The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-05-04

Ior Inc Times goes where he pleaSes,
when he pleases. in search Of odd stories
about this and that.
MEXICO CITY, May 4.-The
A'A pilot, I suppose, put on his
report to Pan-American Always
something like this:
"Trip uneventful. Motors o. x"
His company, of course, wouldn't
be interested in anything like this:
A quarter to in the morning.
Pitch dark Hotel in Guatemala
City. Telephone rings. Fellow says
get up if you're flying to Mexico
City. Oh, all right. we say, and
get up.
Breakfast in hotel. Moon shin
ing into the patio. Walters
sleepy. Who isn't at a. m. Three
cars waiting to take us to airport.
Leave at 6. Light now, but chilly.
Mountains, all around the city, are
beautiful.
Airport. Customs and immigra-
ton men in fancy uniforms. Big
silver plane ready to go. Every
thing finished by $50. Don't leave
till z. Capt. Jacobs, the chief
pilot, says weather and winds are
good.
WE bank over Guatemala City
w and head west for the pass.
We fly low. Out of the pass, we'll
start dropping toward the sea, so
there's no use to get lot of alti-
tude here. It'd Just be waste alti-
tude. What could you manufacture
out of waste altitude?
Out through the pass. Mountains
on both sides. High ones too, reach
ing far above us. Sun shines, but
there's haze. Safety belts fastened
for we bump a little.
Eleven passengers aboard. Big
load. Only one woman. We're the
only ones who can't speak Spanish.
Everybody looking at the mountains
watching for volcanoes. Pretty soon
they come, right alongside. One is
smoking. It's a cone-like peak,
forested up to within a few hun
dred feet of the top. Little streaks
of valleys coming down, where lava
has flowed. 1t must be terrible to
live at the foot of a volcano.
DOWN at Tapachula, just over
- the border into Mexico. Ahead
of time. Dropped 5000 feet in As
minutes. Hot and sticky here.
Half hour wait. Through customs
in few minutes. Then just lounge
around. The customs man here Cor
rather the immigration man; the
fellow who examined your papers)
is a grand man. White uniform,
horn-rimmed glasses, and the kind
est smile.
He's been here 20 years. Says he
wishes he could speak English. He
does know few words. Says he was
in the states three days once. Says
there are lots of snakes around here.
And tigers. Says the sol is caliente. "
Asks what "sol" is in English. When
we leave, we all shake hands with
him, and feel little badly that
we'll never see him again.
Climb, climb, climb. Unbearably
hot en- the ground. Half hour later,
at 10000 feet, the steward has to
turn on the heater. The ground
barely visible through the haze.
People start talking to each other.
The handsome young Swiss tells
about his travels in South America.
How he stayed in a place one night
and found two snakes in bed. He
travels over here all the time on
business, and says he has it ali
planned out what he'll do when they
start fighting in Europe. He'll bring
his wife to Mexico City, and let EN-
fight.
THE plane rides like the living
Il room davenport. Not a >tre-
NOR. Solid white clouds beneath.
Everything seems just right. We're
ahead of time. The sun is shining.
People are having a good time
talking. The seats are comfort
able. The air is smooth. The
world is an o. K. place.
We eat lunch, and enjoy it. Two
hours pass, casually, calmly. The
clouds beneath scatter away. We're
over the brown mountains. The
pilot is starting to lose altitude The
steward fastens our belts.
There's that big white sign on
the mountainside just out of Mex
leo City, advertising tennis shoes or
something.
Landing at $500 feet. It's ticklish
business, in such thin air. But We
hardly know when we touch. Capt.
Jacobs, who doesn't look like a pi-
lot, sure sets EN- down pretty.
Half an hour early. In Guste-
mala City at 7 a. m. In Mexico
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