The treacherous trap

A good friend from the United States has with her husband a gorgeous holiday house not far from the rancho of the Gonzales family in Baja California, Mexico.
Sometimes she goes to Gumaro Gonzales and borrows one of his horses.
She likes to ride horses.
And over here it is a perfect location for this activity.
Along the beach or wandering off into the hills and riding deep into the dry riverbeds.

Last year she borrowed a horse and was riding into the wide dry riverbed at one end is the rancho and the Sea of Cortez.
On the other end, much of the year, is a small waterfall in between huge boulders, rocks and exotic plants.
A fabulous place for some reflective and spiritual moments.

She rode the horse in a professional way.
The good friend had horses herself and was born on an American farm.
She kept to the south side of the dry riverbed.
The side where was shadow to give the horse natural air conditioning.
But suddenly, the horse was sinking into the sand.
QUICKSAND !!!!
The animal was sucked into the earth.
The good friend threw herself off the horse and on her back on the sand.
To slowly move away from the dangerous area.
Once on harder sand she saw the horse up to his belly in the sand.
She was deeply shocked.
Was she going to see the horse disappear in the quicksand?
What to say to Gumaro, the owner of the horse?

But contrary to her own excitement and nervousness, the horse remained super calm.
Once kind of settled in the quicksand, he started to move slowly his legs.
Little by little freeing himself and rising out of the treacherous trap.
Eventually managing to come out of the quicksand.
No big deal.
The horse did it like a routine job.

Last night many members of the Gonzalez family were assembled in the kitchen hut.
It was Saturday and therefore the children and grandchildren had come to the rancho.
A good situation to bring up the subject of the quicksand not far away from the rancho.

Now, one must understand that Gumaro and this protagonist have their ways of having a conversation when other people are present.
They realize that the others are listening.
Especially the children.
So, a conversation is at the same time a theatre piece.
To entertain the others.
And of course to impress them.

One trick is to have a lead-in of the subject and to give the other the floor completely when it is the moment.

“Gumaro!”
“Tell me, Miguel”
“You live here now for 60 years, right?”
“This is true, Miguel”
“You know therefore everything of the situation here, right?”
“This is so”
“But now I am going to tell you something and I wonder whether you ever heard of it”
“Go ahead, Miguel”
(Meanwhile all the others are now very curious what this is all about, as we can imagine)

Gumaro is told the story of the American friend, the horse and the quicksand in the dry riverbed.

“Gumaro, do you know anything about this dangerous quicksand not far away from us?”

(Now Gumaro is manoeuvred into an excellent position to demonstrate his knowledge and to tell a fascinating story)
And next Gumaro tells how, as long as he lives here, there has been quicksand in the dry riverbed.
But only for a period after the annual rainfall.
And that the horses know this and are not afraid of it.
Because the quicksand is not too deep.
Even a man could survive it.
And then he speaks of the different times he got in the quicksand himself making the children in the audience hang at his lips.

A Saturday evening in Mexico.
Story telling still more important than the TV.




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