This weekend, I decided to heal one of the debts I had for days pending. I left my son at his mother's house, because I wanted to stay with him during these days of rest. After a whole day of working on the house, I left on Saturday to go to my mom's house. It was almost dawn, so during this morning walk of about two kilometers, I entertained myself with my friend the sun, which was just beginning to show its luminous morning colors.
When I arrived at the bus stop at kilometer 7 of Luis Lazo, I was already close to my mother's house. From the road of this somewhat secluded place, you can see the mountains, which seem to be incredibly close, true, as if you could touch them, but the view is deceiving, because you still have to give good leg. But if you can appreciate a whole countryside landscape capable of captivating your eyes, where many "Royal Palms" adorn this kind of oil landscape, on a natural canvas full of vegetation.
The old lady was very happy when she saw me arrive, she had been up for a while, as usual, to prepare her morning coffee, which she can't miss. That delicious coffee: "from outside", as she likes to say, as if to exclude the one with peas that they send from the bodega. Or that they used to send, because it has been a while since we could see his face. I hugged my old lady, she gave me a kiss on the cheek, then served me a cup of freshly brewed coffee. I am not a frequent drinker of this addictive beverage, but if they give it to me I drink it, although the reason could be that I don't have a coffee maker at home.
Without wasting much time, my mother immediately got active and started early in the morning to prepare a complete lunch for food. Yes, just as you read, this is to take advantage of the current, which had not yet been taken away. The Cuban people live with such a martyrdom, in these difficult days that we have had to go through because of the bankbook. Although she is not too worried about that, since she has a charcoal stove ready for any blackout situation, the so-called "contingency", what a little word that is.
Here you enjoy a pleasant silence, only the passing of the occasional car on the road reminds you that you are not in the desolation. The vegetation has proliferated to its liking all around, as a result of the rains that have blessed all these lands. So many shades of green can be admired in the landscape.
I walked a little way into the dense road that leads to the farmers' fields, and the prize is these images that I managed to take with my phone. I knew that these landscapes inhabited here, so I captured them in snapshots. Here in these walks I met "el nagüe", a friend of mine from when I did my military service in the hills of Guanito. I hadn't seen him for a while, he said he thought I had gone to "el yuma", to which I had to answer without a doubt, with a laugh.
I like it here, in fact I grew up all my childhood here, running around all these lands, opening the mountain as they say. The only thing a little mortifying is that here I have not found any way to connect to the internet, because it barely reaches 2g coverage. Incredibly, in these days we live in, they haven't even managed to provide 3g coverage, at least, to the population of these rural areas.
So I had to walk a bit back, to answer some WhatsApp messages. Messages like those from my wife, who knows how I need the connection to work, so she took the opportunity to give me a little "chucho", in good Cuban fashion. But also in a way it is gratifying, at least for me, to get away from civilization for a few days, even if I didn't live in the city. No jokes, yes, it is healthy, the whole body is grateful for it.
My mother's house is made of wood and fibers, with that side-to-side doorway, nice to sit on a stool and enjoy a cool drink. Incredibly, this little house has withstood several hurricanes, although perhaps its low, strategic location has protected it from the strong winds. Although for the moment he lives just a few steps away, in front of it he marries, as it were, his current relationship. The house of the "Ñoñi", in this kind of wide beast of masonry and plate roof, which he built, he says himself for his family. But part of his family, ex-wife and son, ended up emigrating to the United States, leaving him alone with this entire structure.
The "Ñoñi", returned early from his usual work, and it is not because he had finished, because it turns out that the machine with which he does his gardening work, had broken down. In the process of fixing it he spent almost the whole morning, even the midday sun bathed him, but as he himself says: "this machine is a pain in the ass". We had some Neapolitan spaghetti with sausage for lunch, which mommy made for this time of the day, and which were spectacular.
In the afternoon we set out around 3 pm to light the charcoal, with some live coals from a leftover candle where they had boiling food for the pigs. We wanted to cook some pieces of chicken that my mother had previously marinated, but with all the irons, as far as.... "a fuera". Yes, my friend, she loves to say that little word, it is that here "inside", as if to match it, there is so little of the good stuff left, that this phrase is here to stay from day zero.
After lighting the charcoal, we hung the grid of chance that we had previously scrubbed, from a balcony of the little house of relief, and on top of it I placed the pieces of thigh with encounter, which gave off a very particular smell. The following process is a little slow, but while I was watching him and rocking him every turn of time, I entertained myself writing these lines. To the grill where I put the chicken, I attached a very long piece of wire, something that from the shade, from the terrace where I was sitting, I asked him to move it from time to time so that it would not get the steam from the coals so strong.
That smell of roasted meat is a gossipy quantity, it immediately transports in the air to curious noses, which warns you that things are starting to get good, and that you should pay more attention to it so it doesn't get burnt. My mouth became a puddle for some cold beers, which is what he likes, but that's out of the question. And that's how I spent these days, enjoying the company of my mother and her things.
The images used in the post are my property, taken with my Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 S. Texts translated into English by Deepl Translate.
Edited in canva.