Lunch at my house with the rarámuri

The morning that the rarámuri women were supposed to come over for lunch, I debated calling my landlady to let her know that I would be bringing them over. My apartment is a small bungalow in back of a large house. When I first arrived to Chihuahua, I worried that my landlady would put restrictions (such as a curfew, or prohibit me from inviting guests), but after she reassured me that I was welcome to invite any guests I liked over, I opted for this apartment because it feels safe to be behind a large house. I have a private entrance on the side of the house, a large metal gate that leads into a narrow passageway and goes directly to my apartment. The family's private yard is walled in, so I literally do not share space with the family even though I am on their property. Still, the entrance to my apartment is visible from the second story of the large house, and for this reason I wondered if I should just notify my landlady that rarámuri friends were coming over. However, I told myself that I was being paranoid and overly cautious. While the rarámuri and non-rarámuri rarely mix to socialize, I decided not to give too much importance to the social stigma and treated the invitation like it was any other person coming over; I did not mention it to my landlady.

When I arrived at Oasis, I asked Esperanza what time she wanted to come over, and she said at 2 PM, so she could have time to shower and dress her five-year-old daughter, Jiovanna. Julissa and her mother Cuka were also coming, and at the last minute Esperanza's sister Teresa and her two boys also decided to join us. I decided to treat them as fully as I could and pay for their transportation to my apartment, so we went in a taxi. Naturally, the taxi driver was curious to know where I was going with the rarámuri, and I replied that they were coming to my house for lunch. "Oh," he said, and didn't ask more questions.

That morning I had gone to the grocery store to buy bags of frozen corn, ready-made beans since it would take forever to make so many for a large group of people, a packet of hot dogs, a large bottle of coke, and corn tortillas. I decided it was safest to prepare something that they are used to eating, especially since kids can be picky eaters. I planned to slice the hot dogs and fry them in a pan with the corn (a favorite dish with my brother and I, and one which I thought would be palatable to the rarámuri), and serve it with beans and and tortillas. I normally make my own salsa, and it isn't half bad, so I thought I could offer that too. For dessert there was ice cream.

We pulled up in front of the big house, but I had already told the women that my apartment was behind it and that we would enter through the side gate. Still, Julissa and Jiovanna commented on the size of the house. Teresa mentioned that she had been here before to seek alms, called kórima.

We went through the gate and down the narrow passageway and up the stairs to my apartment. The first thing Julissa said when she saw it was "Qué bonito vives, Victoria!" How nice you live, Victoria. It is a comfortable apartment, although it is hardly nice to look at: there are scratches on the peach walls, cracked tiles in the bathroom, water stains on the ceiling. When I was first moving in, my mom found two roaches which she swears are the largest she has ever seen. She was against me moving into this apartment because of its rundown condition, but I decided the safe location was worth putting up with other inconveniences.

The rarámuri filed in and I invited them to sit on the tattered couch. The children wanted to see my bedroom, which I didn't mind in the least, so I invited them in. Julissa noticed my electric blanket and asked what it is; I told her to get into my bed and gave her a demonstration. I invited the women in too, but they were too polite to come into my bedroom. Once I started cooking, the women wanted to help, but I told them to sit down and relax. I was a little nervous cooking in front of them, since they tend to make fun of me for not being as domestic as they are, but I didn't make any mistakes and they complimented the cooking.

Julissa and Jiovanna were overjoyed to see where I live. Julissa openly admired my style of living. She peeked in the refrigerator when I opened it and said "you have so much food!" She saw my high heels in my closet and told me I should wear them when I visit Oasis so that I will look even prettier. She, Jiovanna, and the boys sat down properly at my kitchen table and ate everything they were served. I served the women their plates as well, and we sat on the couch to eat. When we were finished, Cuka tried to wash the dishes but I wouldn't let her. Teresa grabbed the broom and swept up my kitchen despite my protests. Esperanza wiped down the kitchen table. I thanked them for their help, and they thanked me for inviting them.

Next, I brought out my laptop and played a slideshow of the hundreds of pictures I took during Holy Week. I printed many of them and delivered them to the rarámuri, but it's impossible to print all of them, so I took this opportunity to show my guests other photos and videos. We stayed for another hour looking at the pictures, until it was 5 PM and they needed to get going before the sun set. I walked them up the street to the bus stop, then came back home.

The next day I saw my landlady because I had to pay the rent. After I paid her, she said "I noticed some Tarahumara friends came to visit you yesterday." She was obviously curious. "Yes," I said, "I invited them over for lunch. It was a lot of fun." "Yes, some of them are nice people," she replied.

The next day at Oasis, word had spread about my cooking and some other women teased me for not inviting them too. I said the invitation to visit me was open and they could come over to eat anytime they wanted, they just needed to set the date.