I finished another chapter. Charlie's is really a beer garden bar in Tulum that I have been to. I try to bring my experiences of The Mayan Riviera and my respect for the people there into my writing. Please be honest, I'm open for suggestions and criticism.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
TREASURES FROM TRASH
They boarded with their luggage and Felipe nosed the boat away from the dock then went south at a leisurely speed.
“Where are we going?” Barbara asked him.
“I want to go to Charlie's Beer Garden in Tulum.”
“I've never been there.” she replied.
“You are kidding right? Your clinic is in Tulum and you have never been to Charlies?”
“No.”
“You'll like it.” he said.
As they approached Tulum a small crowd of young children watched the huge vessel dock. Getting off the yacht and walking down the pier, the children approached them. Two of the small girls had a handful of colorful ankle bracelets made of entwined string. They held them up and Barbara and Debra picked out one each. The girls knelt and tied them around their ankles.
“I've got it.” Debra said as she handed each of them a twenty dollar bill. The girls eyes went wide and they squealed with delight, jumped up and down for a moment, then took off running toward home.
“Their fathers work all day for that much.” Felipe said leading the way across the tree lined street. Traffic was light, there were no rental cars in this area so they walked passing old men who nodded politely at them from benches. The flamboyant trees were in full bloom, their bright red puffs of flowers waved in the soft breeze.
Felipe turned and walked them into Charlies. It was built out of coral cemented together with a thatched roof as a lot of buildings in the area were. There was a long, open veranda on the front, the waiter Carlos shouted out, “Hola Felipe, Que tal?”
Felipe smiled and nodded at him. He led them toward a wall that had a large mural on it. It was a design made of round pieces of glass embedded in the concrete. There were many different colors of glass, but all of the circles were the same size.
“What do you think of this?” Felipe asked Barbara.
“It is beautiful.” she said studying the design.
Felipe nodded at Carlos and pointed to the wall. Carlos flipped a switch and all of the round pieces of glass lit up. There were lights behind each one. The greens, blues and browns all shined brightly and this made the design even more prominent.
“What do you think now?” he asked.
“Wow! That is really a work of art set in stone.” Barbara said, admiring the craftsmanship.
“It's garbage.” Felipe said.
“No it isn't!” Barbara protested, “How can you say that?”
“Garbage.” Felipe repeated, “Follow me.”
Barbara was somewhat annoyed with Felipe's disrespect of the mural, but she followed him through the cool, dark bar. The people inside all seemed to know him, he paused and shook hands, speaking briefly with them. He then led them out of the back door to a beautiful garden area. Flat stone pathways led the way through the garden. Round tables set well spaced and the colorfully painted wooden chairs were surrounded by flowers and banana trees. A wall of coral surrounded the garden, a fountain softly trickled in the center.
“Please, sit here.” he said, pulling out a chair for Barbara, “What do you think of the table?
Barbara looked at the large, round concrete table. The top was a mosaic of small broken pieces of colorful tile. It portrayed an underwater scene in different shades of blue. A sea turtle was swimming, a colorful Queen Angel Fish, an entire school of snapper, soft coral and hard coral, a few crabs were portrayed as well as lobster. The mosaic was lined up so that no matter where you were sitting some of the fish were right side up
.
“Now this is beautiful, I'd really love to have one just like this.” she continued to admire the work.
“It's garbage.” Felipe said.
A small bar made of bamboo stood nearby, a waiter leaned there with the bartender listening and watching them, “No it isn't! Stop saying that!” Barbara said, then she lowered her voice and nodded with her head toward the two at the bar, “They can hear you, you are insulting their workplace.”
Felipe smiled and looked at the two, “Que es?” he said pointing at the table.
“Basura!” they both said then began laughing. The bartender wiped the bar as the waiter brought menus to their table.
“See? Basura, trash or garbage. All of this was garbage.” Felipe said, waving his hand at the tables, “The mosaic in front that lit up, those were old beer bottles laid in cement with small light bulbs in them. The wall and the building were made from coral scrounged from the beach. The roof is leaves. This table was made from the leftovers of a construction site.
If there is a hundred or several hundred pounds of concrete left over from the slab, a man will carry it home in a bucket. It doesn't matter if it's five miles with fifty pounds of concrete in buckets in each hand, he will walk it home.
The same goes for the tile, the entire family works together breaking it into small pieces, then sorting them by size, shape and color. See the scales on the Queen Angel? Each row of scales is composed of different colors just like on the real fish.”
“That is amazing.” Barbara said, looking at the detail.
Felipe continued, “When he finally gets enough concrete home he builds a square form out of scrap lumber. Then he fills it with clean sand from the beach. The sand is moistened, then the shape of the table is pressed into it including the round mount at the bottom to fit the pedestal.
Time is of the essence at this point, as in this heat, the concrete will dry very quickly. He smooths the top perfectly flat with a long board and the entire family works together on it. Artistic ability is like music, some just have the gift and it is passed on down through the family. The most artistic one will draw the scene, then they all work together placing the tiles where they belong. The father works with them, but he also supervises where the different tiles go to make the fish and coral look realistic.
This table represents months of work gathering and separating then shaping the small pieces of tile. Look at the eyes, have you ever seen a piece of tile break perfectly round?”
Barbara looked at the eyes of the turtle and fish, they were indeed perfectly round, “No, that is impossible.” she looked up at him.
“Exactly, they rub the piece of tile along the edge of a file to make them round, it takes weeks to make just one eye. That is why this table represents months of hard work. It also represents a windfall for the family that made it. You can bet they are locals who live in a stick hut with a dirt floor. But this puts shoes on the kids feet and food on the table.” Felipe paused and looked at her.
Barbara thought about all of the stick huts she had seen in the area, they were common here. A lot of families lived in them and she had often stopped to buy souvenirs to help them out. The clinic and the sanctuary were full of them as decorations.
She remembered the dark skinned, brown eyed kids who smiled shyly at her from inside, standing on the dirt floor.
“What do they do during a hurricane?” she asked Felipe.
“Tulum has some strong buildings, but not enough to house them all. Many live on the outskirts and deeper in the jungle. They have no electricity as you know, so the word of mouth has to spread the news when one approaches. A lot of them take shelter in the ruins here, they have withstood the elements for thousands of years. There are no roofs to get under, but at least there are strong walls to get behind to get out of the wind. They simply hold each other, pray and ride it out. Some just take shelter deep in the jungle.”
“That does it, I'm going to designate the hospital as a hurricane shelter. We have generators and a full kitchen. I don't know why I didn't think of this before.”
“Because a hurricane hasn't hit here since it's been built. I'm sure you would have done it had it did.” John said.
Barbara looked down at all of the round eyes of the fish. They all seemed to be looking at her. She imagined all of the hours and days that were spent filing the small pieces of tile. The hard work that it represented. She imagined the family all working together, the father carrying the cement home, the kids sorting the broken pieces of tile, the mothers filing the eyes, all of them placing the pieces in place, hoping they could sell it to buy shoes and clothes. She looked around the garden bar, there were a lot of the tables, she got up and walked around looking at them. They were all different and beautiful. It was staggering the amount of work that she was seeing. She walked back and sat down at the table.
A tear slid down Barbara's cheek, “Even though I live here now, among them, I sometime forget just how blessed that I am. Never stop reminding me Felipe.” she began to cry softly as the magnitude of the simple table hit home. She covered her eyes with her hands.
“I know.” Debra said softly, hugging her, “Welcome to Mexico.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
TREASURES FROM TRASH
They boarded with their luggage and Felipe nosed the boat away from the dock then went south at a leisurely speed.
“Where are we going?” Barbara asked him.
“I want to go to Charlie's Beer Garden in Tulum.”
“I've never been there.” she replied.
“You are kidding right? Your clinic is in Tulum and you have never been to Charlies?”
“No.”
“You'll like it.” he said.
As they approached Tulum a small crowd of young children watched the huge vessel dock. Getting off the yacht and walking down the pier, the children approached them. Two of the small girls had a handful of colorful ankle bracelets made of entwined string. They held them up and Barbara and Debra picked out one each. The girls knelt and tied them around their ankles.
“I've got it.” Debra said as she handed each of them a twenty dollar bill. The girls eyes went wide and they squealed with delight, jumped up and down for a moment, then took off running toward home.
“Their fathers work all day for that much.” Felipe said leading the way across the tree lined street. Traffic was light, there were no rental cars in this area so they walked passing old men who nodded politely at them from benches. The flamboyant trees were in full bloom, their bright red puffs of flowers waved in the soft breeze.
Felipe turned and walked them into Charlies. It was built out of coral cemented together with a thatched roof as a lot of buildings in the area were. There was a long, open veranda on the front, the waiter Carlos shouted out, “Hola Felipe, Que tal?”
Felipe smiled and nodded at him. He led them toward a wall that had a large mural on it. It was a design made of round pieces of glass embedded in the concrete. There were many different colors of glass, but all of the circles were the same size.
“What do you think of this?” Felipe asked Barbara.
“It is beautiful.” she said studying the design.
Felipe nodded at Carlos and pointed to the wall. Carlos flipped a switch and all of the round pieces of glass lit up. There were lights behind each one. The greens, blues and browns all shined brightly and this made the design even more prominent.
“What do you think now?” he asked.
“Wow! That is really a work of art set in stone.” Barbara said, admiring the craftsmanship.
“It's garbage.” Felipe said.
“No it isn't!” Barbara protested, “How can you say that?”
“Garbage.” Felipe repeated, “Follow me.”
Barbara was somewhat annoyed with Felipe's disrespect of the mural, but she followed him through the cool, dark bar. The people inside all seemed to know him, he paused and shook hands, speaking briefly with them. He then led them out of the back door to a beautiful garden area. Flat stone pathways led the way through the garden. Round tables set well spaced and the colorfully painted wooden chairs were surrounded by flowers and banana trees. A wall of coral surrounded the garden, a fountain softly trickled in the center.
“Please, sit here.” he said, pulling out a chair for Barbara, “What do you think of the table?
Barbara looked at the large, round concrete table. The top was a mosaic of small broken pieces of colorful tile. It portrayed an underwater scene in different shades of blue. A sea turtle was swimming, a colorful Queen Angel Fish, an entire school of snapper, soft coral and hard coral, a few crabs were portrayed as well as lobster. The mosaic was lined up so that no matter where you were sitting some of the fish were right side up
.
“Now this is beautiful, I'd really love to have one just like this.” she continued to admire the work.
“It's garbage.” Felipe said.
A small bar made of bamboo stood nearby, a waiter leaned there with the bartender listening and watching them, “No it isn't! Stop saying that!” Barbara said, then she lowered her voice and nodded with her head toward the two at the bar, “They can hear you, you are insulting their workplace.”
Felipe smiled and looked at the two, “Que es?” he said pointing at the table.
“Basura!” they both said then began laughing. The bartender wiped the bar as the waiter brought menus to their table.
“See? Basura, trash or garbage. All of this was garbage.” Felipe said, waving his hand at the tables, “The mosaic in front that lit up, those were old beer bottles laid in cement with small light bulbs in them. The wall and the building were made from coral scrounged from the beach. The roof is leaves. This table was made from the leftovers of a construction site.
If there is a hundred or several hundred pounds of concrete left over from the slab, a man will carry it home in a bucket. It doesn't matter if it's five miles with fifty pounds of concrete in buckets in each hand, he will walk it home.
The same goes for the tile, the entire family works together breaking it into small pieces, then sorting them by size, shape and color. See the scales on the Queen Angel? Each row of scales is composed of different colors just like on the real fish.”
“That is amazing.” Barbara said, looking at the detail.
Felipe continued, “When he finally gets enough concrete home he builds a square form out of scrap lumber. Then he fills it with clean sand from the beach. The sand is moistened, then the shape of the table is pressed into it including the round mount at the bottom to fit the pedestal.
Time is of the essence at this point, as in this heat, the concrete will dry very quickly. He smooths the top perfectly flat with a long board and the entire family works together on it. Artistic ability is like music, some just have the gift and it is passed on down through the family. The most artistic one will draw the scene, then they all work together placing the tiles where they belong. The father works with them, but he also supervises where the different tiles go to make the fish and coral look realistic.
This table represents months of work gathering and separating then shaping the small pieces of tile. Look at the eyes, have you ever seen a piece of tile break perfectly round?”
Barbara looked at the eyes of the turtle and fish, they were indeed perfectly round, “No, that is impossible.” she looked up at him.
“Exactly, they rub the piece of tile along the edge of a file to make them round, it takes weeks to make just one eye. That is why this table represents months of hard work. It also represents a windfall for the family that made it. You can bet they are locals who live in a stick hut with a dirt floor. But this puts shoes on the kids feet and food on the table.” Felipe paused and looked at her.
Barbara thought about all of the stick huts she had seen in the area, they were common here. A lot of families lived in them and she had often stopped to buy souvenirs to help them out. The clinic and the sanctuary were full of them as decorations.
She remembered the dark skinned, brown eyed kids who smiled shyly at her from inside, standing on the dirt floor.
“What do they do during a hurricane?” she asked Felipe.
“Tulum has some strong buildings, but not enough to house them all. Many live on the outskirts and deeper in the jungle. They have no electricity as you know, so the word of mouth has to spread the news when one approaches. A lot of them take shelter in the ruins here, they have withstood the elements for thousands of years. There are no roofs to get under, but at least there are strong walls to get behind to get out of the wind. They simply hold each other, pray and ride it out. Some just take shelter deep in the jungle.”
“That does it, I'm going to designate the hospital as a hurricane shelter. We have generators and a full kitchen. I don't know why I didn't think of this before.”
“Because a hurricane hasn't hit here since it's been built. I'm sure you would have done it had it did.” John said.
Barbara looked down at all of the round eyes of the fish. They all seemed to be looking at her. She imagined all of the hours and days that were spent filing the small pieces of tile. The hard work that it represented. She imagined the family all working together, the father carrying the cement home, the kids sorting the broken pieces of tile, the mothers filing the eyes, all of them placing the pieces in place, hoping they could sell it to buy shoes and clothes. She looked around the garden bar, there were a lot of the tables, she got up and walked around looking at them. They were all different and beautiful. It was staggering the amount of work that she was seeing. She walked back and sat down at the table.
A tear slid down Barbara's cheek, “Even though I live here now, among them, I sometime forget just how blessed that I am. Never stop reminding me Felipe.” she began to cry softly as the magnitude of the simple table hit home. She covered her eyes with her hands.
“I know.” Debra said softly, hugging her, “Welcome to Mexico.”
