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<p>Alice's poem last month about her canoeing adventure in Mexico
inspired me to dust off an old creative nonfiction piece I wrote
several years ago about a trip my father and I took to Mexico. <br>
</p>
<p>***</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;line-height:200%"
align="center">Montezuma’s
Revenge</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;line-height:200%"
align="center"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;line-height:200%"
align="center"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;line-height:200%"
align="center"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“This
is a dump,”
said Dad, as I gazed around our hotel room in Hermosio, Mexico.
With my limited
vision, I spied two double beds, no telephone or television set,
and no other
furniture. I peered into the bathroom, no bigger than a closet,
with a sink,
toilet, and shower. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">With
no air
conditioning in the summer heat, sweat trickled under my armpits
and accumulated
on my brow. According to Dad’s guidebook, this hotel had rooms
with a view of a
courtyard. Our room had a view of nothing I could see.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">At
twelve years
old, I was too excited to care. In June of 1973 after almost a
year of studying
Spanish, Dad and I had finally realized our dream of taking a
trip to Mexico.
After traveling most of the day by bus from Tucson
to Nogales, Arizona,
and then from Nogales
to Hermosio by train, I was glad to be here. Although it was
after midnight, I
was far from tired. “I’m hungry,” I said. “Let’s find a
restaurant.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“You
bet,” said
Dad. He consulted his guidebook. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%">We took a taxi to a
restaurant where
I enjoyed my first meal in Mexico: cheese enchiladas with rice
and beans.
Afterward, we returned to our sweltering room and tried to get
some sleep. A
couple of hours later, after tossing and turning, our bodies
drenched in sweat,
Dad said, “I can’t stand this anymore. Let’s get the hell out of
here.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">I
climbed out of
bed and consulted my Braille watch. It was four o’clock in the
morning. “Should
I get dressed?” I asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“No,
just put on
your thongs, and let’s go.” He wore nothing but boxer shorts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">I
put on my thongs
and went in the bathroom. When I came out, I was relieved to
find that Dad had
put on a shirt. My nightgown clung to me, as we carried our
suitcases down the
stairs to the ground floor. In the deserted lobby, Dad left the
room key on the
counter. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">It
wasn’t much
cooler outside. When we found a cab, Dad told the driver in
English, “Too hot.
Can’t sleep.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">I
said in Spanish
that we needed to go to a different hotel because we were hot. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">The
place where we
were taken not only had air conditioning in the rooms but an
elevator. After we
checked in, Dad, knowing I was thirsty, said to the clerk,
“CocaCola?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;line-height:200%">“No,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">agua</i>,” answered the
clerk.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;line-height:200%">Because
we knew not
to drink the water, Dad said, “No.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;line-height:200%">I
said, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">No gracias</i>.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">I
noticed little
about the room except it was cool. I collapsed between the crisp
bed sheets and
went right to sleep. When I woke in the morning, the room
appeared no different
from hotel rooms in the United States. Two double beds were
flanked by a
night stand, and a couple of armchairs and a small table stood
in one corner. A
television set was mounted on the wall, and a telephone sat on
the night stand.
According to my watch, it was nine o’clock.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">Dad
was sitting in
one of the chairs, studying the guidebook. “Good morning,
honey,” he said. “Why
don’t you get dressed, and we’ll get some breakfast? There’s a
restaurant here
in the hotel.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">The
bathroom was huge,
containing a vast tub with a shower, a toilet, and a sink with a
long counter.
I brushed my teeth, trying not to swallow the water. In the
restaurant, we ordered
an American breakfast of pancakes and sausage. Dad suggested we
take the bus to
Guaymas, near the sea. “It’ll be cooler there,” he said. “You
can swim in the
ocean.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“That’s
great,” I
said. In the hotel’s air conditioned comfort, my spirits had
lifted, and I was looking
forward to the Mexican experience.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">We
took a taxi to
the bus station. On the way, our English speaking driver, upon
learning we were
from the United States,
took us on a scenic tour of the city. At the bus station, Dad
bought two
tickets to Guaymas. We met a woman from the United States, and
she and Dad carried
on a conversation in English until our bus was ready to leave.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">It
was about a
three-hour trip from Hermosio to Guaymas. When we arrived in
mid-afternoon, we took
another taxi to a motel overlooking the beach. On the way, I
spotted a hill and
pointed it out to Dad in Spanish. The driver chuckled as if I’d
never seen a hill
before. What he didn’t realize was that I was thrilled at any
opportunity to
use the Spanish I’d learned over the past year.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;line-height:200%">The
motel was another
recommended by Dad’s guide book. We were given a bungalow with a
cement porch
and a screen door. It faced the ocean, and the beach was only a
few steps away.
The room contained two double beds with a night stand in between
and a table
and two armchairs. An adjoining bathroom contained a toilet,
sink, and shower,
not as grand as the bathroom I used that morning in Hermosio. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;line-height:200%">A
telephone sat on
the night stand. It had no dial or buttons. “How do you make a
call on this
phone?” I asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“When
you pick up
the phone, an operator at the front desk answers, and you give
her the number,”
Dad said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">We
hit the crowded
beach right away. My excitement was soon dampened by the
drenching ocean waves
that nearly knocked me down and the awful, salty taste of the
water. Since I
wasn’t much of a swimmer, I stayed in the shallow water and
tried to walk next
to the shore. Rocks hurt my feet, and waves slowed my progress.
As Dad swam into
deeper water, I longed for the swimming pool in our neighbor’s
back yard in Tucson.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">I
spotted a dock
and a stretch of calm water nearby. When Dad returned to shore,
I asked why we couldn’t
swim there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“Because
that’s
where ships go,” he answered. It wasn’t fair that ships got calm
water while
swimmers got waves, but I said nothing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">That
night, Dad
suggested we eat at another restaurant recommended by the guide
book. When he told
the cab driver in Spanish where we wanted to go, he said the
restaurant no
longer existed. He suggested another place that specialized in
seafood, and we went
there. I didn’t like fish, but I said nothing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">Dad
ordered
lobster for both of us. He removed the meat, buttered it, and
put it in my
mouth. It was awfully rich, but I managed to get it down. I
wondered what
Mother and my younger brother Andy were having for dinner. I
pictured spaghetti,
lasagna, meat loaf, macaroni and cheese. I considered closing my
eyes, clicking
my heels together three times, and saying, “There’s no place
like home.” That wouldn’t
have worked, and Dad would have only gotten mad.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">The
next morning,
we took another obligatory swim in the ocean before eating
another American
breakfast of pancakes and sausages. Afterward, Dad found someone
to take us out
in a motorboat. The seats were comfortable, and the trip was
uneventful except
for one point when seaweed got caught in the engine, causing it
to stall. The
boat man, who spoke some English, explained the situation and
managed to restart
the motor. The water was calm, and I didn’t get sick, yet.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;line-height:200%">When
we returned
to the dock, I said, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Gracias</i>.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“Oh
no, don’t
thank him yet,” said Dad, a note of alarm in his voice. “I
haven’t paid him.”
The man chuckled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">After
Dad settled
the score and we were walking away, I asked, “Why shouldn’t I
have thanked him before
you paid him?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“If
Mexicans think
you’re not going to pay them, they’ll take you to jail, and a
Mexican prison is
worse than anything you can imagine.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“They
wouldn’t put
me in jail, too, would they?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“Oh
yes, you’d be
in there with me.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“They
wouldn’t
just send me home?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“No.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">At
that point, I
decided I’d had about enough of Mexico. “Let’s go home,” said
Dad, as if
reading my thoughts. “We don’t have much money left.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">We
returned to our
bungalow to find that the cleaning lady had taken our towels and
not brought clean
ones. I took a shower and dried myself with one of Dad’s shirts.
Dad picked up
the phone and asked the operator in Spanish how much it would
cost to place a
long distance call to Tucson.
He hung up a moment later saying, “It’s too expensive.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">That
night, we ate
dinner at the motel. My stomach hurt, and I made a couple of
trips to the
restroom where I succumbed to diarrhea. After dinner, we checked
out of the motel
and took a taxi downtown to the bus station. The bus for Nogales
wouldn’t leave for several hours. Dad
rented a locker for our luggage. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">We
walked around
downtown Guaymas. Most of the shops were closed, but we stopped
so Dad could look
in the windows. My stomach still hurt, and my bowels threatened
to disgorge
more diarrhea. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;line-height:200%">“Did
you drink the
water?” asked Dad.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;line-height:200%">“No,”
I answered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;line-height:200%">At
a drugstore,
Dad found someone who spoke English to help make a collect call
home from a pay
phone. “Can I talk to Mom?” I asked after he spoke to her for a
few minutes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">He
handed me the
phone and whispered, “Don’t tell her you’re sic. She’ll worry.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“Hi
Mom.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“Hi
sweetie.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">It
was so good to
hear her voice. I wanted to cry but managed to stay dry-eyed, as
I said, “We
had a good time, but I miss you, and I can’t wait to come home.
I love you.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“I
love you too,
honey.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">The
drugstore had
no restroom so we found a restaurant, and the hostess was nice
enough to let me
use the bathroom. Afterward, we sat at a corner table, and Dad
ordered me a
Coke. It wasn’t the first time I drank a Coke in Mexico from a
glass with ice made
from water we shouldn’t have been drinking. I took a few
swallows and made
another trip to the bathroom, this time to throw up.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">I
made several
more such trips. By the time we returned to the bus station a
few hours later,
I was weak and nauseated. I collapsed on a bench while Dad
retrieved our
luggage. The bus arrived, but it was full. There wouldn’t be
another bus until
morning.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">I
stretched lengthwise
on the hard bench with no pillow. At least I wasn’t in a Mexican
prison, I thought,
as I moaned and bent my knees to my chest in an attempt to
alleviate the
nausea. “Do you have to throw up again?” Dad asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“No,
I just feel
sick.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">I
dozed, woke to
hear others around me, and realized they were talking about me
when someone said
“doctor” in Spanish.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">I
rallied. “No, I
don’t need a doctor,” I said in Spanish. “I just want to go
home.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“Maybe
we’d better
see about a train,” said Dad in English.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">I
didn’t want to
move, but I hauled myself off the bench and walked with Dad to a
waiting taxi.
At the train station, we were told that the next train would
leave for Nogales at dawn. Dad and
I camped out on the sidewalk next to the track. The cool air was
refreshing,
and I slept through the rest of the night. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">The
unmistakable
ding ding ding of the approaching train’s bell woke us. We
stood, and I could see
the sky growing light. “Is this our train?” I asked Dad.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“Yes,”
he answered.
I watched the train come to a complete stop in front of us. I
stumbled on
board, fell into a seat, and went right back to sleep.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">When
I opened my
eyes, it was broad daylight. According to my watch, it was
eleven in the
morning. I was thirsty but didn’t feel sick. I breathed air into
my mouth and
licked my parched lips. I looked around for Dad but didn’t see
him. The seat
next to me was empty. I wished he would bring me a Coke. I dozed
for a while
and woke to find him next to me. “We’re pulling into Nogales,”
he said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“Can
I have a
Coke?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“We’ll
see,” he said
with a sigh.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">My
legs felt like
led. Dad didn’t have enough money for a taxi so we left the
train station on
foot and found a bus stop about half a block away. The bus was
full, but we got
on and stood near the front, grasping a pole, as it lurched down
the road. It
stopped several times. People got off, and more got on. When a
couple of seats
opened up, Dad pulled me to them, and I let my legs come out
from under
me.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">We
got off the bus
downtown and started strolling. “Where are we going?” I asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“We’re
going to
the bus station, and we’ll take the bus home, but first, I told
your mother I’d
get her a pot, but I don’t think I have enough money.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">My
shorts and
t-shirt clung to me in the sultry afternoon heat. We stepped
into a shop where
a fan stirred the tepid air, bringing little relief. As we stood
in front of a
row of pots, Dad said, “These are more expensive than I thought
they would be.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">While
he weighed
his options, I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, as
sweat poured
down my brow and leaked from under my armpits. Finally, I said
in Spanish, “I’m
very hot.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“All
right!” he
yelled, grabbing me by the wrist and pulling me out of the shop.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%"><span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span><span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>“I thought you
wanted to get a pot,”
I said, as he hurried me down the street.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">After
a couple of
blocks, Dad said, “Here’s the port of entry. We’re in the U.S.”
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">The
bus station wasn’t
much farther, and to my relief, a bus for Tucson was getting
ready to leave
with room for two more people. Dad bought the tickets, and we
got on board. I sank
onto a seat and closed my eyes. The next thing I knew, Dad was
touching my
shoulder and saying, “We’re in Tucson.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">In
the bus
station, he bought me a Coke from the machine. I sipped from the
bottle slowly,
feeling the cool, refreshing taste in my mouth, throat, and
stomach, hoping it wouldn’t
come up. Dad called Mother from a pay phone. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">They
arrived, my
younger brother Andy, with his usual four-year-old exuberance,
and Mother, with
her immediate concern when she saw me. “Honey, don’t you feel
well?” she asked,
placing a hand on my forehead.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“She
threw up and
had diarrhea last night,” said Dad.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“Oh
sweetie,” Mother
said, holding me. “You didn’t drink the water, did you?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%">“No,”
I said,
burying my face in her chest, breathing in her reassuring scent.
At home, after
a little of Mother’s chicken soup from a can, I was glad to
finally slip
between the cool, clean sheets of my bed, saying to myself,
“There’s no place
like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">mi casa.”</i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;line-height:200%"
align="center">THE
END</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%"><span
style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span><span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></p>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Abbie Johnson Taylor, Author <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://abbiescorner.wordpress.com">http://abbiescorner.wordpress.com</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.abbiejohnsontaylor.com">http://www.abbiejohnsontaylor.com</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:abbie@mysero.net">abbie@mysero.net</a>
Order my new memoir at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.abbiejohnsontaylor.com/memoir.htm">http://www.abbiejohnsontaylor.com/memoir.htm</a></pre>
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