The Disappearing Corn Windmills of Mexico
The Disappearing Corn Windmills of Mexico
March 15, 2016 / 12:42 pm
By Eunice Lozada
It’s almost noon and a silver-haired man walks into the El Moncayo windmill to order two kilos of masa. He says his wife is waiting for him at home to prepare the tortillas that will go along with the machaca and chilorio that she cooked earlier for their lunch.
“She knows to make tortillas by hand but doesn’t like to use the tortillería’s masa, since they get too flaky,” he adds as Don Ignacio Jesus—a.k.a. Nachito, the owner of one of the few windmills left in Mexico City—hands him his order.
“Nachito, please bless it,” asks the customer. The 55-year-old complies by taking a small flask from his jacket and pouring a bit of holy water on top of the masa. He then says a little prayer and does the sign of the cross on top of the man’s head. The client gratefully leaves.
Watching Nachito bless the masa for some of his clients shouldn’t surprise first-time customers. You just need to look around the walls covered with images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and the Last Supper, as well as the Bible quotes written among them. Since 1999, Don Ignacio has officially been a soldier of Christ.
El Moncayo is a small establishment, built around 70 years ago over the Tlalpan ruins—the remains of a small town called Santa Úrsula Coapa, south of Mexico City. Every day, Nachito sells around 500 kilos of masa and over 600 kilos of corn specially brought from Sinaloa. With the help of his younger son, he works from 7 AM to 7 PM each day to supply every street vendor in town.
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