The Onyx Ashtray

By luigi_pagano

Thu, 13 Apr 2017
  • 1523 reads
4 comments
 
It was 1966 when we bought
the small green onyx ashtray
in Woolworths, Mexico City.
It depicted a hunched gaucho
sleeping beneath his sombrero.
Unfortunately the other day
it fell on the floor and it broke.
It had stood on the windowsill
to remind me I used to smoke
which I believed to be macho.
 
It also brought back memories
of the exotic places we visited,
newlyweds on our honeymoon,
in the land of Aztecs and Mayas.
Having left the Mexican capital
 went  in search of the pyramids
 of the Sun and of the Moon,
in the holy city of Teotihuacan
which allegedly is 'the place
where the gods were created'.
 
Then onwards we travelled
by a Greyhound Express bus.
An overnight stop in Taxco,
an ancient silver mining town.
At midnight a band of mariachis
serenaded a girl two floors down
from the room where we slept.
It’s a custom met with a frown
by those whose sleep is disturbed
but a tribute the girl will accept.
 
Acapulco was our destination
and eventually we got there.
We lazed on the golden beach,
enjoyed the local gastronomy,
ate tacos and drank tequila,
watched the divers at La Quebrada
did everything that tourists do,
did not worry about economy,
we risked ending up with nada
but had the best time of our life.
 
© Luigi Pagano 2017
Certificate U
Poem
Mutevoli pensieri
Travel
Biography

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

So sad when a holiday destination memento breaks, but at least there are such wonderful memories to treasure, and what great memories they must have been.

Jenny. xx

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

It was only a cheap souvenir whose cost must have been a few pesos but it had a sentimental value as it reminded me of that wonderful time, Jenny.

Luigi xx

 

Submitted by Ed Crane on

story you tell. I'm jealous heh heh. 

Your onyx ashtray looks remakably like the one I bought in Yugoslavia in 1975 except mine didn't have a Mexican taking a siesta on it

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

They must be the ones of little monetary value that are manufactured for tourists everywhere, Ed. Nowadays they are probably made by the Chinese, but over fifty years ago they might have been of local provenace, who knows?
As I said to Jenny it reminded me of my honeymoon. There is so much more I could have said, about the one-peso taxi, for instance, shared by as many passengers as they could take, and people embarking and disembarking whenever they wished. Or of a passenger we shared a cab with being a close friend of president Johnson.
I have so much stored in my memory that perhaps I have enough material for further disclosures.

Best wishes, Luigi.