Day Two - Copala

It was up early on the second day of this trip.  Marco again negotiated the multitude of dangerous curves and pot holes as we headed to Copala for the first meeting of the day.  When we arrived, there was time to grab a quick bite to eat for breakfast.  Paula and Marco took me to a small shop where they informed me they always went for coffee.  The reason for this was the lady that owned the shop, always knew what was happening in the town.  (A valuable source of the latest gossip).  The shop consisted of one table with three chairs, a couple of shelves with bottles of soft drink and a tiny kitchen. 

In no time we were sipping (nescafe) coffee from large colourful (and very chipped) mugs and eating soft tacos and a mix of beans and pork in a rich chili sauce.  Yum!!!!! (I was certainly giving my stomach a good test this trip).  The cost of our breakfast and the latest village news was 45 pesos  ($4.50 for the three of us).

Breakfast over we headed to the meeting.  This meeting was with a group of seven women who have started a business that purifies local spring water and bottles it for home use.  (Here in Mexico, everyone buys large bottles of water for consumption).  Tap water is only for washing.  In this meeting Marco reviews the business plan that he has helped set up for them.  There are discussions on some of the problems they are having.  One of the areas that stands out is how they communicate with the public.  Marco points out how important this is and the group works on ways to improve this area of their business.

After the meeting we drive back to Zapotitlan and visit my favorite little lady from our last trip.  This time I have the pleasure of watching her make tacos in her outside kitchen. This was especially interesting to me.  Many traditional homes in Mexico have two kitchen spaces one outside and a more modern one inside.  She had a huge stone bowl in which she mixes the flour etc to make the tacos, then another stone that she rolls out the tacos.  Then finally there is a big terracotta plate over coals that the tacos are cooked on. 

Recently I read a book called Kitchenspace: Women, Fiestas, and Everyday Life in Central Mexico (Joe R. and Teresa Lozana Long Series in Latin American and Latino Art and Culture,  which examines kitchen space in Mexico.  This book looks at the traditional kitchen space and all the cultural and community aspects related to this space.  A very interesting book that examines social and community traditions related to cooking and the kitchen, for women in Mexico.  I was very excited to be able to experience this first hand. 

Getting back to the food, again we were served up with a huge lunch of chicken, tacos, salsa, huge avocados from the tree in their garden.  Yes it seems that I am spending a lot of time eating on these trips!!