So This Is How The World Will End: by Rick Castro 4/3/2020
This is my great uncle on Bee’s, (my mother) side.
Tío, (uncle) Cuco was about 90 when I took this photo, circa 1987ish. He was camera shy, and didn’t want to pose, so I took it when he wasn’t expecting. Cuco Medrano lived with his wife and six children on a 500 acre rancho just outside a tiny little town called Calera, close to El Ciudad de Zacatecas, in the state of Zacatecas, Mexico.
El Rancho was constructed from adobe sometime circa 1830s. It has always been in the family. To this day it’s a working ranch, currently run by the grandson’s of tío Cuco. He grew chili, garlic, corn and livestock- chickens and goats. During a summer visit, 1970ish, they slaughtered a goat and cooked it underground overnight. Just for us, the visiting familia…
I’ve never had such tasty meat… I don’t think i’ve eaten goat since.
I’ve never had such tasty meat… I don’t think i’ve eaten goat since.
The Medrano’s also cleared their feed barn and held a fiesta just for us!
To this day, (I was about 10 yrs old) I remember Bee’s face beaming with love as she danced with her Uncle Cuco to a local Mariachi band. Then the younger primos, (cousins) placed 45’s on a small record player, and we danced to the hits of the early 70s,
(Osmond’s, Jackson 5) as the elders looked on.
(Osmond’s, Jackson 5) as the elders looked on.
As the story goes, during 1914 the Mexican Revolution was in full force. Poncho Villa was a hero to some, and enemy to others,
like land owners. Rumors were circulating thru the town of Calera, that Poncho Villa’s Men were on their way. This being part of the historical, Toma de Zacatecas, (taking of Zacatecas) . Villa’s men had been instructed to steal all the silver, burn all the crops, kill all the livestock and impregnate women with their seed. My great-grandfather, (Bee’s grandfather) gathered all the women and girls, loaded them with all the silver & gold they could carry on their bodies, and put them on the train to Silver City, New Mexico. Poncho’s army did come to the ranch, they wreaked havoc, pillaged, burned crops, killed and ate livestock, destroyed a couple walls, but there were no women to have their way with.
like land owners. Rumors were circulating thru the town of Calera, that Poncho Villa’s Men were on their way. This being part of the historical, Toma de Zacatecas, (taking of Zacatecas) . Villa’s men had been instructed to steal all the silver, burn all the crops, kill all the livestock and impregnate women with their seed. My great-grandfather, (Bee’s grandfather) gathered all the women and girls, loaded them with all the silver & gold they could carry on their bodies, and put them on the train to Silver City, New Mexico. Poncho’s army did come to the ranch, they wreaked havoc, pillaged, burned crops, killed and ate livestock, destroyed a couple walls, but there were no women to have their way with.
When the war ended, my great-grandfather summoned all the women to return home.
All except for my grandmother, she met my grandfather in Silver City and fell in love.
My grandparents married, then followed the mines as laborers. They traveled throughout New Mexico, Arizona, then to Southern California in the early 1920s, eventually buying a modest home in Boyle Heights.
My grandmother, Lupe Medrano was a spoiled ranchers daughter.
Once she married my grandfather in Estados Unidos, she became a second class citizen for the remainder of her life.
She never learned english, never became more than a housewife and mother to 10 children, three that died at birth. She died at age 34 of tuberculosis, way before I was even a concept.
She never learned english, never became more than a housewife and mother to 10 children, three that died at birth. She died at age 34 of tuberculosis, way before I was even a concept.
I sent a copy of this photo to El Rancho right after tío Cuco passed. That November my photo of Tio Cuco was the centerpiece of the altar for, Dia De Los Muertos en El Rancho de Zacatecas. I also framed and gave this copy to Bee for her Birthday.
Mi Portrait del tío Cuco Medrano: Ranchero de Zacatecas, has proudly hung at Bee's cabin since 1987.
We have tea together every morning.
We have tea together every morning.
So this is how the world will end.
copyright-rick castro- 4/2020
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