Mexico: Love for and flowers DEAR MADAM, Just on the eve of our annual hegira to our Mex- ican home, your letter rose “ to the top of the pile on my desk. I had poked it into the bottom, together with three letters from high school students who, being told by their teacher that fam an author, asked me to promptly supply two thousand cogent words for a term paper, my assigned subject being ‘‘Does It Pay to Write Books?” Your letter is of similar tone. “‘T am planning a month in Mexico. Please tell me what to expect, where to go, what to wear and anything else you think I should know.”* And anything else you should know ... well, well, well. You should know, madam, that Mexico is the eighth largest coun- try of the world. It is one of the oldest, having existed before Russia, Spain or most other mod- ern states took recognizable form. The people are too varied to be described as an entity. Even the Spanish language is not universal, large portions of the nation carry- ing out their daily affairs entirely in one Indian larguage or another, ~ Parts of Mexico know poverty worse than Canadians experienced in the Great Depression. Other parts have always had a rare ele- gance and sometimes opulence. . Mexico City, for all its prob- lems with smog and overcrowding, remains ioday secure in its title of The Paris of the Western Hemi- sphere. If there are any constants to be found they are in the impulse to laughter and song and the obses- sion with death and flowers. These characteristics | have found everywhere. Everywhere? Pray note that in one third of a . century's acquaintance, I have been in only 20 of the 32 Mexicen states. How could I tell you what to find? “You will probably find exactly what you expect. Most people seem to. - Those who anticipate generosi- Paul St. Pierre PAULITICS & PERSPECTIVES ty, friendliness and courtesy usually find them; others who ex- pect to be sick and get cheated are equally unlikely to be disap- pointed. Mexico is a great carousel fes- tooned with mirrors in which everybody can find the image their thougitts project. We live part of cach year ina iittle fishing viliage where no English is spoken and no tourist facilities exist. There we are con- sidered to be almost Mexicans, Almost. We will never be seen as truly Mexican. I would not recommend life in a village to a first-time visitor and would never recommend it to those whose tastes run to goad hotels, good food, professional entertainment and good service, all those qualities that are to be found in old, established cities or in the new towns designed and built for tourists. First-time visitors should go to established tourist centres, of which there are scores, some ex- pensive and some not. Acommon destination for Brit- ish Columbians is Mazatian in Sinaloa. It is both a functioning small] Mexican city and a tourist town, and a visitor can experience life in both the gringo and Mex- ican sections. Mazatlan is a middle-class city for middle-class people. ‘ Sito Site Ske, Bile Site Tike Sto ike. Ske Tike Site ides Bio g STANLEY PARK’S CHRISTMAS TRAIN 3 Friday, December 6th Other centres such as Acapulco, Cancun and Cabo San Lucas, suit yuppies better. Tiajuana and other border towns produce great jail- house ballads. Given time, preferably more time than a two-week vacation, the best way to see Mexico is in your own car. You will adapt with surprising ease to what at first seems like anarchy on the highways. Much of the country is striped in freeways that are patrolled by cheerful uniformed men called the Green Angels whose only task is to assist tourists whose cars break down er who run out of gas. If you buy your car insurance from Sanbourn’s you will be given a book that describes your plan- ned route kilometre by kilometre. As for books, one of the best is Mexico, text by Antonio Haas, the Excelsior columnist. He chances to be a neighbor but it would still be a good book if he wasn’t. A more exhaustive study of the economics and politics of Mexico is Distant Neighbors, author Alan Riding of The Economist. If nothing else, buy and read a beok on good mann: +. Above all, go to Mexico with a sense of the magic of the place. Ambrose Bierce, who went to report the revolution in 1913 and lies today in an unknown grave, wrote this before he disappeared: “*H you should hear of me be- ing stood up against a Mexican stone wali and shot to rags, please know that [ think it’s a pretty good way to depart this life. ft beats old age, disease and falling down cellar stairs. To be a gringo in Mexico .., ah, that is euthanasia."’ The Frame OF our lire We any SOIS CRISTHAS (S$ AROdME THE CORNER . Boon, YouR Wey Now / G2b6- 8835 a4 MARIE DIE Last Chance for CHRISTMAS! > } AO 76 USED WREATHS SWAGS GARLANDS TENOER Ropsr BEEE Oli Tet JORSMIRE Rage SECVEL Cla SuloAy MGMT wt oe only Sat. Dec. 14/91 Qa Video Superstore 1431 Marine Drive, NVan. 988-7778 GIFTS & much more TOP QUALITY CHRISTMAS TREES CUT & LIVING , til Sunday, January Sth j (Closed December 25th) g ‘The popular miniature railway has donned its festive apparel with _ LIGHTS! MUSIC! 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