Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1888-06-13
SIGHTS IN MEXICO.
Curious Things Seen In the Sleepy Lit
Town OF Yautepec.

Curious Things Seen In the Sleepy Little
Town of Yautepec.
The best visiting land in the world is
Mexico, now so easily accessible, and
still so quantity picturesque. Unfortu-
nately. however. for the tourists, its
pristine quaintness diminishes in about
the same ratio that the ease with which
it may be visited is increased, for these
initiative people take on the customs
and costumes of foreigners with sur
prising quickness. Scarcely five years
ago no town in Mexico would have
looked out Of place in Greece. Palestine,
Syria or Egypt; and there are yet few
places, remote from the usual lines Of
travel, unspoiled by the "tricks and the
manners" OF Americans. One of these
is Yautepec, little city of six thousand
souls, away down in the State of More
los, midway between Cuantla and
Cuernavaca, and about ninety miles
southeast of the city of Mexico. Here
abouts the country remains precisely
the same as in centuries past. One
hears no word spoken but in the
Spanish language, and no foreign
element has come In to Introduce for
eign ideas and arouse the people from
their siestas. This most conservative
and sleepy little burgh is famous for its
orchards, orange groves and sugar re-
fineries. 1t is delightfully."- situated,
surrounded on all sides by handicapped
heights, but, being 500 feet lower than
the capital, its climate is much warmer.
At the railroad station, not only in
Yautepec but everywhere in Mexico,
three distinct classes Of people are to be
seen besides the passengers and en-
ployes-peddlers, loungers and beg
gars. Some Of the peddlers are as
gladly welcomed by US as they welcome
the wandering Americana with his
his ready purse, for they have the most
tempting fruits, including fresh figs,
pineapples, strawberries, mangoes and
many other varieties peculiar to Mexico
which we have learned te like. but
whose names no Northorner can ever
learn to pronounce, all at prices alb
surdly low. Other peddlers have canes
Of native woods, beautiful opals from
the mines of far Queretaro, pottery in
quaint designs, ornamental baskets of
all shapes and sizes. and edibles Of
every sort, from tamales to cold roast
ducks.
The loungers, too, we can tolerate
Though they watch us with the Dyes of
hawks and are ready to steal whatever
they can lay their hands on), for their
dress and language is always an inter-
esting study. Some of the men seem
as much too heavily as others are too
scantily clad. The ranchero in COM
Portable circumstances invariably wears
dark wooden clothing, even on the hot
test days, his garments weighted with
silver coins and buttons, and laden
with embroidery in gold or silver,
topped by wide-spreading, much be-
decked sombrero, which weighs many
pounds.
In the coolest days and the highest
attitudes the bare-footed poems appear
in the ARREST of white cotton habilia-
ments, with no other protection from
wind and weather than the wooden
blanket in which he waddles his neck
and head, leaving the lower extremities
bare. The lower classes who are not
too poor too purchase or too lazy to
make them wear huaraches, or sandals,
which consist merely of heavy sole of
oxhide much larger than the wearer's
foot, and are held on by leathern
thongs. But the professional beggars,
with their filth aud rags, their sores
and diseases, are altogether disgusting,
and merit no federation for their I'M.
limited "chcck." None of them are in
the least troubled with timidity In
making known their wants; but the
instant the train stops, young aud old,
male and female, spring forward with
astonishing alacrity however i'll or Drip
pied they may desire to appear. They
surround a passenger with outstretched
hands, or claws, and seize his gar
NETS and cling to him with looks Of
supplication, murmuring per Dios (''for
Gods sake') with as much pathos as
they can muster. -Fdnnie B. Ward, in
/fJo.,f, Ia, ef.J.,I,n.,