the gods obeyed. In Mexico the gods ruled, the priests interpreted
and interposed, and the people obeyed. A nuance in an ideological difference is a wide chasm.”
Richard Condon, A Talent for Loving
“Hey man, get in.” It was the only English they knew.
Roberto and Juan drove me 42 kilometers in their half-ton camion, most of the way to Mexico City. I got off at a trailer park, and bought a tamarind juice to go with my trail mix. A middle-aged guy with two kids took me another few miles. He put twenty pesos in my hand, as I got out of his Volkswagen. He wouldn’t take it back. I thanked him, because it was all I could do. Outside a Mexican cemetery gate, I waited out the day. Even as the light faded, I was still mesmerized by the elevated crypts and penitent statuary. A man named Francisco finally flagged down a bus, which took me into the Centro, for three pesos. I called David from a subway station. He arrived with his brother, Luis, and his girlfriend. We went bowling. Then, after a taco stand diversion on the way home, I fell asleep instantly on the cot his parents had prepared for my arrival. We met each other next morning, and Senora Hernandez provided a fantastic breakfast of eggs, frijoles, rolls, café con leche, and cantaloupe. She promised me a treat that evening. The family was in the trucking business, and I spent the day working on a truck near the turnoff to Puebla. After a shower and shave that evening, we sat down to what the Senora had spent all day working on. Enchiladas Suiza. I still dream about them. The following morning, David, and Lydia, Luis’s girlfriend, and I went out to the pyramids of Teotihuacan.
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