Chapter 40: Chapter 36: Life

Spring plowing had just begun, and April in Mexico was the season for sowing.

Xiulote sat at the edge of the field, watching the busy village farmers. Most of them were shirtless, wearing only loincloths, their feet bare and calloused, backs bent and hunched as they swung simple digging sticks, sweating over the freshly burnt fields.

Fortunately, Mexico was not lacking in salt. The long coastline, scattered City-State rule, extensive trade, and widespread salt mines meant that the lower classes did not have to suffer from painful salt-deficiency edema. Xiulote remembered that near the capital, there were huge salt mines, which were also one of the trade goods of the City in the Lake.

Strictly speaking, life in Mexico before the arrival of the colonizers was not too bad, Xiulote thought.