Mi Vickicito

0:00When I got a new car, I thought my insurance premium would increase and empty my bank account. Like if Fatween won the lottery. I've invested most of my winnings in chicken tenders because they're bomb. But bro, I bought a house and it's sick, bro. I'm thinking the floor is going to be all trampoline, bro. With a helipad on the roof. The contractor said it's structurally unsound. They're just being babies. But switching to Geico saved me hundreds, so my bank account is safe. It feels good to save some hard-earned cash. It feels good to Geico. No one goes to Hank's for his spreadsheets. They go for a darn good pizza.

0:34Lately, though, the shop's been quiet, so Hank decides to bring back the$1 slice. He asks Copilot in Microsoft Excel to look at his sales and costs to help him see if he can afford it. Copilot shows Hank where the money's going and which little extras make the dollar slice work. Now Hank's has a line out the door. Hank makes the pizza. Copilot handles the spreadsheets. Learn more at m365copilot.com.

1:01Julia Longoria:Hello, Unexplainable listeners. Julia Longoria here, one of your co-hosts. And I'm here with you to share a piece of news, which is that this will be my very last episode with Unexplainable. At least for now. Who knows what turns life takes. And to say goodbye, I wanted to share with you one of the very first radio stories that I ever made, because at the center of it is an unexplainable phenomenon, which is why does my grandma and so many people in the world put Vicks VapoRub on everything? I worked on this story with a reporter named Kenny Malone for a show from WNYC called Only Human.

1:57Julia Longoria:My grandma just turned 80. But I'd be willing to bet my grandma's 80 is not the 80 you're thinking. This is a woman who, in one year, underwent knee replacement surgery and took trips to China, New York City, and Paris. The woman defies expectation. One minute, she's designing high-fashion dresses. The next, she's starting spitball fights at dinner. Irreverent, intelligent, it's like every week she's telling us about a different novel she's reading. In English. Her non-native tongue. All of this is to say my grandmother is no fool. That's why I can't wrap my head around how or why the woman I've just described worships a little blue jar of eucalyptus jelly.

2:49Julia Longoria:Of course, as a little kid, there was no reason to think grandma's love affair with Vicks was unusual. But in hindsight, there were some pretty obvious clues. There was a time I remember walking into her bedroom and seeing four, five, maybe even six jars strewn on her vanity. There's the fact that grandma doesn't actually call Vicks Vicks. She only talks about her beloved Vicky Sito. She adds the ito as a mini love letter to the stuff. And then maybe strangest of all was that when she would stay at our house and take a shower, The bathroom would always reek of Vicks Vaporub afterwards, whether or not she was sick.

3:29Julia Longoria:Now that I'm older, it occurs to me that actually I have a lot of questions about grandma and her Vickie Seedle. So I sent an audio recorder to my sister Paula, who was with our grandma, and I called. Nobody pick up the phone! Just a few things to know before you hear this. Number one, my grandma is from Cuba, so I'm going to kind of translate for her as she speaks in Spanglish. Number two, she's got a little bit of a low voice. And number three, before I could even ask her why she loves Vic so much, she said something that sent the conversation totally off the rails. Hello. Grandma. Yeah, this is Grandma.

4:06Julia Longoria:Julia. Hi. Okay, yo quería hablar contigo sobre Vickycito. Oh, Vickycito. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Every time that you have like a sore throat or feel that you are coughing, you say, no, no. Si tiene, entonces hay que darle Viquicito. Es bueno para todo. Es bueno para todo. Right there. Viquicito es bueno para todo. Vicks is good for everything. So I'm like, wait, what do you mean everything? Para el pecho es lo mejor. So first she's like, you could put it on your chest because it'll help with your cough. That makes sense. That's on the label. Then she's like, you can use it on your knee if you have a sore knee.

4:47Julia Longoria:And that one's also on the label. But then things start getting weird. For fungus? She says Vicks on your toenails will cure your toenail fungus. And she says she puts it on her fingernails to stop them from breaking. You think it makes your nails stronger? And then, this is just insane to me.

5:18Wait, wait, wait. Grandma, you used to put it in your hair? Yes. Yes, before you shampoo your hair. Vicks Vaporub as hair conditioner.

5:31Julia Longoria:So I asked her, is this why the shower smelled like Vicks? And she said, oh, no, I'm sure I'd stop using Vicks as hair conditioner by then. It was probably because I was using it as hand and foot cream.

5:52Julia Longoria:So the story of how my grandma ended up using VIX literally from head to toe turns out to be a story about Cuba. Or at least that's what she hinted at in our conversation. What's your earliest memory of VIX? Oh, my gosh. I think I grew up with that when I was very little. She said she grew up with it when she was very little, which was surprising to me because Grandma doesn't talk much about her past, about her childhood, her life in Cuba. She was 30 when she and her family left in 1967. And I feel like Cuba, for her, it's like when we're watching TV together. She'll always pick Everybody Loves Raymond over any HBO drama I want to watch.

6:35Julia Longoria:Aye, she goes, why are we going to choose to watch ugly things? Life has enough ugly things already. I'm pretty sure for her, Cuba is one of those ugly things. Do you think, I mean, I wonder, like, when the embargo started, did you still get VIX? She's like, well, sometimes it was there and sometimes it wasn't. If it was there, I used it. So I ask her, there was a time when there wasn't VIX? And she says, that's right, but then it came back. I don't remember very well, after the Bay of Pigs.

7:10Julia Longoria:I know that may not sound like much, but I'm almost positive that that was the first time my grandma ever said the words bay of pigs out loud to me. That's when the U.S. tried to invade Cuba in 1961. She was still living there at that point. And we've never talked about that or the revolution or her childhood. Nothing. In college, I became obsessed with Cuba. I did my thesis on Cuban bloggers. And last year, I went to Cuba for the first time. I haven't really talked to grandma about any of this, and it's kind of weird, because I think of us as close. But I guess I don't know much about her as the person, pre-grandma.

7:51Julia Longoria:The whole thing is making me kind of nervous. All four of my grandparents fled Cuba, and grandma is the last one still living. I've never known how to start the Cuba conversation. If Vic's vaporub is a foot in the door, it's better than nothing. So I asked her if she'd be willing to sit down in person and talk more about this Vicks stuff, and maybe Vicks in Cuba. I don't know. We should do that when we're together again. Okay, maybe another day. Okay. Grandma was scheduled to come visit me in New York in a few months, and she promised she'd sit down with me and tell me the rest of the story. That's after the break.

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10:08Support for this show comes from the Futurology podcast. With so much changing every minute, it can feel silly to think more than a few days in the future, but exploring what could happen in the weeks, years, and even decades to come can reshape how we approach our lives today, which is exactly what futurology is for. This new podcast from the Berggruen Institute can help you get ahead of tomorrow. Futurology isn't sci-fi. Each week, they have thoughtful conversations with scientists, artists, technologists, philosophers, people who illuminate the forces shaping our lives and try to imagine both where they'll take us and also how we can respond.

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11:40Oh, yeah. Is it on it? It's like light to flavor. And it smells like potpourri, but it also smells like grandma.

11:45Julia Longoria:Before sitting down with grandma, there was something she'd mentioned in our first conversation that I needed to understand. She seemed to imply that there was some connection between Vicks Vaporub and the Bay of Pigs invasion. The assault has begun on the dictatorship of Fidel Castro. Just a little refresher. In 1961, the United States tried to overthrow Fidel Castro. This was about two years after he'd taken power. The U.S. trained a small militia of Cuban exiles to invade their former country and oust Castro. And the rebellion against the Red Tins dictator was on. The invasion failed spectacularly, and Castro captured around 1 ,100 people.

12:26Have you heard much from your husband since he's been in prison? I'm too much nervous.

12:31Julia Longoria:They stayed in Cuba's prisons for almost two years. And just before Christmas in 1962, the U.S. and Cuba finalized a deal to free the majority of the prisoners. What do you think about the release of all your companions? Well, I think this is a wonderful thing. The reason this is important to our story is that the U.S. paid an unusual ransom for the hostages. It wasn't cash. The prisoners were exchanged for about$50 million in food and medical supplies. Everything from Listerine to aspirin to surgical equipment. And as best we can tell, in that ransom was a whole lot of Vic's vapor-up. You could sit there.

13:13Are we talking about Vic? Yes, we're going to be quicito.

13:17Julia Longoria:So it's two months later, Grandma's in New York, and we're sitting down in a studio at WNYC. I think I got nervous. You shouldn't be nervous. I know it's weird, but it's like we're sitting at home, whatever. We just never do this. I've always thought of Grandma as this fearless matriarch who started a new life in a new country as a young woman. It's so strange to see her nervous like this. And do you remember, what's like your first memory of Vicks? Oh, when I was very young, and then I got cold. My mother, she used to put big, and then you have to be in your room. And do you remember what your room looked like?

13:58My bedroom set was pink with flower painted, and I have my pink cover, you know, for my bed. I have a good life when I was young.

14:10Julia Longoria:Grandma grew up near one of the most beautiful beach towns in Cuba, called Varadero. She and my grandpa met on the beach. He was a friend of her big brother's. I have this black and white picture hanging in my room of the two of them sitting on the sand. Grandma's got one of those 50s halter bathing suits with little buttons down the middle. Abuelo's got his hair slicked back. They're both smiling this stylish, effortless smile. She was 21 years old when the revolution came. Oh, I mean, that was unbelievable what happened there. Let me tell you, unbelievable. But that is another point. Well, what do you mean?

14:47It's another point because with the revolutions and all that, you know, that in Cuba that was really hard. It was a very hard time. What do you mean? Like what do you remember when you say it was a hard time? It's really scary. Right away, everything disappeared. You go to the groceries and it was nothing. It was a very, very hard time. And then when all those medical supplies came in... Oh, my God, people get crazy. You have to see the lines of the pharmacy people get. Was that when you started using Vicks in different ways, like for conditioner and stuff like that? Yes, you know, because I remember when Castor took power in Cuba that you can't find any hands cream or anything.

15:29Then I find out that when I use it for my kids and I put it in my hand, oh, my skin, you know, my hands look soft. I said, oh, it's good for the skin, too. And then what else? After that, how did you get to put it on? And then I remember when I was in Cuba, the soap there was very hard, and then the water was good, and then my nails started to break a lot. And I said, oh, gosh, my hands are big and not pretty, but I like to have my nails that look nice. Then I started to use that, and my nails said, oh, my God, my nails look much better. Grandma, I don't think your hands are ugly. I actually think about your hands as like I want to have beautiful hands like grandma.

16:10I always think that, for real. I don't know. I compare my hands with my friends. I say, oh, my God, my hands are so big. I do that same thing, actually. And then you said, did you use it for fungus? When was the first time? Yeah, I have fungus, and then I noticed that they start to get better. But it was on your toes, right? How did you get from the point of like my hands? Well, it's good for your hands. It has to be good for your feet, too. So I started to use it.

16:47It was like the worst period of your life when you were using Vix in all these crazy ways. If that were me, like it would bring back horrible memories and I might like never want to see it again, right? Yeah, right. But you embrace it now. Oh, yeah. Yeah, because that always made me feel good. When I was sick, I mean, like I said, it was working for me. So even in my hard times, I love that.

17:21Yeah. So, hold on, I can't be crying in this part. Take me. Smell me.

17:36Julia Longoria:When I get one with a Vix, I am transported back to my room at grandma's house. I see my pink and teal bedspread. I hear grandma opening the door to say good morning and sing me las mañanitas loudly and off tune. I laugh and throw pillows at her. She throws them right back at me. Vix takes me to my origins. A place of comfort and silliness and joy. I never thought about where Vicky Cito must transport grandma. I always figured her obsession with an American product must be another way she'd assimilated and left her past behind. All this time, the stuff has been bringing her back to her own beginnings, to her own pink room, the place where she learned what comfort is.

18:30Julia Longoria:When I was going back and listening to the tape, I found this one wonderful moment. It happened when I had to step out of the studio for a second, and I left Grandma by herself. Hold on one second. Let me just, I'll be right back. While I stepped out, Grandma picked up a little container of Vicks I had in the studio. She unscrewed the lid and just enjoyed the smell for a while. Oh, I love these. It's hard to hear, but Grandma just said, I love this. Oh, I love these.

19:16Julia Longoria:This episode was produced by Kenny Malone and me, Julia Longoria, with help from Jillian Weinberger. It was edited by Ben Adair. Special thanks to Jim Ratzenberger, Ashley Kaufman, and the Greensboro History Museum. Some of the archival audio you heard in this episode comes from the Lynn and Louis Wolfson Florida Moving Image Archives. The Unexplainable team includes Jorge Jess, Joanna Solitaroff, Meredith Haddonat, Bird Pinkerton, Noam Hassenfeldt, Sally Helm, Amy Padula, and Christian Ayala. If you have thoughts to share with us, we are at unexplainableatvox.com. And if you'd like to support this show and the journalism that Vox does, we would love it if you would become a member.

19:59Julia Longoria:It's easy to do. Just go to vox.com slash members. You'll get full access to all of Vox's journalism. And for those of you who have emailed to let us know that you signed up because of Unexplainable, thank you. It makes a huge difference. Unexplainable is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. We'll be back soon with another episode.

20:29Thank you.