Informant: Maria Clara Williamson. My mom who is originally from Colombia but has lived in Mexico City for 25 years.

Informant: “Está mas caro el caldo que las albondigas”

Translation: “The broth is more expensive than the meatballs.”

Informant: “This is a saying I learned living in Mexico. My friend Paloma uses it a lot but I never do. It is said when the effort put into something is more expensive than the end result. Right now we are building a house in an underserved community with your sister. We have to sell tickets for a raffle, travel to the community, get people at the school to participate, and make the whole thing work. This has taken so much of my time and so many people have been uncollaborative. This effort is more laborious, tiresome, and expensive than the end result (the house) and although it’s a good deed it is indeed more expensive.”

Thoughts: This proverb is really interesting. I had never heard it and my mom has certainly never said it in front of me. It is definitely an interesting way of describing a laborious task. There are many Mexican sayings people have and I’m actually surprised to not have heard it before growing up or from Paloma.