In the big house, dinners were elaborate—the hacendado presiding. The menu offered Cochinita pibil (pork barbecued in banana leaves), squash blossom soup, quesadillas (tortilla turnovers stuffed with cheese and mushrooms), uchepos (corn mush steamed in husks), muk-bil pollo (chicken and pork tamale pie), tamales Veracruzanos (pork-filled tamales), and ate de guayaba (guava candy paste). For special guests, the chefs served more elaborate dishes: pheasant, quail, javelina, venison, dove, rabbit. There were no government restrictions on wild game. Fishermen contributed gallo (rooster fish), pardo trucha (trout), huachinango (red snapper), turtle, turtle eggs, lobster, and crab.
The guests gathered for cockfights. If it was summertime, a canopy shaded the pit. In the highlands a mozo swept aside pine needles and built a green fire to fight the mosquitoes. In the south, white awnings and striped parasols furnished shade. The cocks, which were uncaged at a pit, were named: Biba Manza, Panadero, Porfirio, Tigre, Mi General, and El Rayo. At a signal the birds flew at each other, their razor blades flashing. Bets were wagered ... a hundred ... a thousand ... five.
