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Tortillas for Breakfast
| Article
# : |
11398 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1986 |
2,078 Words |
| Author
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Stan Delaplane
Stan Delaplane is a humorist living in San Francisco. He was
awarded in Pulitzer Prize in 1942, the National Headliners'
Award in 1950 and 1959, the PATA Award in 1964, and the Trans-
Pacific Passenger Conference Award in 1970. His works include
Post Cards from Delaplane, The Little World of Stanton
Delaplane, Delaplane in Mexico, and How She Grew. |
More than ten thousand Americans have moved to Lake Chapala, Mexico. It's everlasting spring. Altitude 5,000 feet. They swear it's the best climate in the world.
They're mostly retired people-you can't work in Mexico until you've lived here five years. There are a lot of artists and writers drawn by the low cost of living. (Writing is not considered work. How about that?)
Because most people have a little mileage on them, there's attrition. A lady said to me, "We lost three last week - I'm on the cemetery committee, so I hear about it right away."
She said she had her own plot picked out and paid for. Another lady is the envy of the colony. Her cemetery plot has a view.
Well, it's a crazy, lazy morning beside the lake. We are barefoot and full of tortillas.
"Is there more coffee, Maria?"
"Si, senor." Maria is the maid. How can you be lazy without a maid? We have rented a house for a month. No telephone. No TV. No newspaper unless I drive five miles to the village.
If somebody wants to reach me, they send a boy on a bicycle to bring a message. He is in no hurry to find me. He might take a week. Pausing to smell the Mexican roses. Stopping off to see girlfriends along the way.
If the world is blowing itself up, I don't know it. Some thoughtful professor did a scientific chart of nuclear fallout. He found this is the last place on earth it will reach.
When the fallout comes falling down, I will be the last to know, last to go. (But will my final resting place have a view?)
I am aces with the maid, Maria, because we eat eggs ranch style. You fry the eggs. Put them on a hot tortilla. Then you put homemade hot sauce on them.
We keep a bowl of Maria's salsa picante in the refrigerator. She mashes up a tomato and garlic and fiery chiles. It's strong enough to blow a safe. A breakfast of eggs rancheros sets you up for the
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