Chronicles of Mexico 1962 April 1,

Chronicles of Mexico 1962

Excerpts from a teenager’s diary/scrapbook

(The full names of locations have been added to the Transcript of the scrapbook for clarification.)

Sunday, April 1, 1962

Carol, Patti, and I toured a little church two blocks away from our Hotel Genevieve that didn’t even look like a church. We had such strong doubts that I asked the poor peasant woman , “Es esta la iglesia?”

The inside was simple and nice. When we first came in  and knelt, we’d put our purses behind us. Soon the Father told us  we should hold onto them, because although the people were virtuous, they felt we wouldn’t mind if they took something.

Back at the hotel , I was talking to some of the bellboys, trying to talk Spanish and to tell him that we were going to the play and the bull fight.  I talked in Spanish, because if I used an English word, he would say, “No entiendo Englas.”

I was sputtering around so much that I decided to imitate them (pretend to fight a bull). While I’m doing this, about five bellhops gathered around to watch. When I was finished , the first one said in perfect English, “I hope you enjoy them thoroughly.”

I turned red as a beet, but, I did learn the hard way that all hotel personnel speak or at least understand English.

Then, after breakfast, we found our little group and we were off to the Palace of Fine Arts  to watch Ballet Folklórico de México. Before the ballet began, we saw the wonderment of lights shown on the Tiffany glass curtain, which was fabulous and breath-taking.  It was a sunrise over a mountain reflected on a lake.

After the ballet, I bought a record of the music and left for Xochimilco  (literally: where the flowers grow), the Floating Gardens. We were led to two little boats that had “Welcome Highland Park High School” on them. We entered and found a seat. There are floating bands also, so, Raphael said for our two boats to sandwich one between us , so they could play for us. They played “Viva Mexico”, several others and floated on their way. It is very interesting to see all these gondola-type boats all scrambled together  and, yet, no one starts swearing. If one gets into trouble, they help each other.

Last on this Sunday’s agenda, was the bull fight. We were very, very lucky, because today was the end of the bull fighting season, so only the best matadors and bulls were to perform.

Many people think it is a cruel sport, but, it isn’t. It is actually very beautiful to see. The grace and courage of a 110-pound man artfully maneuvering a 900-pound bull to do his bidding .

Immediately after three of the twelve bulls were gone, we had to leave for the Hacienda Vista Hermosa,  En route to the Cuernavaca Valley, we swung around the university  to see the mosaics on the library  exterior, which was fabulous.

We arrived at the hacienda in the evening, so, we had time to swim in the magnificent pool. This is when I first met Bob K.. I had pushed him into the pool and raced him, out dove him, and out ate him. This began a nice friendship.

After dinner, he showed me around because he had been here with the group last year.