‘Before, few people went to Mexico City because they didn’t know it,’ says Justino Esquivel. ‘Now the people from Mexico City think we go to sell things there because we don’t want to work; and they even throw petrol on our fruits; but we go out of necessity. As long as the government gives us no work, we’ll be forced to go there....

‘In the city they move us on, they punish us, and then they throw us in prison; but tough, if we’re doing it out of necessity, we’re going to carry on doing it. Under Uruchurtu [a mayor of the city known for his strict measures], as soon as they saw you in the street or sitting in a square, they took you: “Come on, to the clink with you! What are you doing there?” We have no papers. But when are they going to give us papers? They just have to see us (showing his old, worn-out clothes). Yes, we’re not going to lie, look at us. Are you going to say we’re rich? It’s just that, here, there’s no way out, that’s why we go to Mexico City.

On top of the difficulty of economic survival in the village, people stress the arduous nature of work in the fields, and the insecurity attached to it. One young man sums it up as follows:

‘Here, there’s no work, we earn nothing. We work with the boss from nine to nine, we sweat a lot to earn ten pesos. And the zacatón root [a type of Mexican fodder crop] is incredibly hard work. We start at six in the morning and get home at six in the evening, sometimes even at eight, completely covered in dust. It’s a really filthy job....That’s why we go to Mexico City and , God willing, we’ll continue to go there, because here we earn nothing.’

The peasants of mixed origin, on the other hand, express other concerns.
‘In twenty years time, nobody will be working the fields. I want a bit more for my children. They don’t want to farm the land anymore, that’s why we’re leaving (for Mexico City). They need to study because employers now ask for the certificate of secondary studies for a regular job .... and her I can’t give them all schooling (he has nine children), that’s why I think i’m going to go to Mexico City.’

In general, the Mazahua peasants, especially those who haven’t lived there, have a very favourable opinion of the city, the notorious myth that attracts migrants to urban centres.
‘I would be happy to leave for Mexico City or somewhere else, because you can earn good money there....’

But success in the city remains something mysterious, something that cannot be understood.

‘I don’t know if it’s luck, I don’t know why, but there are people who go to Mexico City, and inmediately they go up in the world. And things go well for them. And there are others who stay a while and have to como back, they get nothing. Like me. I don’t know if it’s luck....’ muttered one Indian.

Among migrants to the city, those who have succeeded in getting a decent income, and who have settled there, are happy they emigrated. In contrast, those who haven’t found a permanent job and who live in great poverty in the seedy parts of town or the shanty towns complain bitterly about their situation.
Others, for their mental salvation, like those villagers who in their dreams make the city more beautiful, begin to imagine that village life is ‘more beautiful’.