Not Just any old rag will do in Nayarit

A very domestic contribution about cleaning your Mexican home.

By Darlene Jones

Go into any little store in Mexico and you’ll see a wall of cleaning products. Soaps that come in bars, or powder, or liquid—for dishes, laundry, walls, floors, bathrooms and anything else you might think of. I haven’t stopped to count, but there have to be at least half a dozen brands of bleach. And don’t forget the Pinol which makes our house smell so very fresh and clean.

Brooms and mops bob their heads out of a plastic garbage can. Long-handled dust pans are stacked nearby. Two more shelves hold scrubbing brushes and cleaning cloths, which remind me.

“We need new rags for cleaning,” I say as I survey the colorful wall in the little corner store. “Which ones should I buy?”

“Best to let Doña X get them. She knows what she likes.”

Good advice. Doña X is our maid/caretaker/mom/grandma—the most important friend we have in Mexico. She’s also the one who keeps our property immaculate; no easy task in our little tropical town with all the dust, grit, and sand in the dry season, and the water, sand, and mud in the rainy season.

Doña X knows exactly what she wants when I ask her to buy new cloths.

“The best ones can be bought in the market in Tepic,” she says. She holds up one of the old ones that she brought from her house. It’s worn so thin that we can see right through it, but there are no holes and no tattered edges. “See,” she says as she soaks it in the pail of water and wrings it out, “it’s soft and almost, but not quite, dry. Perfect for cleaning.”

“Will this do?” I ask, handing over 100 pesos.

“Sí. Sí.” She pockets the money and tells me not to worry. She has it under control.

A month later, still no new cleaning rags. “Um,” I hesitate, “Doña X, do we have the new cloths yet?”

She nods. “My friend in La Peñita is cutting them and sewing the edges.”

Ah, I get it. She had someone buy a piece off a bolt of cloth and bring it here for her. “How much do I owe your friend for her work?”

She thinks for a moment. “Maybe 60 pesos.”

Three weeks later, Doña X arrives with a stack of neatly folded cloths. “Twenty-one,” she says proudly. Enough to last for three or four years.”

We find a spot for them on the laundry room shelves and I put a note on top that reads,

For Doña X Only!!!!

Don’t want the guys using them for painting or checking the engine oil. I, however, sneak a couple into my suitcase. When I get back to Canada, I discover that Doña X is right. They are perfect cleaning cloths.

Editor’s note: Darlene Jones divides her time between Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada and the Jaltemba Bay area of Nayarit, Mexico. She says:

I spend most of my time writing, reading, and of course body boarding when I’m in Guayabitos. We’ve been coming to Mexico every year since 1990 and first stayed with Bob Howell in Guayabitos and now have our own place. I LOVE my granddaughter, chocolate, and the views of the ocean from my desk. I hate the process of trying to get published.   You can read other stories on her blog.

Spanish Lesson:

el trapo -cloth – rag – just a humble cleaning cloth but it is a very interesting word.  From it comes:
el trapeador – mop – which is sometimes made up of pieces of rag
los traposs sucios se lavan en casa – you shouldn’t wash your dirty linen in public
a todo trapo – with no expense spared
soltar el trapo – to burst into tears
trapo de cocina – dishcloth
trapo del polvo – duster, dust cloth
mandar – to command – to say
¿manda? – what? – It is impolite to say “que” when you did not hear what someone said.
madame – tell me

Listen for “trapeador” in Paquita’s famous song: Aqui Las Mujeres Mandan

Words thanks to: musica.com  where you can download the song.

Vamos con todo las mujeres de hoy en día
ya no se vale soportar los malos tratos
alza la voz si eres la víctima callada
de esos malditos malandrines pelagatos

de ti depende que esas vestias anden sueltas
hay una celda y solo tú tienes la llave
usa la plancha, el trapeador o lo que sea
y dales duro por ahí donde ya sabes

no tengas miedo por grandotes que los veas
ponte valiente ya verás como se amanzan
que aquí las mujeres mandan!

en esas cosas de pasiones y de cama
no te conformes con ser la mujer usada
haz de exigirle que te cumpla como hombre
o te complace o que le den una ayudada

hoy las mujeres ya no somos conformistas
llegó la hora de soltarnos el cabello
hoy nos entregan la quincena completita
dan para el gasto o negamos todo aquello

no tengas miedo por grandotes que los veas
ponte valiente ya verás como se amanzan
que aquí las mujeres mandan!

(ESTÁN OYENDO INÚTILES??)

vamos con todo las mujeres hoy en día
hoy somos reinas en la cama y en la sala
nuestro lugar tienen que darnos esos machos
y el que no jale que vaya ahuecando el ala

ya me despido, compañeras no se rajen
no les crean todo, que son verbo y puro pico
y como dijo aquel abuelo no se olviden
el buey se amanza con la sal en el ocico

no tengas miedo por grandotes que los veas
ponte valiente ya verás como se amanzan
que aquí las mujeres mandan!

Fuente: musica.com

Paquita La Del Barrio