LAND OF BEAUTY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 February 1941, Page 8

LAND OF BEAUTY

MEXICO’S MANY ATTRACTIONS FRIENDLY PEOPLE, j READY WELCOME TO VISITORS. The word "Mexico" usually conjures ' up the thought of Xochimilco and its; j floating gardens, the perfect climate of> (the Valley of Mexico, the beauty of; | Mexico City. Cuernavaca. Taxco.' i Puebla and other cities, various native] | arts and moldering ruins, writes M. Lei Tour in the "Christian Science Monitor." What the traveller as well, or] perhaps better, remembers of Mexico. ! however, is the hospitality and friend-i ship of its people. In town, city or' countryside there is always the friend-' lies’, of attitudes towards visitors on i the part of all classes of natives. I This is apparent to the motoring; tourist as soon as he leaves Nuevo’. Laredo bound for Mexico City on thc-j Pan American Highway. Peons work-; ing in the fields take time from their! labours to wave a friendly greeting. | Men and women trudging with bent' backs under mountainous loads of' wood or pottery, cheerfully stop to’ talk or wave to the passerby. Their i friendly gestures are not casual—: their interest and smiles belie this. j Farther along the highway near Ta-; mazunchale, where the mountains be-; gin their steep climb to the 7,000-foot; level of the Valley of Mexico, a couple’ of young boys may hop on the tourists; running board for a ride up to the] plantations where they are going to I cut bananas or sugar cane with the I, businesslike machetes hanging at their! sides. They chatter and laugh all the; way, enjoying themselves immensely I with the visitors and peering with chil- j ; dish curiosity into the automobile’s) interior. j ■ If the tourists seem to them to be] of a sympathetic mold, they will rc-|' count in simple Spanish or "pidgin"! English a life story of sufferings and j deprivations, which they often admit]] under cross-questioning is not quite] true. They have the wonderful facility! of being able to impose or beg with- ] out being importunate, as they keep j ( up a happy, delighted banter all the > f while and are neither aggressive nor demanding. THEY POSE WILLINGLY. ■. Mexicans of all walks of life have one common characteristic. They enjoy having their pictures taken. For j them it is a solemn procedure that brings out all their dignity and poise. t This is as true of the parading char- { res. or "gentlemen on horseback," in j j Chapultepec Park in Mexico City as it j ( is of the youngsters in the mountains! near Tamazunchale or the people in; | Guadalajara or Puebla. I ( In Mexico City the people are j t friendly, helpful and tolerant of "high i £ school" Spanish, although often much ) amused. They are, of course, more ! ( cosmopolitan and take tourists more in 1 1 their stride than do the country folk. I ( Many Mexicans, especially in the large ! cities, speak English and enjoy aiding tourists, both as a courtesy—one of the > r strong points of Mexican character —Q and ;.s an opportunity to put their re- 5 markably good English into use. The market places in cities and ] towns mean much to the natives, and i t spread out under rectangular canvass s or cloth .sunshades, one finds not only i t local foods, trinkets. Howers, animals. ‘ t sombreros and a host of other things.ji but a good representation of native 1 character. ■ ( PEOPLE LOVE BEAUTY. Here men. women and children with ' ■ their sleepy burros come from the surrounding countryside nut only to earn, their livelihood, but to swap local news, chat with friends and, above all. to b.irgiiin—-<>ne of the delights of iheir ’ lives. 1 Another characteristic of the ]>e<>ple! ' is their love of beauty and symmetry. ’ Instead of an unattractive basket of i apples displayed in market places or, or. sidewalk curbs, the apples have • been arranged carefully ir. piles of five into geometric patterns. Their ar-.* tistic arrangement of Howers, too, is i beautiful enough to arouse the envy of. . the best American florists. Their love of beauty and originality is. as i: well known, also strikingly shown ir. their pottery, glassware, silver -.v.,;-!; linens, tiies. and other handicrafts In all major cities or places uilh outstanding tourist .iltractii'iis. young . bo)- wait hi) the outskirts of town.- 1 and offer to take the traveller t<> a ho-i „ tel or to ()'.< places of iuteri The) ~t lea l I.now enough English ’o ;pVv threetions The service rendered by these boys is well worth the small , cost. Ji’. Taxco tile lads arc wry proud. 1 of their excellence as guider- and many Of them keep '.mall m tel'. of a.-comnuMida’iG-n ;md usuaily con tlixl, ~ listed therein someone fr in the tra-eomme.’i-ded "Juan Aloren.o a., .1 !<!.. buy and good guide." ’ On u recent trip t<* Guadaliijara, a Mm; ,cii’i youth ’.vho nail t.a <-n -triiod’’*, with a group < f h.; friends about Hl t -~ mih s !i <n< the city b> 1, in . al.dov. i. of their autrnn.ibile w;> picked up L? , visitor: On arm mg at t'ne ; ft nightfall, the !;■ ? im isrnd on ’.ikrng . : ’nour and a iiaif L'rftire rcturmng rerctie hi-, friend' to >!>■■« these i-iir-;w to the scyci-a! hotels and owruigh'. ' Ti'.e i.-hjs'cxl beaulitrs of a •