SIX HOURS

"Choose it very carefully" she said "They are the heart and soul of what we are going to cook"

Yayita was teaching my sisters and I how to make tamales. We took our places in the kitchen. "Let's see what are we going to do" she said, and her voice sounded powerful and strong. She was sitting infront of a large, deep, steamy pot... She had a sweet but strong look in her face, going from the pot to our anxious faces.

As in a perfect song, the melody of making tamales started sounding. A delicious, sensual smell hit me in the face, and I felt I was in presence of a great ritual.

Tic tac, tic tac... time is running, burning fire, boiling water... the ancient secrets of cooking are flowing all over the place... laughs and desperate looks to the working pot.

While we're waiting the first bite of our wonderful first creation, I turn my face to yayita... She's talking with my mother, and she has a pride look... All the wait, all the expectation is making me enter into a dreaming world, an antique place took off from an old sepian portrait... And she is in the center of it.

But all the wait was worth it, at the end of our working day, after six long hours, we were finally ready to taste the delicious flavour of our victory!