An Amazing Maze of Maize

For Miguel, it was a timeless gap between the time he went to sleep and the time he woke up. For others, though, there was quite a bit of activity.
Sr. and Sra. Vasquez both rose before the dawn. Sr. Vasquez still had to go to the work site for more surveying and planning. Sra. Vasquez prepared cornmeal pancakes. First, she made pancakes for Sr. Vasquez, then for herself, and finally, when Junie and Miguel rose, for her children.
"Where's papa?" asked Juneta.
"He still has a little more work in Tres Rios. He'll be back sometime this afternoon."
"I thought we were going to Chichen Itza."
"We're going tomorrow."
"I guess I'll sunbathe today, too."
"I don't know about that," replied mother. She pointed out the window.
The sky was cloudy and gray. It had rained most of the night. Heavy winds blew across the surf, tossing seaweed and deadfall from trees onto the beach. The leafy tops of the banana trees swayed from one side to the other. It would not be a good day for sunbathing.
"What will we do?" asked Junie.
"I'll think of something while we eat breakfast."
Sra. Vasquez made a large mound of cornmeal pancakes. She even crushed sunflower seeds and mixed them into the batter. They added a little bit of snap to the pancakes.
Miguel took the first bite. He wrinkled his nose.
"What's the matter?"
"Are there bugs in it?"
"Heavens no!" exclaimed mother, "it's crushed sunflower seeds."
“Do we have any sunbutter left?”
Sra. Vasquez nodded.
“May I have some?”
Sra. Vasquez nodded again. Miguel spread sunbutter between each layer of pancakes. He took it a bite. It was delicious.
“Let me try,” said Juneta.
Sra. Vasquez tried Miguel’s invention, too.
“These are yummy,” said mother.
“I know.”
Not long after breakfast, Juneta and Miguel decided to go to the beach anyway. Weeds, branches, and broken shells littered the shore..
“I guess mom was right. What will we do?”
Just then, Andres came over the sand dune.
“Hola, mis amigos!” he called to Junie and Miguel.
“Hola! Como esta?”
“Bien! Y tu?”
“Bien.”
Andres invited the Vasquez’s back to the Cenote. They went along, mostly out of curiosity. Even when they arrived, neither Juneta nor Miguel dove into the water. Instead, they just watched the other kids playing.
“You’re not swimming?” asked Andres.
“It’s too cold,” said Miguel.
“I know something we could do,” said Andres, “Do you want to play hide-and-seek?”
“Sure.”
They asked permission from Sra. Vasquez.
“Where are you going?”
“There’s a corn field near my home,” said Andres.
“Who will be watching over you?”
“My mother works nearby. She will be finished soon.”
“I will go, too,” said Sra. Vasquez.
So, they walked down the road to where Andres’ mother worked. She sold corn at a roadside stall.
“Hola, me llamo Litzie Vasquez. Esta mis ninos, Miguel y Juneta Vasquez.”
“Si, esta amigos de Andre, correcto?”
Sra. Vasquez nodded.
After the last of the introductions were complete, it was time for Andres’ mother to close shop.
“Is this your stall?” asked Sra. Vasquez.
“It is,” replied Andres’ mother, “would you like some?”
“We just ate.”
“It’s okay. I’ll make a package for you to take with you.”
She chopped the stems off the bottom of each stalk and carefully peeled the husks. She then rubbed her hands over each ear of corn, removing the little yellow fibers called corn silk. She wrapped the cobs and sealed it with tape.
“Muchas Gracias,” replied Sra. Vasquez.
“De nada.”
The entire group helped close shop for Andres’ mother. Afterwards, they all returned to the place where Andres’ family lived.
It sat at the top of a hill ridge, just a short walk from the cenote. The hill was ridged, cut into terraces. The flat terraces were able to hold farming crops, including the rows of corn surrounding Andres’ house.
“It’s amazing that you plant corn on these terraces,” noticed Sra. Vasquez, “usually, it’s just rice.”
“We rotate our crops, farming different plants each year.”
A small ranch house stood at the top of the highest terrace, just behind the rows of tall green corn stalks. Wide, rounded arches made of orange-colored brick, surrounded the house. They passed through the arch, crossing a courtyard patio in front of the house. The roof, made of dark red curved tiles, was long and narrow.
A large sign next to the door said, “Domingo”.
Domingo was Spanish for ‘Sunday’
Miguel pointed to the sign.
“Que es esto?”
“Esta me llamo ultimo,” replied Andres. Domingo was his last name.
“It looks like an old church,” Miguel whispered to his mother, “Do you think Andres’ family is Spanish?”
Andres’ mother, Sra. Domingo, overheard Miguel talking to his mother.
“All Mexicans are Spanish,” she replied, “ever since Conquistadors like Pizarro and Cortes landed in Mexico. They came from Spain in large ships called galleons. They were searching for the ‘Lost City of Gold’.”
“You mean El Dorado?”
Sra. Domingo nodded, “Explorers from Spain and Portugal searched all of the Americas, looking for this golden palace. Of course, they never found it. During this time, many of these explorers settled in cities all along the Caribbean.”
“That’s how we became Spanish?”
“That’s only part of it. The Conquistadores found very little gold here in the Riviera Maya. That is why Cortes traveled to Mexico City. That is where he found the Aztecs and their gold.”
“If there was no gold, I would’ve just turned back home.”
“There were other kinds of gold…like maize.”
“Maize isn’t gold,” said Andres.
“It is to us, just as it was to them,” replied Sra. Domingo, “Mexicans have grown maize for many generations. We depend on it not only for food, but also for trade. Explorers took maize back to Europe. In exchange, they gave us fine fabrics and foods from all around the world.”
“In fact,” added Sra. Vasquez, “as much as Mexico depends on Maize, Maize depends on Mexico.”
“What do you mean?”
Maize is the only food where the seeds need man’s help to travel.”
She reached down and picked a dandelion from the ground. She lifted it to her lips and blew gently. The tiny white seed puffs floated away on the wind.
“Dandelion seeds float from one place to another. Bees carry flower pollen on their legs. Apples fall to the ground and roll down the hill. Man had to remove kernels of corn from the cob and plant them into the earth.”
Sra. Domingo led everyone into the house, where they gathered around a large round table. A large basket, full of fresh corn husks, sat in the corner. She grabbed several husks and tied them together, using twine. She formed a tiny corn husk doll.
“This is for you,” she said as she presented the doll to Juneta.
“Junie is too old for dolls.”
“I am not, Meego. Can you teach me how to make them?”
“It is very easy.”
Sra. Domingo tied a half-dozen husks together at one end. Then, she folded the long tails over the tied end. This formed the dolls head.
She tied it near the top, forming the neck and body.
She took another husk and twisted it into a thin cigarette shape. She tied both ends and tucked it between the body husks. This formed the arms.
“Then, I’ll give her a dress,” said Sra. Domingo.
She split a husk in half and draped it over the doll’s shoulders. She tied it into place around the waist.
“We can’t have her going around without her dress.”
Sra. Domingo tied a bunch of husks around the waist. She trimmed the bottom edge, forming a dress. She placed eye, nose, and lips on the head before adding black-yarn-hair to the top of her doll.
Now, she was complete. Sra. Domingo carefully placed her in a basket full of cornhusk dolls.
“There are so many!”
“Like I said, as Maize depends on us, we depend on Maize. I often sell these to the children who go to school with Andres and Alexandra.”
The women continued making dolls.
“Come on,” said Andres, “Let’s play hide-and-seek.”
“With two people?”
“That’s the best way. I always play this with my sister.”
Andres took Miguel to the edge of the corn patch.
“Go hide in the corn while I count it off.”
Miguel sprinted through the tall stalks of corn.
“Uno! Dos! Tres!” he counted. He continued to ‘Diez’. That was ten.
“Prepararde o no, aqui Vengo!”
Andres weaved through the corn rows, knocking the stalks about. Powdeery corn silk puffed from the golden tops of each stalk.
Miguel moved through the stalks, careful to be as quiet as possible. Thick husks bristled as they rubbed against one another.
Andres and Miguel dodged through the stalks until Andres finally caught Miguel.
“You’re it!” he exclaimed.
They traded turns being it while the girls continued making corn husk dolls. They joined the boys when they filled an entire basket.
Meanwhile, Sras. Domingo and Vasquez prepared Seafood Paella for dinner. Both fathers were alerted to the night’s coming activities – both by simple texts: “We’re having company for dinner.” and “We’re joining friends for dinner.”
Both men arrived at the Domingo house at roughly the same time. That was followed by yet another round of introductions and a large dinner.
The women had boiled fish and clams in a large wok, called a ‘paellera’. It was more than a meter wide, enough to feed the entire army of children and adults, too.
The ‘three sisters’ of Mexican tradition: corn, rice, and beans, were added to the seafood stew. They added onions and peppers and spices, too. The food slowly cooked until everything was golden brown.
Sra. Domingo led everyone in a traditional Catholic prayer before everyone feasted on the paella.
At meal’s end, everyone’s belly was full. The Domingos and the Vasquezes said their good-byes and parted ways.
“Hasta manana,” said Andres.
“Hasta manana,” replied Miguel.
Until tomorrow.