Harvey and the kids
Play is important, especially if you are a kid in La Zapotera.
Canicas
As a child growing up in Guadalajara, my brother George and I played canicas everyday in the church school yard.
Watching Raul and Don Antonio mix cement for the Community Center's kitchen floor I commented on how making pie dough used a similar process. Don Antonio says his nephew is a baker in Poncitlan and he has seen how he makes dough...and it is done in the same way as cement.
The La Zapotera Community Center building was once a Modulo de Seguiridad.
This is why there are jail cells inside the building which will be used
as a pantry and for storage.
Kitchen Floor Cement
New Kitchen Window
Don Paco, Herrero
We brought our ironsmith, Don Paco, from Chapala to create an
exterior staircase for the building, giving easy access to the
soon to be completed rooftop dining area.
Newly installed, everyone tried out the stairs.
One of our other daily goals was to demolish the old tinaco brick
stand and move the tinaco to the southeast corner of the roof.
Demolition team, Harvey and Gerardo
A wash basin area was constructed just outside the kitchen back door.
Although it is work, the company helped make the time seem like play.
Raul creating the new base for the tinaco
Seal of Poncitlan
I suggested that we should have had a time capsule to enclose in the new base.
Instead Don Antonio decided to inscribe the stone.
New tinaco being set in place
We always sit under the broad branches of the magnificent tree adjacent to the Community Center.
Beforehand, we decided to clean up the trash in the area. My helpers were swift and efficient.
Our magnificent tree
Then it was time to think about comida.
Today's menu - Michi Soup and Fried Tilapia
Waiting
Michi Soup
(carpa, carrots, ejotes, onions and of course, chayote)
Tilapia Dorada
My friend Pamela donated a brown glass bottle to the farmacia of the women's medicinal plant garden. This started the topic of the medicinal plant garden and the needs of the women of the town to continue making remedies and tinctures for the farmacia.
We also spoke of the new community center kitchen and how it will run, who will be handling which items, who will be doing what and so on.
After our meal and town meetings, the men retreated into the center for some shade and camaraderie.
Don't forget to play.
