Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Platicamos de Esperanza Renace [Los Melones]


Por fin! El tren llego a Mexicali (la ciudad de donde es mi mama!) Me hizo sonreír la descripción que da Esperanza cuando nota lo que ve alrededor a bajarse del tren:

"Solo había cactus, palmeras de dátiles y una que otra ardilla o correcaminos." 

Es igual al paisaje que Mami me ha pintado a traves de los años (solo faltaban las tarantulas y los murciélagos!)



Esperanza, su mama, Ramona, Antonio, Hortensia y Miguel bajan cansados de un tren, pasan por inmigración y luego se suben a otro tren, antes de reunirse con la familia de Alfonso y Hortensia en Los Angeles.

Para todos, pasar por inmigración es como una pesadilla, por que aunque todos ellos llevan sus papeles en orden, la realidad es que para muchos mexicanos que procuran pasar la frontera no es posible por que,

"No tenían papeles, los papeles eran falsos o no tenían prueba de que iban a trabajar. O quizás hubo algún problema con un miembro de la familia y todos prefirieron volver en lugar de separarse."

A oír su mama explicarle eso, Esperanza no puede imaginar tener que separarse de ella. 

Cuando llegan a Los Angeles y se encuentran con Juan, el hermano de Alfonso, su esposa Josefina, y sus hijos Isabel y un par de gemelos, todos se suben a una camioneta destartalada y viajan a un campamento donde van a trabajar. Paran antes de llegar al campamento a almorzar y Esperanza se recuerda de lo que le había enseñado su papa,

"Si se acostaba sobre la tierra y se quedaba quieta y callada podría oír latir el corazón del valle."

Pero para la pobre niña, lo más que trata oírlo, se le escapa el latido de la tierra y comienza a llorar.

En el Valle de San Joaquin le espera un campo imenso donde ve un camion lleno de melones, hileras de vides y campos de plantas de algodón. Allí, Esperanza conoce otra jovencita, Marta. Ella le explica a Esperanza que existen otros grupos de campesinos (los filipinos, los "oakies," y los japoneses) con quien no se permite que se mezclen los mexicanos, por ta que se unen y piden salarios y viviendas mejores.

Se le comienzan a abrir los ojos a Esperanza.



Algunas Palabras Nuevas ...

correcaminos = roadrunner
marchitas = wilted
mostrador = counter
perjudicar = damage
erguida = upright
gemelos = twins
pasto = grass
huerto = orchard
destartalada = dilapated
calido = warm
toldo = awning
querubines = cherubim
mechones = strands
carpa = tent
campamento = camp
halcon = falcon
jadear = pant
claxon = horn
mordaz = biting (sarcastic)
mueca = grin


Un dicho que encontré buscando "murcielago-bat" en SpanishDict.com ... : )




A LAS CEBOLLAS!

8 comments:

  1. ay amiga! At this point the story is about to take off! I am almost finished and can't stand it! I can't imagine the fear of going through imigration.... all of their apples are in one basket. Can you imagine if they would have been turned away! Thank goodness they were let through. Loving your recaps! I hope there is a sequel!

    ReplyDelete
  2. oh and i forgot to mention.... I knew pasto! yay me! LOL My hubby uses that word alot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My least favorite part of travel has always been going through immigration. Doesn't matter what country, I've always felt scrutinized. It's an awful feeling. This book has been a wonderful reading experience. Even though the vocabulary is still challenging, the new words are coming in handy. Hey I got to use the word "querubine" this weekend and actually remembered the word! : ) You're going to finish before me ... no me digas lo que pasa! Thank you for reading along, amiga. A ver si Munoz escribe un sequel ...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I found this book at my local library in English, but worry that something will be lost in translation. Maybe I will check out both versions and see if I can learn more Spanish reading them side by side?

    I love reading these posts to learn knew words. Because of that love I have awarded you the Liebster Award, amiga. Tara and I were both given the award last week by Anituke of Yes We're Together! I hope you will accept the honor and that it won't be too stressful for you to write a post recommended some other blogs :-) http://jenmardunc.blogspot.com/2011/10/liebster-blog-award.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ezzy, believe it or not.... I total relate! I remember one time when we were coming back from Mexico. The immigration was questioning us like CRAZY! Then they had us pull to the side and brought out a drug sniffing dog. I was FREAKING OUT! I knew we had no drugs but then I start thinking crazy things like what if someone planted some on us...haha. It is definitely a nerve wracking time when going through immigration,....

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jen, I'm so happy you're enjoying the posts. If you can, definitely read Esperanza Renace in English. I feel a little guilty that I haven't been posting an English version of the summaries, now. I came super close to buying the English version when I picked up the Spanish, but thought it would be too easy for me to "cheat." My vocabulary has definitely been enriched by this young adult read. Trying to decide what to tackle next ... maybe The House on Mango Street, which I tried reading first, but found too difficult! Gotta keep pushing to learn.

    Thank you for the award. Sorry it's taken me a little while to come back and comment, here. I feel like I've been dog-paddling with school and this new job I'm waiting to start. *deep breaths* I'll post my picks this week. xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tara, don't laugh, but I saw "pasto" and thought "pasta!" Ay.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Amiga, that's not crazy. I'm sorry you experienced that. Hollywood doesn't help matters either with all the crazy situations that get depicted. I hope I don't offend anybody by saying this but the most unpleasant immigration experience I ever had was going into Jamaica. I was made to feel like a criminal. Second to that was every Tijuana border crossing where I chewed my nails to the skin. It almost makes you not want to travel.

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to hear from you! Thank you for taking the time to comment. :-)