300 turkeys in boots marching to Guadalajara

    Once upon a time, hundreds of turkeys—each wearing a tiny pair of sandals—would be herded along a 100-kilometer road to Guadalajara. Image by Copilot.

By John Pint

Guajolotes wearing huaraches? If it sounds like something that could only happen in Mexico, that may be exactly the case.

Is the story true? You be the judge.

First, let me state that the turkey is very Mexican and it’s likely that the Mayans were the first to domesticate it. In Mexico, it is popularly called guajolote, which comes from the Nahuatl  “huexólotl,” meaning “old monster,” rather unkindly referring to the male’s looks.

The Mayans were likely the first to domesticate the turkey. The Spaniards took them to Europe and the Turks were soon raising them and exporting them to England, where people took to calling them “Turkey birds” … and the name stuck. Image by Redblakmonster after the Laud Codex.

As far as its taste goes,  Bernardino de Sahagún said: “It has the best meat of all the birds; it is the master. It is tasty, fat, savory.”

That oh-so-tasty bird has been raised in great numbers in Mexico for at least two millennia, which brings me to a story by archaeologist Peter Jiménez who spent many years studying and unearthing the celebrated ruins of Cerro de Teúl Archaeological Zone  located immediately adjacent to the city of Teúl, Zacatecas.

At first, I thought Jiménez was pulling my leg, but the basic facts of the story which appears below have been confirmed by the historian of Teúl, Ezequiel Ávila, as well as other sources. 

Archaeologist Peter Jiménez tells a tale of turkeys in huaraches marching over 100 kilometers from Teúl, Zacatecas, to Guadalajara. Photo: John Pint.

The big Black Cave

“In 1984, when I was just a kid studying archaeology in Zacatecas,” Jiménez told me, “we did a tour through the state with the then Governor of Zacatecas, José Guadalupe Cervantes.

One of the most beautiful parts of our visit was the drive through the southern part of the state which is filled with deep canyons. Approaching Teúl, we drove past a large and imposing cave, visible from the highway. It's called La Cueva Prieta (The Black Cave) and it has a waterfall over its entrance. So I made a comment to the governor: ‘That looks like a great place to excavate for prehistoric remains.’"

The governor smiled, but one of his party, a member of his cabinet, who was sitting next to Jiménez, spoke up: "Bueno, if you ever dig there, you're probably going to find 20 or 30 centimeters of turkey guano."

"Why?" asked Jiménez. 

The man replied, "Because, back when we used to move turkeys from Florencia, near Teúl, over to Guadalajara on foot, that was one of the caves where we would rest the turkeys and where we would all sleep during the night.”

Don Ezequiel Ávila, historian of Teúl, Zacatecas, inside La Cueva Prieta where turkey drovers would overnight their birds on the long march to Guadalajara. Photo: John Pint.

"What?" said Jiménez.

Down the canyon to Guadalajara

His informant’s eyes lit up. "Yes,” he said, laughing, “My father used to raise turkeys during the year, in Florencia, and come the fall, we'd move them off to Guadalajara because there was a thriving tianguis (market) there; so we had to walk those turkeys from here in Teúl ten days down the canyon and across the Rio Santiago and back up into Guadalajara to the market."

Jiménez looked at him: "Wow, I can't believe that!"

The cabinet member insisted: "Oh yes, we had measured distances of how much of a journey we'd make every day and where we’d camp at night. Now, caves were really good because we'd put the turkeys inside and then we'd build a number of fires around the outside and one of us would stay awake at night, while the rest of us slept, just to keep the coyotes and the pumas and the lynxes from the turkeys."

Jiménez said, "That's an incredible story."

Leather huaraches for each turkey

His informant went on: “When I was a kid, all my friends would be playing canicas (marbles) or futbol (soccer), but my daily chore every afternoon was to go home and cut little forms out of a huge piece of leather to make a pair of huaraches (simple leather sandals) for every guajolote and each of these shoes would be held on by a little piece of wire."

The cabinet member then explained the reason behind the shoes., "You see, a turkey can't walk great distances. Their feet are very delicate. If they're going to walk for two weeks to Guadalajara, they need some assistance. So my chore was to make huarachitos for every turkey.”

"Okay, just how many turkeys are we talking about?" Jimenez asked.

The Great Turkey Drove

"Well," replied the man, "we would raise 200 here in Florencia, and we’d buy another hundred in Fresnillo and walk them down here. Then we’d finally start the Great Turkey Drove to Guadalajara.

“Since I was the youngest, I had to walk behind that big gaggle of turkeys, picking up huaraches which had come off, go find the bird that lost them, and put their shoes back on."

Jiménez stared at him: “Ay, señor, that is a great story, but it sounds like a mamonada (malarkey). I can't believe it!"

Drawing by Greco García, inspired by this story.

His informant simply replied: "Come to my office on Monday."

A few days later, Jiménez went to Zacatecas City, to the man’s office, arriving in the early afternoon. 

"Come on in,” said the cabinet member’s secretary. “He's been waiting for you."

Jiménez walked into the man’s office and was offered a chair.

“So,” recalled Jiménez,  “I sat down in front of his desk and he opened a drawer and pulled out a photograph, all sepia tones, of himself as a little kid, holding in his hand two little pairs of huaraches and behind him something like a hundred turkeys.

"Okay okay," said Jiménez, “I surrender!"  

Don Ezequiel Ávila, historian of Teúl, Zacatecas, inside La Cueva Prieta where turkey drovers would overnight their birds on the long march to Guadalajara. Photo: John Pint.