15.Tepanatepec, Mexico

15.


Tepanatepec, Mexico:

Two lively French tourist girls, continental and sleek, are going my way—or maybe I’m going their way—anyway we are traveling together in the bus now.

After a short ride, the pleasant driver claims this village (Tepanatepec) is as far as we have paid for (probably hoping we will pay more to go to a reasonable big town) but we like the look of this charming little village and get off without a quarrel.

The bus rolls away in a cloud of dust and here we are.

The only human being around is a small child who asks us if we came for the wedding celebration.

Why not?

We say, “Yes” and he gives us directions to a bower of leafy branches the locals have built for their “novios”.

These same locals—the entire village it seems—are on hand, knocking themselves out with pulque, feasting and dancing.

They welcome us with enormous joy—it seems it is great good luck to have uninvited guests from outlandish countries in attendance. A band with electric guitars, microphones and big amplifiers is laying out some mean Mexican rock and roll, so the French girls and I move right in showing them how it’s done in Paris and Honolulu!

Elizabeth once told me that “Dance is the third form of prayer” and I never miss an opportunity to pray this way!

The wiry little brown men of Tepanatepec seem to think that the French girls are the most interesting things to come thru town since the conquest and these men are into dance/prayer as much as I am. These farmers sure can dance!

I do some fine prancing with the local girls and the crowd hollers for more. Hot as hell and clouds of pinkish dust, but what a party!

When we finally collapse, we are provided with rickety chairs and surrounded by good-looking big-eyed children. One young girl dressed in a bottle green sequined dress and with the make-up of a Hollywood starlet makes my day when she tells me she thinks I have beautiful eyes. They are blue, which is rare down here. The exotic is always appreciated.

We find a cheap pension and after nightfall, silent groups of people with candles stroll around in the darkness softly playing flutes . The effect is delightful.

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