Cenizo... Life in El Cerrito de los Pescadores # 1

I was six years old, I think. I lived in Mexico at the time, in the village that my mom grew up in. Life was great, I had a lot of freedom and did some really funny things.

One day, my cousin Chavo asked if I wanted to go swimming with him and my other cousin, Chaguin. I was thrilled at the idea and happily joined them on this little adventure which took us down the main village road towards Sahuayo, past all the houses to a 'vallado' that had about 4 feet of water. I guess it was more like a creek or canal but vallado is the word we used.

It must have been the rainy season because this creek had a lot more water in it than usual. It was perfect for swimming on that sunny day.

Each of us proceeded to undress and I felt a bit embarrassed at the thought of people passing by. We didn't have bathing suits, we didn't even know what those were. I think we swam in our underwear -probably with Transformers on them. If we swam naked, it was normal, I don't remember.

We didn't really know how to swim. I wonder why I didn't drown, but we had fun for a few minutes and then decided to go back home. There was a problem though. Our mothers had not necessarily given us permission for this little bath and we ran the risk of getting in big trouble if they found out.

Being the ignoramus that I am, I asked how in the world the moms would even know we had gone swimming, all we had to do was dry off and we would be fine. Chavo's response taught me something I never knew before. He told Chaguin and I that by drying off in the sun, we would end up looking "cenizos" (meaning that we would have ashy skin). Then our moms would automatically know what we had done because, well, it was common fact that if you went swimming in creeks, you would get ashy skin.

The solution to this 'ashiness' dilemma was to use our own pee as if it were a lotion and rub it all over -mainly on the arms and face. So we applied this technique and rubbed the all natural lotion on our own bodies. Soon, the three of us were back in our dry clothes. Our skin looked smooth as ever, so we thought. Anyway, I wonder if we stank.

We didn't get caught. I may have even told my mom what we had done. She probably told me something like, "Ay, hijo de tu madre. Que andas haciendo metiendote en ese vallado... tan sucio que esta."

I don't recall swimming in that creek again, I think it dried up.

There were other places to swim, like 'Los Posos' which were some water-filled holes a few blocks distance on the other side of the village. Over there, the water was nice and warm, but it wasn't the same because, on the days that they were actually filled with water, a lot of the other kids showed up and it would get crowded. Also, you would have to wonder exactly why the water was so warm.

It's always nicer to have a creek all to yourself and maybe one or two cousins.