A visit to Queseria

Saturday, January 10, 2009


Knock knock.
Who’s there?
It’s Joe!
Joe? Aren’t you a bit early? It’s only 7:15 am.
I’m going for a walk, want to come along?

We jump into our clothes, quickly grab a bottle of water and put on our walking shoes.
It’s quite a steep climb, the place Joe is taking us to, but we have a beautiful view and just as we are at the top, the sun comes up. Let’s sit down and enjoy.

The entire walk took us a little over an hour. Ramiro cooks up some eggs for the two guys and I shower. I am suppose to meet Susan at 9:30 am.
We go through the content of the current PA brochure and sift through the thousand pictures Susan has on her computer. Once we have made a selection, she burns them on a CD for me. I have a job to do. I will design a new brochure.

As I check my e-mail, I see a message from Dee, announcing that my Rotary Club has approved a $ 5,000 donation to one of Project Amigo’s students, Sandra Artemisa Guizar Marquez. Sandra is a nursing student and we had the pleasure of meeting her last year when we presented a cheque for last year’s studies. I tell Susan the news and she is very excited. The education of the children in Colima are dependant on donations from various individuals and clubs. They will change the future, not only of one child, but of the entire family.

Ramiro is looking for something to do. So after lunch he is begin sent to the Queseria Labor camp. The playschool is being fixed up and he needs to get an estimate for the fixing of the walls.

I join him and we take our car, on the same road we came in on with the RV. Funny, it seems so much bigger then when we came in.
Apparently not big enough for the little sports car with a bunch of teens in it. They made the curve too fast and wrapped the car around a tree. It seems like it only happened a little while ago, but it does not look like anyone is hurt. The police is redirecting the traffic.

With the car we are actually able to pull over and stop to admire the view and take a picture here and there.

As we arrive, the workers have already left for the day. We stroll through the camp, asking the women at the washing station if we can take some pictures. They are very shy and just smile. These are the poorest of the poor and come with their families from the southern states to find work at the sugar and banana plantations. Some don’t even speak Spanish. They live in dirt floor shacks and have very little. The outside vendors nevertheless come and try to sell their belts here.
Project Amigo has a number of ongoing projects in the camp. I will go into further detail on that some other day.

We drive to the village for gas and a man approaches us. “Do we like to buy a sombrero?” “How much” We ask. “70 Pesos” is the answer. “How about 50”.
The vendor nods in acceptance of the offer and Ramiro tries on his new purchase.

A group of young men just finished their shift at the plantation and are waiting for their ride with their large knives sticking out of their backpacks. They all cheer as they see my camera aiming at them. Later we see them again on the road, all packed in the back of a pick up truck and they wave at us foreigners.
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We enter the centre of the village. As we see the steep road we’re glad it’s not snowing. You better have good breaks going up and down here.
We decide to park the car and walk to take in more of the activities, such as the chicken on the rotisary in preparation for the evening meal.
I love it, it has such a pleasant atmosphere. It reminds me of Cuba.

The square, which is in the centre of the town, is right at the edge of the polluting sugar processing plant. Wonder who made that stupid decision.
We see signs of Christmas still all over town and the vendors who are just getting ready for the Saturday evening market.

Look at those delicious looking pineapples Ramiro. Wouldn’t you just want to take them home? We ask for the price. 15 Pesos. “Per Kilo” I ask. “No, each”.
Well, how can you pass this on. They’re giants. I am even offered to taste how fresh they really are.

We take our pineapple back to the car and drive the 20 minutes back to Cofradia.
It’s getting close to 5 pm and still 23 degrees. We feel pretty relaxed and look forward to happy hour.
We’re going home and I do a little bit of ironing, while Ramiro fixes a few tings.
Let’s make it a quiet evening for just the two of us. The next week is going to be busy.