States and I knew very little, if any spanish, and the way I spoke it made me seem childish in a way. I was hanging around with my brother and my cousin Filiberto, who I found to be like a Mr. Cool because everything about him spoke how cool he was. I also remember seeing my mom dancing to some generic Mexican Band with keyboards, drums, electric guitar, and a bass guitar as well with some other guy besides my dad and I just chhered my mom on for some odd reason. That was one of the few times I’ve ever actually felt lost because I had no clue that where my parents and family were from was one of the places that I would look down upon at first but I would grow to love later on, which is located in La Batea, fairly far away fro one of the prominent cities in Zacatecas, Sombrerete.
1995: This is fairly tragic due to this being when me and my mom going because my Grandpa, Sylvestre was sick and this is when he passed away due to having a pulmonary problem which I found out about years later. I also have scattered memories of this time because I just remember being in the hospital with my grandpa and I didn’t know what to think because I was little and I had never experienced what it was like for an elder person to die. I thought to myself, what do I do what do I say in this time and day. I also remember a casket coming in for my grandpa and I believe that’s when I knew people’s final resting places are. Suddenly I just remember my grandpa’s casket being brought to a funeral home and for some odd reason I remember going up to the stage and rambling on about something which to this day is one of the most vivid memories in my head because there were lots of people sitting down yet I didn’t know what to do once again. I also remember being there and seeing my mom cry extensively and I didn’t know what to say or think yet her brother was there to comfort her for all i could think about was just being a kid and enjoying my young life.
1996: This one was fun, yet brief because I believe we only went for about 2 weeks and what I remember most was going to a rodeo and sitting up on these rocks that were uncomfortable and yet it’s one of those things you just remember forever. My mom would always bring this huge video camera and I would feel like holding it because in there are memories that last a lifetime. I would be in awe of these guys that would go on there horses and knock down bulls as I remember my aunt’s husband, Manuel, my dad, and my uncle Raul would be in on the action and it was always awesome to watch my family in the rodeo because they would get these cool looking tags to make it look as if they accomplished something but it was fun times. I also remember going to Fresnillo with my Aunt Irma, my mom, my other aunt Graciela, and my cousins Brenda, Chelli, Soccoro, and Rafael. What I remember was going on this bus that went about 15-20 mph at best and I just saw how amazing the countryside was withe green plants, cactus, cows, the mountains, and a bunch of other sites. We went to this awesome store called vision which was kind of had an americana feeling to it. I was having fun because it was culture shock to see nice things in a country I considered poor in Mexico.
1997: This is when I started understanding my people because they just wanted to have fun but I wasn’t that kind of guy at all. They enjoyed making tamales, going to dances, talking late night outside on their porches, and just oing anything but watching TV. I remember also this is when my brother started drinking at dances and such and I never really understood why he did such a thing but I thought it must of been pretty cool to be drinking and having fun at the same time. I also remember taking trips down to my other grandma’s house and just talking with her about practically nothing but this is when I first tried milk straight from a cow and I noted how sour it tasted and I just wanted to throw up soon thereafter. All in all I can remember us going everywhere and how it was an adventure just to do so from going to the local store, the sierras, with the Menones and I was amazed how they were white yet they spoke an alright kind of spanish.
1998: Boy, this was fun yet strange, I remember being in school and starting fifth grade but my parents planned on taking me and brother to Mexico yet I was afraid of asking the school how to actually request to take time off. I didn’t know what to say and I don’t know how I ended up getting away with it but we ended up just leaving without any word to my elementary school, Vargas. I remember going home that day and feeling a bit skeptical as to how I would get away with not informing my school that I was going to be gone for the next few weeks or so. Well, all went as planned and I woke up from taking a brief nap and I vividly remember seeing my brother in his boots and his cowboy hat on which made me think my brother was more Mexican than I was as I had no business being in this family that I didn’t choose and I wished at that point that we just stay there for the time being. I remember at the Oakland airport seeing a predominant “white” family and I that’s when I knew maybe white people liked Mexico too so I tried having as much fun as I could on the plane ride as this is when I had my obsession with wrestling going on and I wondered what would happen from that point till I got back. What was interesting was seeing my dad’s friend from work come with us, who was of Japanese descent but I found his company to be very forthcoming because I got along with him well enough that we could share so much about what he learned from working, life, tech companies, and for some odd reason the stock market. Anyway, we got there and I remember all the adventures we went through at that point from going to see my dad’s horse, having tamales at my grandma’s, going to the sierras and being with my family that mattered to me the most, and also visiting the capital city of Zacatecas that was ugly at the time but I wish I would have paid more attention to the area because looking back at it I wish I would have paid more attention to the sites because they were nice and beautiful yet I had no clue as to how I couldn’t be more attentive to what was going on around me. I clearly remember also going to the state fair with my dad’s side of the family and I got sick for some strange reason which must have been All in all, a very memorable trip that has little, if any chance of being duplicated.
1999: Truly, the end of the century and for me anyway, the end of my mom’s side of the family being a true family because after this my grandma ended up getting left by her last daughter, Graciela, and being there that year I saw many different signs of what it meant it to have people that cared about you. The things I remember about this one is seeing my Uncle, Guillermo, come down to live in Zacatecas because he couldn’t afford to live anymore in Sunnyvale which was saddening to me because I thought he was making quite the impression on me because before this I had never really talked to the guy other than about soccer but once I saw the music he listened to the more I grew to talk to the guy. I also remember seeing my mom’s side of the family, most of them, getting up at about 5 in the morning to go pick up my aunt who was coming from L.A. and she was coming with our cousins as well which made the trip seem even more worth it because I had a lot in common with my cousins as this was one of the few times I got to see them every year. We made a trip down to Fresnillo to pick them up but we ended up meeting them halfway between two cities that reach Fresnillo and we all went down to Plateros, a sort of sanctuary that is where a lot of images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and all the saints are which made me proud that day because I think we were helped out a lot from seeing these images as it granted us good grace and even better well being. I also remember going down to Agua Seca, which is a festival that they have near the small pueblo of Guadalupe and I just remember being interested in how much people dressed up for such a small event but either way I had fun, I was just a kid. The one last memory I have of this is seeing my grandma, myself, my brother, Filiberto, my aunt’s husband, Rafael, my aunt’s kids, and my cousin Miguel all went down to the sierras for no particular reason other than to look for cows and what not but I just remember seeing this fire that blazed up and we had to end up sleeping in my cousin Filiberto’s truck because it was cold and there was nowhere to sleep. Ah, good times
2001: Really strange trip because this was when just me and mom ended up going but I still had fun due to the fact that this was when I discovered the show “El Chavo”. This shows’s humor speaks for itself , as it has no real bad language and I can only say as a young 13 year old that had experience only with bad words, this show was a change as I didn’t know how to react to what was being said because at this point I only knew it was funny if another person ended up hitting another. But once, I caught up with what was being said, I said yeah and I was happy. I was also surrounded by women which made it seem strange at the moment.Anyway, awesome trip, wish it would have lasted longer.
2002: A short trip that only lasted about a week or so because my dad’s sister was going to get married but this was when I learned that I had hit puberty and I had to start turning a new leaf and not be so immature about certain subjects. I also saw that not only do people care what you look like but they also care about what you say in front of them as I was valued by my dad’s side of the family as being a good talker but I just brushed them off at that point.
2004: This is when my uncle got married and this is when my maturity level finally hit because I started to see my family was growing apart with my grandma being more worried about her only daughter that had yet to leave her but she lived in another city as she had trouble leaving them behind for anything. I also saw that my dad’s mom really had no care for anything my dad did as he was just trying to be a good son and nothing more yet I was seeing patterns such as who plays favorites and why? But all in all, I had a great time with my cousin and his antics because we ended up doing some stupid shit together in La Batea such as riding around in his dad’s Yukon and playing the song BNK by Bone Thugs and Harmony which is a rap song being played in a Hispanic setting. This is when I also started to hang with my cousin Karina who is awesome in every sense of the word. What I remember most is this being one of the absolute last times I would see my family together as one with my grandma, myself, my mom, her two sisters, and my cousins in one setting celebrating my aunt Julia’s birthday as we had tacos with potatoes which is a bargain over there any day.
2006: Bad Ass trip here for me because I now saw Mexico evolve in a technological perspective and the people that lived there as well. People seemed more upset now than ever before because they lived in a poor rural community yet they found a way to make the best of it. I clearly remember having a great time with my dad (me and my dad only went) and we spent the first chunk of the trip going to Vicente Fernandez’s ranch in Guadalajara which was gorgeous because it had little, if any gaps, and I was fascinated with the scenes of Guadalajara due to it’s huge yet structured city. After that, we headed down to La Batea once again and I was humbled to see how much it had changed and I remember seeing my dad going to purchase a truck that was not the best yet it had enough power to take us back as I had the knack to play some music and I popped in some Temerarios, Vicente Fernandez, Banda El Recodo, and just about anything else you could think of. I loved the fact that on this trip me and my dad got out more as I had to take care of him and I had to make sure he didn’t get too drunk or else I would get in trouble. I had my hunch that he would be drinking a bit there so I strapped myself in for a ride with my dad shooting the shit with his old and a hilarious scene that I remember is seeing the store owner of where he was hanging with his friends burning his stove and I thought “isn’t he going to suffocate in there” but he ended up controlling the fire, good times when that happened. My dad’s friends were also hilarious as they told stories about everybody, most of them hilarious as well as making me think about how much dad had to go through in order to make it to the United States. Nonetheless, the part of the trip that I remember the most was going with my dad to Sombretete and us going to Orgenoes which is sort of a sierra but with more empahsis on trees and plants and I just remember having a great time being with my uncle, my dad, and my mom’s brother in law, Jose who is a cool guy from what I’ve seen. That trip can’t be duplicated because I felt sad when it came to an end with my end of high school and I was coming to head with the beginning of what was sure to be a long road in college as I hadn’t decided whether I was ready to even begin that part of my life
Present: Looking back on those times, I wish I could go back because there still is something I need to see for myself and that is whether you can take the place out of the person as I feel within the next few years after I’m done with school and I have a career I can go back with my family to make some sort of connection with the place again. I truly do miss those times when my family was together and you can’t bring that time back but you can always ask others or your siblings “Do you remember the time…” questions that have a lot of meaning behind them that I’m not quite sure just how and why they do get asked but when I do ask them a smile comes on my face because not only is that a time when I was young and stupid but I also discovered just how important being in an environment where not a lot of people have money but what brings them together is experiences, life, commonality, and most important, love for one another: Good night and good morning (here are some pictures by the way)
Just Another Day... 