Cuautla, Day 2

Tia Raquel's front yard

October 18, Saturday

When we got to Cuautla Edwin backed the van into the lot to keep it off the street at night. It was a narrow fit through the door into the enclosed lot, having about 3 inches on each side and a foot in back after moving a clothes line and some orange tree branches.
Tia Raquel lives right on the corner across the street from Emilio Zapata park and diagonally across from the church house. Her Father had sold his living house to the church in the 40s and built nearby when the land was mostly farm land. Supper was beans and rice and other goodies. Gusty and Elena played in the park until it closed at 9, making friends who asked them if they would be back tomorrow.

Zapata Park

Her house is concrete with a concrete wall around it enclosing the house, her back yard and a house in back that contains two small apartments which she rents. Her hot water comes from a batch water heater in the bath room. The heater is a metallic thing, about 10 inches in diameter, maybe 3 feet tall with a fire box on bottom where she puts a small bundle of twigs and lights them to heat the water in the above part. Maybe it heats 3 gallons of water at a time plus the amount that flows through as the hot water is used. Hers is inside the bath room where it also provides non-needed heat but she also had one outside to provide hot water for her renters. They were sold in local stores. She had several bundles of twigs she had gathered from her trees, about the size you could hold in one hand, ready for use. I didn’t bother to use the heater, it was not that cold.
- Grandpa