We now have a roof over parts of both the upper and lower terrace of the apartments. It is really nice, but that is not what this post is about. The post is about the working class area where we live and how it seemed like the whole neighborhood was involved in the installation of the roof. First, Milton (is that a Mexican name) the welder Lynn hired came over with his son and put up the framework with the help of one of Lynn’s regular employees, Rodolfo. He could not reach some of the higher stuff, so he went across the street to ask his friend, Jesus if he could borrow some scaffolding. Of course, Jesus brought that over and stuck around to help. Lynn was about two hours late with the actually roofing materia, so rather than go home and wait until he got here and then come back, they went over to the convenience store on the corner, bought some caguamas (Mexican slang–look it up), and brought the owner of the convenience store came along to join the fun. We all proceeded to talk about politics, religion, neighborhood drama and to berate Lynn while enjoying the caguamas while Lorena brought out a tub of refried beans, salsa, and a stack of tostadas for us to munch on. They all stuck around to finish the job when Lynn finally arrived. In the middle of all this, an older, retired neighbor who lives in the house with the green trees came over to the apartments to water OUR trees. There truly is community here–it is not all goodness and sunshine, but people do know and look out for each other in this neighborhood. I love Mexico.
