Teresita Tag

Characters 46 y 47- Huila and Teresita

“The hummingbird’s Daughter” written by Luis Alberto Urrea is one my favorite books of all time, and that’s saying a lot since I’m not a fast or super well-read reader. I read slowly generally, but when I first read this book and even now as I’m re-reading it I fly through it. It has romance, adventure, comedy, magic, and a lot of historically interesting points. It is based on a real live woman who supposedly came back from the dead and began healing people. But before Teresita (La Santa de Cabora) could do that, she was a little apprentice with a medicine woman named “Huila”.

Huila is a hilarious magic woman, grumpy lady, realest, and feminist! There are so many scenes from the book that cry for an illustration, but I just wanted to show a posed shot of the two of them together when Teresa was still Teresita. In this shot, Huila would probably be cursing the camera man with his strange contraption since the story is set from the late 1890s til the early 1900’s.

So, you haven’t read the book? Pick up a copy from your local book store or book seller like Imix in LA or La Casa Azul in NYC, or Luna Press in San Francisco. If you know of other independent stores that sell books by Latino authors, leave it in the comments por favor!

Listen to Luis