Friday was definitely a pleasant surprise! I was expecting Luis, the Botanica owner, to be annoyed at my presence. He sounded frustrated over the phone. He was telling me how busy he was the whole week and that he wouldn't really have time to dedicate to me, which I told him was fine because I was there to take in the whole environment.
I got to the botanica around 3:45 p.m. after being stuck in Hialeah school zones for what seemed like 20 minutes. I walked in, and his wife greeted me. She seemed more welcoming than last time; she smiled a bit more. But she's still a little cold with me. I think she feels strange at the sight of a young white girl in a botanica. Most people I've seen in the area are much older hispanics. Anyways, I told her I was from FIU and wanted to speak to Luis. She shuffled into their little back room, and I heard her talking to him. Luis called out from the back to give him a few minutes to just finish his lunch. I was so embarrassed that I interrupted this man during his lunch to ask him more about the religion he practices. I told him not to worry and I just looked around at some of the new merchandise, like these mini skulls on key chains and coins to bring good fortune.
When he came out of the back room, I noticed he looked a little sick or like he hadn't been sleeping well. I thought to myself that I would ask him later if he was maybe having some health issues. I asked him how he'd been and that I noticed he had some new items in stock. He nodded and half smiled, but didn't say much else. He was probably like "Why the hell did this girl interrupt my lunch to point out I have new things in the store?" He then asked if we could talk outside while he smoked a cigarette, which I was definitely glad to do. It was a breezy day and I felt a little awkward asking this man questions while his wife listened in the background. She makes me kind of nervous how she just silently oversees things.
The minute we stepped outside, he started smoking. I'm not a fan of cigarettes, much less having the smoke in my face because of all the wind. But putting this aside, I was glad to see this relaxed side of him. He wasn't the uptight shop owner. He was just an old Cuban guy smoking his cigarette. So I told him I wanted to find out more about what draws people to Santeria and why the religion has such a bad reputation. He looked somewhat surprised to hear a non-basic "What is this?" "What is this used for?" question come from my mouth, and he nodded in approval, saying they were good questions.
He started off by saying that people are first attracted to the religion because of curiosity. He said this was the most common reason people get into Santeria. The second is family connections. People that are struggling with either health or financial problems consult with family members, and if these family members know someone in Santeria, they urge their troubled relatives to visit a botanica. If these people have some faith in what the santero tells them, and their remedies actually worked, they're hooked. As Luis puts it, "No es lo que tu tengas, pero la fe que tu tengas," (It's not about what you have, but the faith you have in the things you do have.)
As he was smoking, I noticed he was missing some of his front teeth. At first I couldn't help but stare a bit, but I tried to distract myself. It was just very difficult to not look at it because as he talked, I kept seeing the tip of his tongue slide across his bottom gum, where he used to have a couple teeth. At some point, he must have noticed I looked and he jokingly apologized for his appearance. He had just had some dental work. I told him not to apologize to me, and that I had noticed he looked like he had lost some weight. He reiterated how busy he had been that week.
At some point during the conversation, he brought up how he's had a few experiences in the religion that have been very beautiful. Once such experience was with a 60 year old Colombian woman about two years ago. No, he didn't have sex with her- get your mind out of the gutter. He actually saved her life because he saw during a consultation that she had a tumor in her cervix. He felt bad breaking the news to her, but he told her she had to get it checked out right away. He also told her she would have some complications during her surgery, but that she would be alright in the end. She was leaving for Colombia in a few days, and after the consultation, he didn't hear from her again. Three months later, she came back to the store and thanked him for saving her life. She did in fact have a tumor, and she also had to go back for another surgery because the first doctor left some kind of material or object in her cervix. It's experiences like these that really keep in the religion, aside from the fact that he's a business owner and doesn't have to report to anyone. He's his own boss.
I also asked him why Santeria has such a bad reputation. He told me a lot of people have made the religion into an enterprise, selling sacred secrets to outsiders and turning the religion into an all-out enterprise. He described how powerful the religion is and how everything in nature has a force, a concept I didn't really understand. "What do you mean everything has a force? How could a plant or dirt have a force?" We were standing right next to a plant display outside his shop, so he grabbed the closest one and told me, "You see this plant? If I grab this plant like this, and I brush someone with is, it'll dry up. It absorbs all the negative energy." I finally understood. I didn't know the plants were able to supposedly absorb bad energy, much less dry up after doing so. But it is this power and mystery in the religion that he finds so fascinating.
In closing, I asked him how I could go about getting a consultation of my own. I've always been interested in having someone look into my life, and tell me what they see ahead. I didn't know how he would interpret my question. I wasn't there to get a freebie reading, I was just curious. He actually seemed to take my question fine, and explained to me that what he does is read snail shells. He throws them on a table, and is able to see whether that person has some bad energy or influence in his or her life, and how to get rid of it. I asked him if he has to eat or drink or smoke something in order to have these visions, and he told me he smokes during the consultations and drinks agua ardiente. He told me he does this not in order to have the visions, but out of habit. I guess the cigarettes and liquor help loosen him up so he can get a better sense of what's going on in the person's life.
He also said he likes the idea of getting someone to read my cards instead. He spoke very fondly of this one Hialeah woman who reads cards beautifully. When I asked him the difference between cards and snails, he told me that with cards, the reader is able to see that person's past, present and future- it's a more comprehensive reading. He gave me her number, and I definitely plan on contacting her. I'm actually thinking about doing both: getting my cards read and having someone (maybe a babalawo) read the snail shells.
I talked to him about so many things that day. I'm really glad he opened up to me, whether it was with the help of the cigarettes or not. I'm glad things worked out that way.
I'll keep you guys posted!
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