People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1897-03-05
MRS. REED IN MEXICO.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES THE GREAT
SANITARIUM OF THAT COUNTRY.
What the Wayfarer Has to Eat and How
it is Cooked-HOw Mexican Kitchen
Looks to an American-Other Pen Pic
lures of Equal Interest.
CUANrLA. Mexico, Feb. 10, 1897.

as a cure for one of the wretched ca
tarrhal colds that Mexico City invarla-
blv infiicts on the unwary visitor Any
interference with the organs ofrespira-
ton at an altitude of ne arly 5000 feet.
when the lungs are already severely
taxed, is not regarded lightly by the
physician, and he is very apt to shift
the responsibility of his patients re-
covery to a lower altitude and warmer
air. Cuantla and Cuernavaca are each
favorite sanitary resorts, being only
a few kilometers from Mexico City,
both well drained and with an altitude
of only $500 feet.
Cuernavaca has the historical inter-
est of having been a chosen resort OF
the Emperor Maximillian and coun-
try home of Cortez, but is yet several
miles from the railroad. We selected
Cuantla as our sanitarium, owing to
it's accessibility. When one goes to
live in the nineteenth century, with Mex
lean indians, it is something to know
that two steel rails lead back to civil
cation, to friends and cOuntrymen and
to the good Saxon speech.
An hours ride through water and
marsh carried us thr ough gap in the
mountains out of the Valley of Mexico,
and we then began the descent OF
1000 feet to the town of Cuantla. 1t
was a charming ride of four hours
doubling on our course in the bewll-
dering maze of mountain railway en-
gineering. The snowy peaks of Popo-
catapetI and lztacuahett played hide
and seek with us coquettishly as we
rounded the mountain sides, and as we
descended into the valley, both altitu-
dinally and latitudinally, the country
blossomed into tropical life and color.
Beds of wild peoples flashed in the
sunshine, vines trailed their colors
along the ground, and even the forest
trees bloomed.
THE HOTEL MORELOS.
At the depot of Cuantla was nothing
that could speak English, but follow
ing path between sacks of sugar
piled up among the ruins of an old
monastery we found battery vehicle
that looked as old as Cortez, and it
brought us to our present home, the
Hotel Morelos. My limited Spanish
was sufficient to secure us clean, large
rooms on the sunny side of d quite ca
pacious hotel. The floors and stair
ways are of red tiles made in the val
: levs.-+he furniture is of Mexican manu-
4acture: the mattresses and pillows of
Mexican wool. The dining room is on
the lower piazzi and looks out on a
patio full of flowers and tropical fruits.
A parrot talks Spanish to us while we
eat and then sings a martial song, in
which he fires much artillery at the
French. The broad upper CALLER
les, on which all the bedrooms open,
are delightful sitting rooms, though
the hotel boasts parlor that is per-
feet museum of the feather-work, nee
dle-work and waX-work, in which the
Indians of Mexico are so clever. In
the hotel Office well-to-do Mexicans
spend their time gambling openly,
though quietly.
Our food is happily free from any
attempt at American cooking, such as
In the morning we are served only
with coffee and sweet rolls, but the
coffee is the best L ever drank any
where. 1t is from the berry grown
l1o,,o 10 d,,1 md
ground fresh at each meal, made very
strong and diluted with boiling milk.
A MEXICAN MEAL.
And to think that with such nectar
before US, the doctors should tell us
that at this high altitude coffee is bad
for the nervous system! At noon we
are served with an elaborate breakfast
in courses. An omelet made to perfec-
ton, with dish of rice cooked in a
meat and tomato sauce, comes first;
then beefsteak and fried potatoes, fol
lowed by two other meat dishes whose
identity is lost in a comcomitant Of all
kinds of known and unknown vegeta-
bles, berries. nuts, etc. A salad of the
crisp valley lettuce and red tomatoes
comes before the inevitable dish of
their beloved frijoles (beans), and all
is rounded off by preserve of the ma
tive fruits and a cup of coffee fit for
the gods. 1 omitted the bottle OF
pulque that all .Mexicans take with
this meal and with their evening dinner
because Americans seldom learn to
like it, despite it's healthfulness and
cheapness. 1t tastes a bit like sour
whey and smells like rancid cheese,
but is cure for the insomnia that often
affiicts one in this climate, and is
promoter of digestion and a nerve
quieter in what is a very nervous eli
mate. The native fruits are served at
meals and sold in the market place for
a few pennies. The chirimoya has
suggestion of acid that is taking"
the mamal is rich and nourishing, the
sapidillo not bad and the avocado pear
fine salad. Watermelons the size of
small cocoanuts are always plentiful
in the market, but rather siclzly in
OcbSJCs LllG u1uShhGlODD NCiY SOOQ dlll
homelike
THE MEXICAN KITCHEN.
A Mexican kitchen is something of
curiosity to an American, 1t con-
sists of long brick table, in which are
holes on top for holding charcoal, over
which the kettles and frying pans are
simmering. A closed compartment,
with the receptacle for charcoal under
meath, answers for an oven.
There is neither heat, smoke nor
chimney, and no light except from the
open door. Many of the cooking uten-
sils are of native pottery, light as paper
and extremely cheap.
Since everything used here is of
home production, living is very cheap.
We pay, in Mexican money, ST.. so day