Fish and Snake

Buen Dia! We have had more rains and more beautiful sunsets. I think September is the hottest month of the year and it is the buggiest. Senor disagrees, he seems to think it has cooled down a little and says it's not too bad. I can hardly wait for October........Foreigners seem to be coming and going here, getting in a few weeks in town and then, returning north for awhile. This has been the case with Senor's bridge partners. They have been coming and going. Unless he makes a run to the Fereterria (the hardware store) or the OXXOO (like a 7-11), I have not had much time alone in the last three weeks.

So, imagine my excitement when Senor said he was going fishing on Sunday, with his friend, Ramon. We will probably go just for the morning.................he said................oh, please, i will make you guys a lunch, stay as long as you like......................
I made a lot of plans. I can do this or that or that or this and Senor will not be around.......HOORAY!

On Saturday night Senor got out his fly rod and all of his flies. He looked them over, got them lined up, got them cleaned and then, neatly tucked back into their boxes. Early Sunday, I made sandwiches, packed boiled eggs and oatmeal cookies and put them in the cooler, hoping this much food would entice them to stay away longer.

On the way out of town, Senor bought eight tecates for Ramon, a couple of cokes for himself and some bottled water. After picking up Ramon, they drove for an hour and a half up to a lake on an ejido.

Almost fifty percent of Mexico is ejido land and everyone, both Mexicano and foreign, seems to have their idea or speculation of what that really means. Our Mexicano friends say, ejido land is government owned farming land. It is land that was once owned by rich landowners and farmed by the peasant people who lived on it. If it was farmed consecutively by those people for two years, the government negotiated with the wealthy landowner and bought the land for the community of farmers. Eventually the farmers were given rights to the ejido and this could be passed down to their children. Ejido was considered their land.

There are however ejido lands along the coast, and in other areas, that are used now for things other than farming and while foreigners cannot purchase ejido land, it has been sold to them anyway and then, sadly, in certain circumstances, taken back.

The ejido land around Alamos, and there is a lot of it, is mostly farmed or fished. It is land that, when you are on it, you want to be on it with a Mexican compadre and this is out of courtesy to the Mexican community that lives on it.

Senor took these photos on the drive to the lake.

They finally arrived at the lake. There is a small dam on the opposite side. There was a huge sign explaining net fishing was not allowed. Senor and Ramon saw a lot of net fishing going on. The men below are net fishing, but Senor did not want to get to close for a photo.

Below a small adobe casa is being built right on the water's edge.

There were a lot of families fishing and cooking around the lake that day.

Senor's fly rod caused quite a stir and a few of the men, stopped their fishing to visit and check it out. He spent a lot of time trying to explain how it worked, but could not find anyone interested in trying it out. Even Ramon was afraid to give it a try which is interesting because it is not that different from how they fish.

Most Mexicanos fish off a coke or gatorade or other type of plastic bottle. The string is wrapped around the neck of the bottle and then, unwrapped and held loosely in the hand and thrown as far as possible into the water. A lead weight drops to the bottom and the hook, on which there is a camarone (shrimp) floats there and attracts the fish. If there is a bite, the line is hauled in.

Very few fishermen have rods or reels and most have never seen a fly rod.

The man below is an exception and has a rod and reel.

The little girl below was shy about getting her photo taken, but you can see her bottle. She has unwrapped the string and thrown it out. Senor said she fished like that for hours, fully concentrated on what she was doing, but never caught anything.

Senor says the water was very deep. Often hooks were caught on something and the men simply started walking out into the water and when it got over their heads, they dove down to unsnag the hooks.

Below Ramon is getting fruit from one of the trees.

Now back at home, as soon as they left, I pulled out the nice list I had made.......... a nice looking to do list that would keep me busy all day, without Senor coming in and out of the door, without Senor running a whirring saw, without Senor banging nails in a wall or using a whining drill.

Peace and quiet, Cookies asleep on his back on the floor in the West Wing. I decided to sweep the kitchen tool room floor. But it is, after all, September, and it is very hot. So, I stopped and went into the bedroom and turned on the mini split. It was so nice and cool. I grabbed what looked to be a good book, laid down and stayed in there reading until Senor came home. I forgot about my to do list. What a perfect day.

Back at the ejido, Ramon and Senor are doing a little exploring and they find this.

Ramon says it is a boa constrictor.

Senor threw down his sharpie so we can see the size of this thing. He said it was very lumpy and Ramon said it was full of food.

Ramon also says it is too dead to take home and eat. Well thank goodness for that. I am not sure how I would have felt if they had brought me a boa constrictor and asked me to just cook it right up.

Back at the lake, Senor decides to take his fly rod and go to the other side, near the dam. It is very deep there and the first strike gets him a small bass. Other than the men who are net fishing, he is the only one to get a fish. But when he and Ramon leave, the little girl still has a determined look on her face and continues to unwrap and throw, and wrap, unwrap and throw and wrap.



Senor comes home before dark, the tecates and cokes are gone, the oatmeal cookies and eggs are gone. The only thing in the ice chest is the little bass.

He cleans it, cooks it and accidentally leaves the hose running all night.

The little bass was delicious! Much, much better than a boa constrictor, I think.....