MEXICO MISCELLANEOUS by PETE

YANGA
Some random thoughts from Pete about the area around Cordoba. First, that Yanga was founded over 400 years ago by free blacks--former slaves of African descent. Shakespeare was still writing in 1608. And Yanga was a real man, the leader and organizer whose image is prominent in the large mural in the Cordoba city hall. So their claim is likely accurate that Yanga is the first town in the Americas that was founded by free Africans.

TOXPAN
Now, what was special to me about our tour of the 2,500 year old ruins of Toxpan is that the pyramids and ball court have not yet been excavated. They are still covered with grass and brush, so we got to see and climb on something that looks like all the other sites looked when the explorers and archeologist first saw them. You have to use your imagination in a different way. Of course, with any other ruin you still have to use your mind's eye to picture how the pyramids looked when they were covered with plaster and brightly painted, in the midst of a throng of people going about their daily business.

SPANISH
My Spanish is not good enough to understand most of what people say to me. Not only does it come at me too fast, but the accents vary. Much is elided. It is the same at home, where most conversation involves lots of gonnas and consonants, vowels,and whole syllables are regularly elided. Of course some people speak more slowly and clearly. For example my tocayo, Pedro, works as the bartender here. By the way, a tocayo is someone who shares the same name, which is a sort of a bond. Anyway, Pedro speaks no English, but his Spanish is so easy to understand that he can tell me what someone else is trying to tell me. In effect he is my translator.