Reframing Latin America: A Cultural Theory Reading ... - BGSU Blogs

326 reframing latin america
making peace with the day. Can you imagine what sort of world this would
be if all that we had were day and no nights? Quiet nights are for Nature
to recuperate. Years ago the only man-made sound that could be heard was
from the battery powered record player. There would be birthdays or special
occasions when groups of people would get together for an evening. But generally
even that activity would stop when it was time for the village to go to
sleep. Now there are a lot of noises. Electricity has changed everything. So
has the road. In the middle of the night some one will come into the pueblo
in a car or a truck and wake up everyone. Can you imagine how loud those
sounds are? I think they should ban motor vehicles from the streets from
sundown to sunup. [. . .]
Chapter VIII. Animals [. . .]
The gifts you have given me this year have been invested in chickens, and for
yours and Hilaria’s birthdays we will have chicken mole (a sauce made with
tomato, chili and other spices, peanut, chocolate, and is usually red and hot).
I’ve managed to reinvest several times the amount you originally gave me.
The chicken coop was built from money I got from market sales of chickens.
I’ll never get rich raising chickens but the money I make from chicken
sales combined with what I get from selling produce at Tres Marías and
Tepoztlán does cover all of our basic necessities. And if I work a little extra
each week I can even buy a few luxuries. For the fi rst time in my whole
life I have some savings. I don’t actually have the cash in my hand but I
can get it when I need it. Like don Tomás I am lending money to friends
and acquaintances and charging interest. For the smallest loans over the
shortest period of time—a month—I charge 10 to 15 percent interest per
month. For larger amounts over longer periods, like six months, I charge 5 to
10 percent. So far I have not had enough money to go beyond family needs.
You know, however, that there are hundreds of people in the village who are
related to us. I never have any problem with people not paying their debts.
They are so happy to be able to borrow money from someone in the village
who does not ask them to fi ll out long forms or insist that the transaction
be notarized that they gladly repay their loans or renegotiate them. It happens
many times that I will renegotiate a second loan for the full amount of
the fi rst one. Some will be able to pay the interest but others will have the
interest included in the new loan. I didn’t invent the rules; I learned them
from others in the village who lend money regularly. I have had more dealings
with don Tomás than I care to remember. He used to lend us money
for Margarito’s education. Don Tomás always made us pay the interest each