One night a very long time ago my family and I drove to El Eijido Porvenir in Baja California. There were 4 of us kids in the backseat along with Mrs. Baracas who was wrapped in a reboso, cradling two potted cacti in her lap as she fingered her rosary. My mother and step-father had the luxury of the front seat. In the back window we had a cardboard box of 100 day old chicks we were taking to the village as a gift.We turned off the main highway onto a 13 mile dirt road toward the village. It had rained a lot in the area and the road was littered with potholes filled with muddy water. Somewhere along the road our car fell into one of these mudholes and we were stuck. My brothers and stepfather tried everything to no avail. We settled in for the duration.
It was a long night and Mrs. Baracas snored so loudly we couldn't hear the chicks in their cardboard box. We feared they'd all died crammed together with no heat or water.
The next morning we were rescued by a village tractor and every one of the chicks survived. Mrs. Baracas though said she didn't sleep a wink and never hitched a ride with us again.
3 comments:
What a great story. Good thing the seats in those old cars were like train berths!
I woke up this morning wishing I were in the desert. I'd go outside, breathe the air and watch the sun come over the mountain through the joshuas.
Not only did Mrs. Baracas transport cactus into the desert of Mexico but she always carried around shopping bags full of cocajuates (sp), (peanuts)tied together with long lengths of gray clothesline rope.
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