My Little Ranch

     Culiacán, Sinaloa, the birthplace of both my parents. I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and knew nothing more than the desert for the first 12 years of my life. When I was 12 years old, my parents finally decided to take my sisters and I to visit their home country, and in those plans included also, finally, meeting our grandparents.

     Mexico, anyone can agree, has many beautiful places, and not all is poverty. Mexico has its beaches, for example, that many of us love to visit. But in regards to my parents past, it wasn't at all pleasant.

     My mom, Juana, lived in a ranch called "El Tamarindo." It's a small ranch which had about ten families living there. The ranch is full of trees, in the mountains of coarse, and the roads are nothing but dirt. My father, Enrique, lived in the small ranch called "San Francisco." This ranch, like my mothers, also had a small population, about fifteen to twenty families living there.

     The ranch we visited, where my grandparents now live in, is San Francisco. San Francisco, even though it is a small ranch, it is beautiful. In the mornings, you can hear the noise of the cocks waking you up, always at the same time. The scent of the early morning is that of the smell of after it has been raining, even though it hasn't rained. The long, big trees seem to always have a shadow for you, so calm and inviting for an afternoon reading. 

    It has certainly become one of my favorite places to visit, so calm and serene. One has no worries. San Francisco is also always full with children, either playing around or just out for a walk. In the small area which is the ranch, there is only one elementary school and one store in which you can do your shopping. 

     The houses are not very big. About two to three rooms max. Each house is made differently, while some are made from blocks, others are made out of cheaper material, easy for storms to break through. The roads are also very rocky, not smooth at all, and hard to drive on.

     Overall, I love my little ranch. It is so peaceful and serene.