El Drama De Los Tacos

Last night, hubs and I were channel-hopping and landed on a Spanish soap opera entitled La Rosa de Guadalupe. We caught it maybe ten minutes into the show. A mother was in the hospital, her three children surrounding her bed. "Why," we wondered, half-interested, "was this mother in the hospital?" We soon learned the reason. Every few minutes her husband would appear out of nowhere and beat the crap out of everyone in his family.

I know this kind of thing isn't funny, but we had a great laugh watching it happen over and over and over. I mean, a couple of them would just be having a nice conversation and then he'd rush up and start throwing punches for no apparent reason. Like a mentioned, abuse isn't funny, but the frequency of it in this show pushed it to the point of ridiculousness.

I dunno... maybe it was just one of those "You had to be there" things.

'Papa' was the stereotypical male abuser, wearing the appropriately named "wife beater" tank top under an open white short-sleeve, button-down shirt. Jeans, stubble, and constant yelling. How could he be calm when each person in his family couldn't serve him his dinner without accidentally spilling it all over him? Idiotas! (This happened two different times, by the way).

The mother just couldn't bring herself to tell the police about him. While she was in the hospital, due to one of his drunken rages, I'm certain - you know what, I take that back; I don't think he even needed alcohol to become absolutely enraged over the slightest thing - he started beating the oldest daughter. She plotted to put rat poison in his tacos, but dropped them before he could dig in - she's so clumsy!

James was making me laugh, saying the show should be called Los Tacos de Guadalupe. He kept bringing it up over and over, and I giggled and giggled every time. Even as I type, I'm laughing uncontrollably.

Unintentional comedy aside, I was so enthralled with the story I had to watch it until the end. I could only pick up on a little Spanish here and there, but I could still figure out what was happening due to the "Oscar-worthy" performances. Papa ended up going to jail, only after the daughter poisoned him on her second attempt but then had some mercy and called 911. The family was better off without him and the show ended with all of them (minus Papa) laughing and thanking Saint Guadalupe for helping their family.

I was also laughing and thanking Los Tacos for a fabulous and entertaining close to my day.