At 89 years old, Dominga Larios, the operator of the first telephone line in San Cristóbal Zapotitlán, keeps alive the memories of her great challenge.

By: María del Refugio Reynozo Medina

The women of her day were mostly dedicated to washing and ironing the clothes of the men of the house; also to cooking. «Sometimes I would finish a load of firewood in one of my dad’s and my brothers’ ironing.» In those days when there was no electricity in San Cristóbal Zapotitlán, the irons were made of iron and heated by fire.

Dominga Larios Díaz not only faced loads of clothes to wash and iron; she also defied her fears and became the first woman to operate the first telephone line in town, to establish communication with the outside world.

It was the priest Pedro Rivera Chávez who entrusted her with this responsibility and told her,  “I have talked to the people in Mexico and yes, they are going to bring us the telephone.»

Dominga was afraid, but she knew that she had to obey the priest’s wishes.

“You are not going to have ears,» said the parish priest. Referring to the necessary discretion in having access to other people’s conversations.

«Letters are closed, telegrams too, but the telephone is a living thing, be very careful with your mouth.»

Father Pedro told her that he had received an offer to place it in Carmen Mosqueda’s store, but he did not want to because many people came and went to the store, and it would be difficult to maintain communication with the necessary privacy.

Minga, as she was affectionately called, was chosen to guard the telephone booth that would allow San Cristobal to communicate with the world. The arrival of this communication network placed the town on the stage along with many towns in Jalisco.

Her responsibility, besides sending and receiving the messages, consisted of going to the homes to let them know they had a call and traveling to Tizapán every month to deliver the reports and the money for the operations carried out to an office.

“I had never left town before then, but I would walk to the crossroads to wait for the bus that would take me to Tizapán.»

Everything was new to her; the operation of the network, the writing of the reports and the necessary trips out of the community where she had always stayed. In the office she met with the operators of other communication booths, they were all men.

She remembers when there was an inauguration; that day, many important people from Guadalajara and Mexico City came to San Cristóbal, and there was much jubilation in the town.

Although Dominga did not have a fixed salary, only what she could be given on a monthly basis, she always kept in mind Father Rivera’s command, mouth shut and ears absent. Even when on one occasion a groom from the United States communicated with the bride from San Cristóbal and in the middle of the wedding the other groom from San Cristóbal appeared on the scene. Minga had to hide the bride in the phone booth.

Deep in her memories, Dominga remembers the booth, it was a wooden structure where one person could fit, inside was the device with keys and a crank to make the dials.

Some people remember that she used to wind it up, while she would say okay, okay. She would call a switchboard so that from there she would be connected to the number she requested. The telephone was made of metal, big and heavy. The ringing of the phone was so loud that it could be heard all the way to the school that was almost a block away from her house.

The room where the phone booth was located was always clean, there was a large wooden bench, and around it were pots of green leaves.

-Jocotepec-

He repeatedly pronounced, to call the addressees.

-San Miguel Cuyutlán.

-Guadalajara-

Dominga’s house not only housed the first communication system; it was also the cradle of musicians. Her father Justino Larios, a town musician who learned to play more than three instruments, thanks to a priest from San Juan Cosalá, founded a band of more than twenty members. The students were very young, some children and teenagers, they even fell asleep at the end of the class, at night and thus asleep, Justino took them to his home. The largest room of the Larios’ house became a party after every rehearsal night, where the stage was set to music with waltzes and paso-doble dances. Musicians Silviano Reynoso and Martín Reynoso were his disciples.

Justino was also the teacher of his sons Fermín and Heriberto Larios. Heriberto, was almost a child when Justino was asked to be a trombonist, at the age of eleven, Heriberto was already playing trombone and clarinet. His father sent him with the musicians for the novenario 9-day religious event in Tala, Jalisco.

“They are taking my boy,» his mother would exclaim, preparing his clothes for the stay. As the days went by, she wondered, «How is my boy doing?”

Upon her return, Dominga recalls that Heriberto arrived bringing her mother a birote, a bread roll, from the plant. 

“What a beautiful son,» said Petra with emotion. With the memory of that scene, Minga shed a tear.

In the midst of a sea of emotions, Dominga continues telling her story.

“Will you invite me to sit next to you?» I said to say goodbye.

“Will you buy me a drink or shall I buy you a drink,» she says smiling before I sit next to her on the edge of the bed. 

At 89 years old, Minga lives from her memories in her neat bedroom accompanied by prayer books; the discreet operator who learned to forget names but to remember the stories that wove her youthful days.

Translated by Kerry Watson