Nuestro primer trabajo como palaperos
This is the traditional Mayan house of Don Silvano, his wife Doña Dulce Maria and their family. When Doña Dulce María moved in here at the age of 14, the walls were still made of barro, or red clay, but the beams inside were the same color they are today, an elegant blue. It is not known who painted them that color, but she never wanted to change it. Doña Maria Dulce remembers that she used to get the red clay for the walls from a faraway place. She did this hard work with her sister.
Unfortunately, as was often the case in the dry and hot Yucatan, the roof of the house burned down. A fire in the neighboring house spread to the home of Don Silvano and Dona Dulce María , even though the whole family tried to protect their own roof by pouring water on it. In a very short time, the whole roof was in flames, and all they could do was try to throw as many things as possible out of the house onto the street.
But many things in the house were lost: Shoes, books, clothes, and even a borrowed carnival costume for one of the family’s daughters. However, it turned out that friends from school helped the family to get a new costume for the carnival. The family was also fortunate that, precisely at that time, there was a social support program in the town that consisted of giving huano leaves to rebuild roofs of Mayan houses.
The house is still an important meeting and celebration place for her and many of her siblings, who all grew up in this house and most still live near it.