They would all wake up with the Sun and tend to the fields, just in case it rained. Then they would spend time gathering lots of firewood. Maria and Diego would then go to school for the day. It was hard for them because the teacher taught in Spanish which was not what they spoke at home. Some of their friends were there, but several of them didn't go to school because they needed to stay home and help their parents.
When they got out of school, Diego
and Grandpa would go to get water from a stream that was a 15 
minute walk away. They had to make several trips
in order to get enough water for the whole family for the whole
day. Maria would join her mother who was weaving on a loom outside
the house. Flora would teach Maria how to weave the way her mother
taught her. The talent had been handed down for generations. Maria
loved to watch her mother weave. She made the most beautiful cloth.
They seemed almost magical as the colors she would choose always
seemed to match the sky. Outstanding oranges and reds in the morning,
brilliant blues during the day, pretty purples in the evening,
and late at night she would weave breathtaking blacks with traces
of gray to match the stars. They were fortunate that Flora could
weave so well. The terrible dry weather made it impossible to
raise enough crop to sell. The only income they had was the cloth.
Tomorrow, after school, the children would go with their mother
to the market to sell her cloth. With the money they would buy
food.
Because
of the drought, it was very hard to gather enough food for the
day. For dinner, the children would grind some maize (corn) and
Mom would use it to make tortillas (thin pancakes) for the family.
It wasn't much, and it didn't prevent them from getting hungry
the next day. After dinner, when the chores were done, Mother
would go back to weaving and the children would kiss the hands
of Grandfather and bow to him as they asked him to tell one of
his stories. The children had a great deal of respect for their
grandfather and any other elders they encountered. As grandfather
told his story they would lay back in their hammocks and listen.
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