Epistles from Pap: Letters from the man known as 'The Will Rogers of Indiana'

of Latin America in late November, 1949. This journey, extraordinary for the time, was recorded in a se

e touring was extensive, and the letters were inclusive, giving conjecture to just how Pap found the time to do all this writing? Aura May said that other than during the cruise down, h

as the tourists progressed from country to country, demonstrating the limits of postal departments and/or carrie

G FROM N

Nov. 2

e Gra

attoon, Ill., where

to catch the Illino

for New

es away with the porter and his wooden stepladder and small washrooms at each end of the car, which permits the car to add two full sections. Time will tell whether t

al St., reputed to be the widest street in the world. The warm, soft dialect we generally attri

ted to h

ught it best to get another tropical suit-a rayon and cotton affair made by Haspel of New Orleans. I called the manufacturer's

the street from your hotel, call for Mr. A. or Mr. B. and tell him what you want. This is an off season for hot weather cl

dianapolis it would cost $25.50 and that is to

e for us to go to for a man who came all the way

ned. The store was out,

ILOTS

ticed a modestly, yet well-dressed bald headed, rather heavy-set man of about 60 eating a

e this evening. Why not come

must excuse me from dessert." Turning to his waiter, he said, "Bring the bucket over here if you will, Pierre." The buck

e high," and gaining rather than losing altitude, as time went on. He w

es charge only when the ship is at sea. . . On leaving the wharf, the river pilot is in charge until the bar of the Mississippi is reached-the narrows or jetties where the river empti

tions and monopolies! Bricklayers and other trade unions are accused of limiting memberships and daily numbers of bricks to be laid in order to hike wages. This "union" does the same thing by means

nly to New York. I casually mentioned San Francisco and was told that New Orleans had more shipping than the combined West Coast. Generally speaking, it draws the territory drained by the Mississippi River. New Orleans has 10 to 12 mil

SEASONING

ra May and me to Antoine's for dinner. Antoine's is an institution. Established in 1840, it

"You go to Antoine's to give your palate an undisturbed treat." No bar-"It is people who drink without eating who become paralyzed by alcohol."

hers. One room's floor, the Mystery Room, is covered with sawdust. Guests have included Marshall Foch, Sarah Bernhardt, Will Rogers, Jenny L

ve an apprenticeship of 10 years. Time is a necessary element in the proper preparation of f

aten white of an egg. Then came "Oysters Rockefeller," so named because of the richness of the sauce . . . The recipe for this sauce is a closely guarded family secret. The dish consists of six oysters on the ha

been blistered. Since 1899, the management has given with each order a post card showing the number of your order. Mine was 130174

the paper bag retains all the flavor), with Pommes Soufflees, or a glorified br

is lighted with a match. The waiter stirs the cherries, flames and all, until thoroughly hot and the alcohol in the brandy is exhausted. Then he takes them to the kitc

, winding up the evening's entertainment about 1 a.m. at the Morning Call-another New Orleans institution in a class of its own. Here rich and poor,

at the rails of the different decks and the farewells and bon voyages began. A Negro jazz band assembled on the wharf. One danc

D AND ST

e Gra

astle,

n the sun and closely following the narrow shore lines. The high hills start almost abruptly from the sh

ours. Woe is me, I thought. Here is where one of Russellville Bank's oldest directors gets directed to the nearest hospital, if any. . . During the time I rode taxis there

EL

frame. All doors and windows remain wide open. At least until a hurricane comes. The original tile floors remain, showing considerable wear. It has a mammoth combination kitchen, bar and dining room, with built-in ovens and walls hung with quart to five gallon s

ooks that look like the twisted lightning rods on Mrs. Bridge's brick house west of Greencastle, only bigger and heavier. The one hanging on the inside of o

e spaces done away with, it could accommodate 124. Reservations are required and one h

ets are predominant, but the greatest of these are wines and liquors. Old Gold cigarettes and the other three or fou

The market has a roof; the sides and ends are open and the stalls are made of cement. A few stragglers remained

R SH

g for wells is out of the question. They are either dry, or salt water. St. Thomas has no lakes, natural ponds, rivers or streams. It is even said that women sometimes wash their hai

ds balanced on their heads. When the ship docked about five or six rowboats of boys gathered on the bay side. The idea was to throw pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters down and they w

far past the eastern hump of South America, have crossed the Equator, turned back southwest and are running along the coast of Brazil, and tomorrow we doc

, five miles to invisibility away, porpoises, flying fish, a gull or so, occasional low, dim landheads, the

N THE 'RIVE

he G

castl

use I am told it was discovered in January). . . We docked earl

et and saw that crowd of coated, black haired and hatless men, and saw those upturned faces ranging from swarthy to ebony black, and heard that stra

strangers had come up. Shortly, the cabin boy came with a short, thin

," I

a and said, "We received word you and your daughter were arriving and I am down to ask you to be

y may-and before you have time to

here another less swarthy and older man accosted me in like manner, for

most satisfying to both hosts. We saddled ourselves on the y

ing could have been rehearsed by said partie

TRAFFIC

n is terrific. Added to this, pedestrians pay no attention to cars and drivers give no heed to

sight-seeing. The big percent is one way traffic. To get a block or so away from where yo

convertible. Traffic stopped momentarily only. You would think the two owners were exchanging pleasantries. They gathered up the pieces and pulled out what was left of the

. . With the aid of all present I ate those things for which Rio and Brazil are most noted. Some most excellent, some so

er than the U.S., have a total mileage of 450 miles. That wouldn't reach from Greencastle to Topeka, Kansas. Petropolis must be a half-mile above sea level. At places, where the

OUS EX

just beginning to look a bit like our cattle barn east of Russellville, or "Happy" Cal's derby hat. The hotel is closed. The reason? It depended on its casino to keep it going. The new president of

them held Del Mar sightseers. Nobody could get in. Our host disappeared somewhere and came back directly, saying we wo

st be the size of our court house lawn, hitch rack and all. The flags of all the nations still hang. Hundreds of thousands of cruzeiros changed hands nightly under, and surrounded by those flags. Inside, I saw a swimming pool 25 feet deep at the deep end. The fellow who I think t

AND HIS

ow. I should, after all the Dom Pedroing I went through that afternoon, but I got confused. But Dom Pedro had to be some boy. Between him and his

). Dom Pedro, his wife (let's give him credit for only one) and their get were everywhere, in oil, bronze and marble, horseback and on foot. But Dom himself seemed to take pretty much to horses for the b

queen and women folk weren't in there fanning hard with their fans, and long, long before Aunt Jennie and hers. A room the size of Crawley's pool room was full of them in glass cases. Hundreds, yes almost thousands of them: Wood, bone, ivory, tortoise shell, amber

he had, met and considered matters of state. Then Dom, after being duly advised, would go out and make his own laws. Up h

NING PR

"Rio has a limited number of rich to big rich, and a world of poor to very poor. We lack a middle class. We are very short on middle class. After the war pe

nd badly need to buy from us, but have no stable currency to pay with. Added to this, it would appear to t

he financial and industrial situation is rather bad. No impending panic seems evident, but a ripple of pessimism exists. As the evening advanced and the cocktails expanded, that pessimism diss

AND

r the crane that lifted the sling of loaded bananas off the dock and lowered them into the hold. When they wanted to move a car up or down the track, about 50 men would surround it

illian understatement. It is the manufacturing city of Brazil, some 50 odd miles up in the mountains from Santos. The two cities have rail and truck connections. I asked our host how come manufacturers would unload raw products or

." After seeing those 50 men gingerly moving that banana car of half the c

ng before The Jungle we practically ran out of road. They were improving and re-locating the highway. We held a caucus. Our host was as game as they come. . . Open revolt came when our host said he had inquired and was assured the road

Sao Paulo where it sells as high as a doctor's bill back home. It is used in cooking. There seemed t

olis, at the day's end told us we had traveled alm

SOUTH OF

r a lark. Talk started about going through customs at Buenos Aires, and how many cigarettes and how much liquor we could take in. For some reason opinion on number and volume differed. . . As to liquor, the

a question? But so far on the trip there has been no place for the display of furs, and the only way that comes to me now that we can achieve that air of affluence is for the hot water system of the flying machine to give out when we are 2,000 feet in the ai

n leaving the States. Now some low fellow tells us we will have trouble getting "back-in" with it. My hope is there are no mink south of Key West. And be

D BY THE U

he G

castl

be met by another "angel" from one of those heaven sent Companies we've been blessed with so far. . . With the aid

w how we liked Uru

know, not having se

re or diplomatic? And all this time I was repeatedly asked what advice

zled. He was thinking. The next perplexed question that came

ellow you want to go to up home for advice-exce

of it, but I don't think the repor

n, however, and kept firing

ow) "to give you splendid sovereign peoples of Uruguay. If I had to give something, it would be this: observe International Law

from the nods, gesticulations and shaking of han

orning. . . I was quoted to have said Uruguay had a most fo

K-REAL A

nized than is Rio or Santos, or so it seemed to me. The docks were less littered up. Perhaps people and business moved faster and more orderly. . . Saw a world of she

on the hoof there at the market at five to six cents per pound, our money. But always rememb

rs or oxen all yoked together, and with a spare ox tied on behind. I looked to see about that ox. He was an ox and the only possible criticism I have is that he should have been a cow tied on behind. Otherwise the thing is perfection to me. The cart slopes just right, the oxen look hard-worked, the bull like a bu

g behind a half quarter or

FOR BUEN

I came back to ship. One man who had traveled before said they were being mellowed-up so they wouldn't be too technical with us. If they were, it took a long time. . . The Purser handed in Sugar Foot's passport. The doctor found the right page, too

ot us and our luggage to a waiting car, and said, "This car and the chauffeur are at your disposal day and night dur

out two extra cartons of cigare

ts. In B.A. they also drive pretty much by horn. I am told it is the second si

ly do. Especially if you get your money changed into pesos at what some are willing to give for American dollars. It may be a bit shady, but it is done rather openly. Never go to a bank. The banks are pegged. They can giv

Plaza Hotel and do the job. . . He had a big sign, "Silence," on his desk; also a typewriter. He assumed a very important look, much the same as the one I to

LUB-WHERE

eat or chilled or deep freeze stuff. He wants it right off the hoof. And yet, I am inclined to t

ef growers began to get rich. Then they got feudal. They were the Aristocracy of hereabouts. Big holdings and immense herds. Then they moved to town and took over. Now some of them have gone to Monte Carlo and Cannes and New York whil

e roomy chairs, heavy dark polished woodwork, immense wide stairways and steps with low risers, an e

did, on every race. I said above that we were hosts. That's wrong. The good captain had the big thing-access to the Jockey's Club part of the track, the stand right at the wire. In my innocence I had asked them as guests. They had accepted as such. Havin

TING T

ered in a room at Indiana U for the usual talk. In his blunt, matter-of-fact way, Claud spoke up first. He said, "W

ceful as all get out. But my observation is that the majority are from trifling bulky to good and bulky. But you must bear in mind that I do not see much of the younger set. It is

ut and you'll see them. You'll see more per square inch there than you'll see here per square rod. If you are too self-conscious or too dignified now to go sit on the Boulder, then I'll tell you, . . . if we had brought Miss

E ANDES

in a flying machine. To me the plane didn't look any too new, or the paint any too fresh, or the pilot and crew any too much

was none too assuring. It said, "If you feel yourself getting sick just use the strong paper bags in the pocket on t

sputter. We would hit bad going occasionally, the wings would dip up

ld see: green, purple, dirt color, straw color. Sometimes I thought there were streams of water. Houses or barns were mere ballot-sized squ

ere was plenty of snow. Eventually we passed to one side of Mt. Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America, 23,000 and some

ad been a three hour trip. And right there at the airport was a representative of one of those Heaven-sent U.S. corporations I've bee

entue, in southern Chile, near the lakes and volcano region. Sight unseen they have asked us down over Christmas, and sight unseen we are going. They are of French extraction.

OCKY ROADS,

el train. In English, it is "The Arrow." All seats are reserved and it is probably an extra fare train

uit trees and wheat, cattle of European breeds, considerable dairy stuff, but nary a Hereford. Huasos (Chilean cowboys, correspo

n-cut, energetic young fellow about 32 years old, and another young fellow who turned out to be

we must hurry because we should see the scenery enroute and then spend the night in the fine resort hotel at Pucon. Then back n

gh! And did the loose round rock fly. . . Our car had a special network of steel bolted to the frame to keep flying rock from damaging the underside. And 7-ply tires-I ne

the inner tube all to the devil. We never saw the valve stem. Our fr

tires. We would have to stop short about 25 kilometers, at Villarrica, near a tremendous volcano of that name. Our host knew a French

cold, white and still. It appeared shaped like one of the pyramids of Egypt, except that the top didn't come to so acute an apex. It er

FOR HO

nted a room with twin beds and bath. By golly, they had it-such as it was. We wanted

hought I'd try to make myself understood. I asked the first girl I saw about hot water. She spoke and gesticulated rapi

ware bobby pins, the nearest girl gave a wild-eyed half shriek. When the baby of the family unwound some more, the girls, seeing no blood, finally consented to listen. With a something in Spanish or Fre

pple look, turned ov

ontainer of water. It was just enough to take the chill off th

. There were few guests. The beach was as bare as our dry lots after a year of feeding. One motor "put-putted" out on the lake-30 miles lon

. The day was cold with very poor visibility. Some of the volcanoes were

that hotel a good go. I want none of its stock. I'd rather have mine in Russellv

CES AND

he timber into 9 inches to a foot for thickness, squared the sides, dug long trenches three to four feet deep, and set these timbers side by side, close and tight, and then filled in and there was your fence, horse high, bull stro

carts and oxen. Some carts had spokes, steel tires, steel axles and metal fellers, or whatever it is the axles fit into. Many of them had wheels made of round

S OF

There were so many they almost got monotonous. Never was a "hello" said, or an arm lifted i

ones. To be sure, much of the little stuff, say from four inches down, we had shot from under the tires out into

e it had been for some 55 kilometers and then get "rather bad at times from

of dogs and children. Once, at some distance, I saw a lot of smoke coming out all over a roof. I thought the place was on fire, but our host, by way of our interpreter, Aur

E OF A

ens practically surround the house and are about as well kept and beautiful as any you will see anywhere; some mighty tall eucalyptus trees; a fine cement tennis court with a judge's stand and

. This fundo has some 3,000 acres. He has another down the road back toward Temuco. Fundo N

dea. He pays off through a window of his office in the house. From about one or two p.m. to five o'clock that Saturday, when he and his overseer

maybe you can begin to account for those beautiful gardens, those precision trimmed hedges, that spick and span house, those neat walks, weedless lawn, splendidly cooked meals faultlessly s

on the 14th floor with French windows and magnificent view- a splendid room in probably the biggest and best hotel in town- cost us 6

ves, pens, slaughterhouse, enormous two story wheat granary, potato houses, stables, sheds, blacksmith shop, lumber room and sawmill pretty well equip

ed rather proud of, although he is extremely modest about what he owns. Aura May went riding to the nearby In

a mile to the river and almost three miles up and down, to a very small town, Nehuentue, his post office. The river is rather narrow, but deep and navigable-salt water up p

t sort of strange grass where he had 50 or 60 grassers he expected to weigh 1,000 pounds by cold weather-next July or August. They were of all colors and duo colors, but good boned,

ISSIN

ack to Santiago. We had one of the four compartments on that long steam

lying machine tickets to Los Angeles, her hair tinware and other feminine goods and wares too numerous to mention? We got the driver turned around and back. The train was still standing in the shed. I had to watch the baggage to save what we

shoulder sling and all, intact except for a few hundred pesos sh

. . . If you ever again hear me speak ill of Chilean po

OARD

ago had assured us our ship, the Santa Cecilia, would not sail until 2 p.m. or later. On arrival . . . at the accommodation ladder, three coated officers said the ship sails at noon. We

r's day on shipboard, but didn'

and is more of a cargo ship than a passenger. Her length

's table, only this time it is a table for four, whereas the Del Mar

n the early morning. We were to take on 1,900 tons of Anaconda 99+ percent copper for New Yor

MUCH

st chance to get rid of them. Sugar Foot and I footed it around to the main part o

offices are always crowded down here. In the confusion of a foreign language you must first select the correct windows in the correct order, especially i

oever. We did buy the Dec. 26th Latin-American edition of Time in English

buy some Chilean champagne and burgundy for the table tonight.

nd two boys to carry them a

d-just like that-the captain was g

to Ilo, I saw drove after drove of . . . guano birds. I had seen the snowlike tops of the rocks on shore in the distance. Guano is a

coast. It just never rains. The cold Humboldt stream sees to that. The sun shines hot, but the air is cold, even in mid-day. The towns and

ITION 'RELIE

bout 6 a.m. Jan 2 for

bout are tremendously large heavy gold leaf mirrors. A big oil painting of Pizarro, conqueror of Peru, hangs on the wall. Just inside the patio is a monster reared-up lion's head with a beam at the top. From th

the truth interfere in the least. Not in the slightest degree. And so they fabricated charges out of thin air and without element of truth whatsoever, against any man, provided he was rich. . . Cut off his he

TO THE I

ittle stones of very hard structure were worked into human heads, dogs, cats and so forth. Mummies, burial sacks, elaborate and fine fabrics of wearing apparel are everywhere. There are thousands of square f

as than anything else. . . We drove through the narrow streets of the town, with the stone walls of the stores or houses rising high above us on either side as far as cars were permitted, or could go, almost to the walls. There was our

h walls, the better to protect and defend in case of attack, probably. Higher up it had no walls, ju

riginal round wooden poles in perfect preservation. It never rains. But there is so much restoration there is little original left. Ins

r nine thousand feet up in the mountains toward Bolivia. You either take a train, which is a very hard ride, or go by plane. In any event, it takes about a week if yo

e finest of all fine wools, I think up there at the ruins. Anyway, he goes back and forth about every 15 days. Our young lady herself has found some minor pieces of Inca stuff. He

NOISES

thinking and trying to count the different noises. I was also thinking about my creditors, and how I was now getting closer and closer to them, and sooner or later, I'd have to face them. Well, what

t the first venture here was into the banana situation. I had seen push carts of fruit everywhere. Close observation, at a discreet dist

vine. My clientele increased, and there we stood blithely peeling and eating and aiming at the waste basket. Aura May would have been ashamed for me. When a client missed, I cut him o

CROSSE

for in that these ships are for cargo first, and secondarily for passengers. We sailed at 8 p.m

n shown four or five Southern Crosses, all different, and at least a pair of False Crosses. From our patio outside the French doors

evening. . . Along came one of the seamen and I asked him to show me the Southern Cro

won a shuffleboard game from the steward. That is about the first since the man

ated frozen tuna, weighing 20 to 60 pounds each, and cotton from the interior. Around us are row boats peddling bananas, mangos, alligator pears, wool blankets, silverware, leather boots, and "authent

E MARKS CROSS

S

ry 13

nd. One long blast announced our crossing. Th

chaser powered by a General Motors diesel capable of 27 knots. She is fast. She has to be. The Guayas River is not only fast but seems to

very, very hot and humid nonetheless. The town was full of pushcart and sidewalk salesmen, all sorts of outdoor food sales and the ever-present Coca Cola

e outer shell quite deftly, slice it crosswise, and sell it by the slice at the end of a long sharp butcher knife

less trinkets. The small rooms are crowded to suffocation, with no room to turn around in. Panama hats are a staple. . . On the other ha

e he got his suit of clothes, and how much he paid for it?" Seeing my chance to try to repay Haspel, the maker, who had gone to the trouble to send several different styles to the store across the street from the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, I peeled off my coat and wrote down ev

oyed. Some liked one thing and some another. But the consensus seemed to center on the beautiful, graceful and elaborate mar

k, is the first combination of the two professions in any one man I have had the good fortune to encounter. The load he carries must be Herculean. At one time I was a piano player. That was after father and I decided the life of a pool

h American heavy woods. He got red oak mixed up with California redwood. We got that straightened out. Some enterprising Californians had inveigled

Vienna and all around. When World War II started, he started looking for a new home. He became a ref

THE TON,

ntura,

, 15, 1

ake on 43,000 bags, about 150 pounds to the bag. That makes over 3,200

bout like Guayaquil on a smaller scale. A native who is employed by Grace Line told me he was half Indian-his mother a full-blooded Ind

urning to the states after six years with the Kennicott Copper Co. in Chile. Mrs. Burt heard the remark and said her father and mother were both born in

a.m. today, then 9 a.m. The reason for the delay was too much coffee to load-and ra

w on the high seas headed for wh

IN THE C

e Jan. 18

e Gra

castl

ay with the ship and ride through the locks and canal to the east side to Cristobal,

and Mrs. Burt (nee Reeves) were also for sticking with the ship. All the women were going shopping on the Atlantic side for linens, ivory and oriental silks, etc. "at wonderful prices" (and they were-Tiffany p

selves and stay

ATLANTI

aria; damming the outlet of a river so the mean level of the new, partly man-made lake would be about 87 feet above the Atlantic and Pa

dous lake whose new level left thousands of islands of its former jungle hill tops in size all the way from a few square feet to hundreds and probably thousands of

ant cement walls. We would creep along into the lock proper. There we were, way down there below the surface of the lock, with a monster set of double steel doors a

oung fellow standing at the rail with me said it took eight or 10 minutes and, after a rapid mental calculation, three million cubic feet of water. I made it 20 minutes and

c locks, where the process was reversed and we were lowered about

peat. It becomes very monotonous and very hot. At times we only cr

of customs. He slapped on five blobs of glue, five stickers at the few remaining plac

eservation for us at the Washington Hotel. An e

ath towels were as long as I was. At the Washington Hotel we got out of the 5x6 foot bath

ered a step as we hotfooted it down to the "shopping district" of a strange town. She said, "They should be right along about here." And

ht club. They were to come to the Washington and pick up A.M. Nothing was said about me. T

roll of the Pacific. That night we went to sleep with th

PACIFIC

ople gave us passes. They would send the railroad "jitney" to our hotel to pick up the baggage and us t

ay was bound by wild banana, reed and semi-jungle. The road had a good many bridges, cuts, curves, considerable

n it; drove four or five blocks and when we got out at the Hotel Tivoli we were in Ancon. A

s of the anti-trust laws, who have so faithfully shepherded us these thousands of m

A.M. asked for mai

you s

es

reservation here

N

ur

es

nt through the books. Yes, we had had a reservation, but hadn't shown up the proper day. "Any mail?" He rummaged around and threw out a hand

and took us sight-seeing: Through the slums, good residential sections, up and down narrow

OF OLD

to safety. Up there the Pacific deepens very slowly from the shore. The bottom is mud and a sort of quicksand. You can drag one leg after another out nearly a half mile before you get

they really built a church-of stone. The walls of one part of that church still stand, say 60 fee

pillaged, killed, sacked and burned things- completely. He did such a complete jo

s desolation. The ruins, I am told, extend far back into the present jungle. Nobody seems to care to preserve what is l

windows, big halls, big slow elevator, big bathrooms, all of wood and everything could stand painting. Somehow I feel if t

homes for canal workers and PXs. Whenever you see government prope

ests painted black on the occasion of an invasion. The invaders thought it had no value and lef

es. Inside, one Senator was gesticulating and yelling at the top of his voice how he had saved and now was again saving the glorious country o

FOR SH

I made final preparations for our flight early in the morning to Mexico

e shine and a pair of shoe laces as two others. It is remarkable how many stores you can get into with good grace with that combination,

and the shoe laces to attain. The bank was a certainty, but in due time I actually became worried about brown shoe laces. I had

aces. He answered he had none. He had black and white laces, but no browns. Brown shoes were outdate

ermont, and therefore a hard man to crack, but the 50 years and the brown shoe lace trouble did the trick. He took me to lunch at the Union Club, a pretty nifty club quite near his bank and right against the Pacific Ocean. When we arrived the tide

but they did have to dig under a big pile of old

SPANIS

ungles, but thick as a new bride's potato peelings. The new highway now crosses the old Spanish Trail, which is in a part of that jungle. The Trail was l

and bring them and the gold and other loot by ship to Panama. Then make the slaves carry the booty over that Trail to Puerto Bello on

each with a hatchet, reamed out a core into the hollow inside where the water is, set the nuts on the table and stuck soda water straws in the hol

INT CON

wit was too original, and to the point. . . But the house! Holy Nellie, what a house!! I presume it was his father's. However that may be

tion of the Seal of West Point-eagle, arrows, colors and all. The names of the father and three boys were woven in the rug. It was made by Ecuador Indians who had only a post card to guide them, together w

ble. He, his two brothers and his father are all graduates of West Point. His father was ambassador to the

ARDS OF

was bad enough all along, but over high ridges and mountains or deep vall

hem closely, what time I wasn't getting things back level or watching that infernal electric sign up a

wing, but they had them over there too. All looked of the same size, spaced ali

OR TH

long with yawning, keep our ears from stopping up-maybe. Something went wrong. All of a sudden it came to me that everything had become absolutely quiet, like walking ar

s at the next stop to get partially unstopped. And my

and and a densely forested area. The tree tops looked like closely packed mushroom buttons, only the

Managua, capital of

ragua, a

n. Thatched houses and cultivated fields were thick. The airport was as neat and n

I said too much. He said, "What you give?" I said, $10. Before it was over, he was down to $12.50 and I was getting panicky. He wa

E AND

e we passed two small coffee plantations. The driver told us Guatemala coffee was the finest in the worl

rmous glass chandeliers with prismatic glass tassels, and mahogany woodwork and floors of the banquet and reception rooms. The outside walls and windows had considerable bullet marks depicting the various revolutions the

step over, through or around whatever was in front of you. I was making fair progress when our wild-eyed driver caught up and told me it was no place for me to be. My English caught the ear of a nearby fellow who had lost his wife and kid somewhere in the market. He was a House of God missionary from

GN ON T

. Aura May caught it. He told me a bottle of whiskey had broken in one of our bags and had leaked a

esides, I had no whiskey in any bag. Are

red to the Mexico City plane. It is about time to leave. We a

ou fill in for the

o fill in later. We w

sentative in Mexico City, and when we go thr

tepetl, 17,500-odd feet high, loomed in the distance, as did Mt. Ixtaccihuatl, a trifle lower. Now, you don't pas

by, catch a whiff and raise their eyes just like they were experiencing a sensation of "My Sin"

hat bottle of wine was nestled inside my brand new tuxedo, next to my brown suit and one of th

"COLD"

are 7,500 feet up. This room in the Geneva Hotel is none too hot. It has heat o

h when in school here three or four years ago, and they had

d partly left open to walk along. Hot tamales, fruits of all kinds, women cooking rather dirty looking meats and foods over rusted, greasy home made charco

ke lettuce or strawberries, in fact to eat nothing that does not h

OUR OF ME

e Gra

castl

ning the manager of one of those heartwarming two corporations called to say he had just returned to

rs-old buzzards in their late 30s like me- had come down and vainly attempted to rejuvenate their youth with a pop gun burst of night life activi

OWS HIS W

nowledge and intelligence. He was a wonder. He seemed to know everybody and what their weaknesses were-custodians, policemen, lotter

t may sound trite to you as we were in a city of 3 million people, but in Mexico City machines are as rare as bad women in Greencastle. E

ON 60

ght my eye was that on the end of the handle was a rooster-good old Democratic stuff. It seems that a rooster in Mexico means something national-at least not political as we know it. I

gn on them. Our trusty driver evidently caught the drift, bec

s considerably less for one than the other place. How much for a dozen? It was some less than 12 times the price of one. How much for five d

iver sidled up and said, "I

re is always a time to quit bluffing, even though you

ven so, they're much cheaper

ired his knowledge and information is probably a mystery even to his employers. Enri

S AND P

the oldest. It is in the old part of town. We arrived during Mass. Hundreds were attending that afternoon. The altar is a massive structure, and evidently of tremendous value. In back is

somehow connected. I asked what it was for. He shrugged and said, "Graft. If I had not given him money he woul

those famous protruding gargoyles, still in a reasonably good state of preservation. The masonry is excellent. On top was a sacrificial altar where Enrique told us thousands of hum

he walls are more or less hollow because the priests lived inside and tho

o 3,000 years ago. The Pyramid of the Sun is 200 feet high and big around in proportion. Its building entailed mil

RKET, PRIV

me fine homes, but I suggested we go out amon

hey sell stolen goods and pick your pockets." . . . We could

e the value of the whole thing would have been in the low thousands of dollars. No the Thieves Market in my opinion is a part of the "dress" of Mexico City. The words sound mysterious and dangerous, and give the

, one cornet, three whopping big guitars, two regular size guitars and one mandolin. I was asked what I wanted. I suggested "The Fire Scene" from Wagner or Lilly Pon'

URED

people is high here. The most striking feature of these homes to me is the extravagant use of wrought iron grillwork in the openings in the walls surrounding the premises and the framing of all windows and gates. The designs are intricat

course. One was built by a rich Spanish merchant, the other two by politicians, both of whom at one time or

d

Pap: Letters from the

of In

ham. Compiled by J. F

ght 1997. Permissio