The San Antonio light. (San Antonio, Tex.) 1883-1886, 1885-08-06
TRAVELS In MEXICO.
"GIFF." AND HANS MICKLE TAKE
IN THE SUNDAY SERENADr.
From Monterey to Cerralvo Free
open Air Concert - Ebony
and Mahagony Groves.

From our REGULAR Correspondent.
tEnALvo, Mexico. July -. 1855 In
my last letter I told you that Gin and
myself were to start for Cerralvo on Sun
day evening by stage. But in that we
were mistaken. On the evening OF
starting, the stage driver appeared and
said that he already had three passen-
gers; one for Marin, one for Cerralvo and
one for Mier, and ms he had nothing but
rickety blackboard from Marin on,
with one seat, the addition of two pas
sengers was out Of question. lie would
secure larger vehicle II we paid him
double. That being an extortion was
refused, and started out to hunt pri-
vate CONVEYANCE, which by the assist
ance OF friends we succeeded In finding.
made bargain for $3.50 day, the hack
man was to take four horses and an out
rider and furnish his own feed and
board. That settled 1t and we felt easy
for the trip. and would start Monday
morning. This permitted our remaining
In Monterey for the
SUNDAY NIGHT sERENADE.
The most pleasing feature In the social
| life OF Mexico are the public serenades.
| All cities of any pretensiOns have beau
tiful highly ornamented principal laZa
with spouting fountains and walks, and
seats and benches. When there Is II
military band within reach, 1t will fur
nish music for II serenade once or twice
II week, and when there Is no military
| band, some OF the most liberal spirited
citizens usually make u purse and hire
band. This Is the only occasion the
youth In Mexico have In meeting in gem
| eral Intercourse, and they are not slow
In taking advantage of the same.
The moon was about full on
this night, the air was pure
aud balmy and caballeros and senoritas
were out in full force. Around and
around they walked, but the ladies were
alone, unless accompanied by brother,
father or near relative, rs the customs of
this land do not allow young lady to
promenade with n lover or friend even
In public. In order to meet the oftener
to feast their eyes, they walk in opposite
directions. How unsatisfactory that
would be to young America! But to
the romantic and poetic Mexicans Ii
sullices, as 1t provides occasion for the
throwing of soft, deep-meaning Chances
into which are thrown world OF senti-
| lntnls anu NHlCH are lUltnutu ana ntl-
derstood to contain what would take the
Americans months of visits, party going,
balls, moonlight promenades ami tons OF
ice-cream TO express. Those eyes, those
large, round, full soulful eyes, dark and
luminous, are what bewilder the ardent
youth and often capture even the matter
of-fact practical American. The eyes,
expressive and deep-meaning, and long,
soft hair, are the browning beauty Of the
senorita Of Mexico. But these senoritas
are very discreet. There Is not even n
move that can be construed into flirta-
ton, except, perhaps, such construc-
ton might be put on the soft, furtiye
glance which she throws at you over an
elegantly -ornamented fan, on which you
must put your own construction. as she
not even removes the screen from the
face that you may see, whether an en-
couraging smile accompanies IL or not
But the serenade came to an end at II,
and "Gifi" and "Hans Mickle" were so
bewildered with the going-around and
the bewitchlng glances thar they hardly
realized whether they we're walking in
terrestrial or celestial spheres, and only
the sight of the American consulate
called us to our senses, with the recol-
lection that we were on the eve of
ANONYMOUSLY surrendering to the enemy
and that Ii WAS our duty to disparnge
everything we see. Who knew but what
all this Concourse of youth and beauty
amid flowers and music was but another
attempt against the peace and dignity OF
free-born sons OF Columbia? An attack
against our loyalty to our trusting wives
away OIL in prosaic Gringo land and
with such thought we went to our hotel
u renew our VOWS and ask forgiveness.
10, FOR CklutALvO.
Monday morning bright and early "Gin"
was up and dragged me with him to the
Parlan, the market of Monterey. Here
lie laid In supply OF grapes, peaches,
tomatoes, bread, devlled ham (Ameri-
cam butter, also American, etc, etc, for
the trip. At O'Clock, with n flourish,
up drove a coach with two mules and
two horses, and Il boy on horseback, and
soon we were loaded and OIL, rafting
over the cobble stone pavements. How
different Is travelling in Mexico from
that In the States. Here everything
must be provided, as Is the custom, and
should You be SO careless as to go I'M
provided, you might fare poorly, al
though in settled country. Gil. has
had plenty of experience, and | found
that he had proiited by 1t by providing
sumptuously. Our coAchman, Alvino
Torres, IL one of the best in Monterey,
who has in early days before the rail-
road, many times driven to San Antonio
with some OF the best citizens as passen-
gers. We thanked our stars that the
stage had left us. The country to the
north Of Monterey, the direction which
we took, is In good state OF cultivation.
Corn and sugar cane are the principal
crops. The houses and farms are en-
closed In fences, like the farms in the
North. The roads were good. and we
trotted along at the rate of about six
miles an hour. Nine miles from Mon
terey we passed through San Francisco.
town of some 2000 inhabitants, and on
some few miles more we arrived ut
Aqua Frio, apother little town on fine
running stream, where we took dinner
and fed. After resting couple ofhours
we again started. For number OF
miles we passed over high worthless
lands, and then entered n rich, highly
cultivated valley, through which runs
the Marin river. Crossing the river we
ascend to a table land, on the edge of
which Is situated the town of Marin,
containing about 5000 people. II has an
unenviable reputation as the harbor Of
smugglers and highwaymen. From here
n beautiful view is obtained of the vast
plain 80 miles across to Monterey, on
the other side of which loom up the
Sierra Madres like Il great wall reach
Ing into the clouds. Unfortunately Ii
was cloudy, and the city could not be
distinguished, but should 10 be clear
Gift promises that shall see one Of the
grandest sights of my life on our return.
| A mt Il