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vacaenbaja
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The Fabulous Mr. Diaz
From John Hiltons Hardly Any Fences
Perhaps it was a big fish or a shark that broke the water near the edge of our front porch and awakened me.
Whatever it was, it made a terrific splash. I sat up in bed
and saw the first pale yellow streaking the sky back of
Horse's Head Island. Then I remembered thet this was
the day. I awakened Barbara, Sharon, and Bill. We dressed
in the dim light and went down the beach to the casa
Diaz. Here we awakened Bob Noonan, who was sleeping
on a Mexican canvas cot on the porch. We converged
on the sleeping Diaz familiy. I carried my guitar. We gath-
ered in a little group, as closely as we dared to their beds
without awakening them. Then I struck a chord and we
sang, as best we could, "Las Mananitas," the traditional
serenade. it was no birthday or saint's day this time. It
was the twentieth anniversary of the marriage of Antero
and Cruz Diaz.
We Americans were simply turning the tables. Antero
often went to a great deal of trouble to find out about our
birthdays or saint's days. then he would organize a group of amateur musicians and seranade us in the early dawn.
They were indeed surprised. Antero said, "Twenty
years we married and this the first time for a serenata to
Mrs. Diaz and me on our anniversary."
Soon we were seated around a small table on the stone
terrace, having the traditional drinks offered to serenaders.
The sky was gold now. In the morning light I
looked about at the Diaz establishment, the fine new
dining room and kitchen built of stone, the store they
were moving into that week, the huge trucks parked outside,
rows of tourist cottages, outboard motors and fishing
equipment, small boats on the beach and the large
launch, San Agustin, lying at anchor on the bay. I turned
to Antero and watched him for a moment. i think he
was more or less taking stock too.
"You have come a long way, Antero," I said. "Didn't
you tell me once that you were getting two and a half
pesos per day when you married Mrs Diaz?"
"Oh yes, I was getting seventy-five pesos a month then.
But that was very good wages compared to what I got at
first. Now my turtle fishermen sometimes get that much
in one night, but then money was very scarce."
Mrs. Diaz brought coffee. As we sipped its rich, warm
welcome, Antero talked of his beginnings.
"Yes, my friend, I have come a long way and the road
has been very hard, as we say 'muy duro,' but I have been
happy all the way and made friends wherever I go."
Antero Diaz was born in the small mining town of
Zaqyalpan in the State of Mexico, August 20, 1914. His parents were so poor that he had little formal schooling.
At the age of thirteen he went to work in the mines, doing
a man's work. this consisted of carrying ore in a sack
held on his back by a wide band that crossed his forehead.
He had us feel the indented ridge in his skull left
by that tight band at an age when the bone was still growing.
He worked for three years at this until his pleasant,
willing nature attracted the attention of a mining engineer
named Henri Jacot. This man offered him a chance to learn
assaying. His wages for the first three years had been
thirty-seven cents a day, Mexican money.
Then his wages were raised to the magnificient sum of
seventy-five per day.
For six years he worked at learning the assy trade. For
six years he walkeed four hours per day to work and four hours back. having reached the point where he was in
charge of the assay office, he felt he should have a raise.
Hat in hand, he mentioned the fact to the boss. He was
given a raise of twenty-five centavos per day. He was now
a peso per day man.
About this time his benefactor, Henri Jacot, got a posi-
tion with another mine. He had not been gone long be-
fore Antero received a message that he could have a
much better job doing the assaying at this new place.
Antero wasted no time. he believed implicitly in this
Henri Jacot, who had been a second father to him and
had given him the chance that raised him from the ranks
of a beast of burden.
When Antero arrived at the new mine he was ushered
into the imposing office to meet the big boss. " I ashamed
for my looks," Antero says now as he looks back. "I got
one shirt, pretty old, one pair pants, not so good, no shoes,
just guaraches. The boss, he look at me and say. This man
is assayer? Mr. Jacobs say sure he is good assayer. The
boss say, well , all right if you say we try one month. No
gotee chance to go back now to other job. Gotee prove
in one month." After considerable fencing, the boss said
he would give Antero two and a half pesos per day and
his board and room. This was unheard of wealth. He did
not even have to walk to work. Antero will never forget
Jacot for standing up for him and getting him this job.
That night when it came time for supper, the cook
took one look at the new assayer and said, "Send him
home. This man is no assayer. Assayers don't wear gua-
raches." The cook and the waitresses shoved his food at
him with great diddain but Antero just smiled and tried
his best to fit in. This was the first time he had ever sat at
a table to eat. "I no understand the difference of the knive
from the fork," he recalls, "I watch the other men's way
to eat and do my best. The girls bringing food, laugh. I
ashamed but try. That night i go out in kitchen to see if I
can help. Bring water, bring charcoal, empty trash. Soon
I make friends. One year later I leave for a visit to home.
These same women cry ands are afraid I no come back."
Repeated with variations in many places, this is essen-
tially the success story of Antero Diaz. Wherever he went
he had that smile and a helping hand. he was willing to
do the little extra things that had neither been asked nor
expected. men who were determined to give the boss his
money's worth and no more have gone on at the same
jobs while Antero climbed the ladder. It is a wise man
who know how to stoop to conquer. The envious will
call him lucky and they are right. he was lucky to have
the common sence to know that you get ahead by doing
the extra things others are too "smart" to do.
PART 2 TO FOLLOW
[Edited on 10-14-2011 by vacaenbaja]
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Paulina
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A nice story. I'm looking forward to part two. Thanks also for breaking the writing up into paragraphs, much easier for my old eyes to read.
P>*)))>{
\"Well behaved women rarely make history.\" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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BajaBlanca
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beautifully told.
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vacaenbaja
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You have David K to thank for the thr paragraph breaks.
He suggested it the first time I posted a rather long story. So I went back
and did the edit and followed suit on the new posts
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Barry A.
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GREAT STORY---------many thanks.
I first met Cruz and Antero in about 1965--------great people, and true business people also.
Barry
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David K
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Met them (Cruz and Papa Diaz) in 1967... I wrote about that trip a while back... I remember it all very well... I was 9 1/2... we drove there via San
Felipe and Gonzaga... a better way than the main road through Laguna Chalapa's dust bowl.
I saw Papa Diaz again in 1974 and 1985. Casa Diaz was for many years the only accomodations at Bahia de los Angeles. When the new road was built,
Villa Vita was the first of many new motels.
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Barry A.
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David---------as an addendum to what you wrote-------I believe that Villa Vita was built by a very good friend of the Diaz's, Jim Bracamonte, who
owned JIM'S AIR on Lindberg Field in San Diego.
Barry
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shari
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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muy interesante....gracias...
yet another wonderful reason to read Baja Nomad...you just never know what treasures await you at every click.
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vacaenbaja
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THE FABULOUS MR. DIAZ PART 2
From John Hilton's Hardly Any Fences
Jacot moved to Zimapan and Antero followed, for by
now he was the master's right hand. He knew not only
assaying and bookkeeping, he knew how to set up and
run a ball mill, a flotation operation, or a cyanide plant.
he had not wasted the years. It was in Zimapan in 1938
that he met his wife, Cruz. Shortly afterward Jocot moved
to Baja California and Antero brought Cruz to Calmalli
in the middle of the peninsula.
This seemed a dreary, dusty, hot land to these two
who were used to the high tropics of the mainland,
but Antero had again followed his master Jacot. Jacot
had been having some trouble with his health and went
to the United States for a medical checkup. the reports
were not good; he had heart trouble.
A man named Walker was promoting the old Desengano
mine and was setting up a mill at the Bahia de Los angeles.
Jacot got his friend, Antero, a job with Walker in 1940.
Then, in 1941, the Diaz family went back to the mainland to visit their families. Antero could get a job almost anywhere
now but the strange lure of Baja California was upon him.
He missed the Bahia with its blue water and burnt-looking
rocks. He went back and worked for Walker again.
It was here that he gained his first real knowledge of
the whims and characteristics of visiting Americanos.
Walker in promoting his mining venture, did quite a lot
of entertaining in the large house where I am now staying
to write this book. Most of the Americans flew in and
landed on the improved field.
Antero Diaz, besides being an assayer,bookkeeper. pay-
master, and general foreman, found it interesting to
make sure that the visiting Americans were comfortable.
Often he was the unofficial host when visitors flew down
and Mr. Walker was in Los Angeles or San Francisco.
Being Antero Diaz, he soon picked up English phrases
and words. he caught on to the likes and dislikes of the
gringos and in general prepared himself, without know-
ing it, for the thing which would be his real life's work.
As usual it was the extra things that made him
indispensible.
When the Walker project eventually folded, Antero
was left with a great deal of back wages unpaid. It was
Antero who saw the handwriting on the wall. He asked
Walker for the gas stove, refrigerator, some beds, dishes,
and kitchen utensils in lieu of full cash payment. With
about three hendred dollars in cash and these few items
of civilization, Antero set himself up in the business of
catering to American travelers and fishermen. Henri Jacot
had died (in 1945) so he had no qualms about standing
ready for the master's call. He was his own man and
in business for himself at least. Mrs. Diaz was in there
pitching beside him, as were the childeren when they
came along and grew old enough. Of their seven children,
Antero brought-five into the world without the help
of a doctor.
The older girls, Licha, Rosita, Aurora, and Prieta, work
in the kitchen, make beds, wait tables and in general,
help around the palce. Antero pays them just as he would
outside help. With this money they can buy the extra
things they want, such as dresses to wear at the dances
staged sometimes on the porch or in the dinning room, or
such "foolish" things as high-heeled shoes and lipstick.
Sammy, the oldest boy, drives a truck, runs boats, and
has been doing a man's work since he was twelve or
thirteen, but not the kind that leaves creases in the forehead
from leather straps. The two youngest are still small, but
already little Anita and Chubasco (Mrs. Diaz hastens to
explain that his real name is not "storm"--he is really
Antero , Jr.) "help" with making beds and moving chairs
and tables. Antero believes that if you want to eat you
should be willing to work, and insists that this be the
philosophy of the whole clan.
"When little Chubasco was born four years ago, he
came ar a very embarrasing time for Mr. Diaz. We had
thirty fishermens eating at the Csa Diaz that week," she
told me. "I was working in the kitchen making a new pot
of beans when the pains came. I told Mr. Diaz to finsish
the beans and call a woman to help me. Then I went
into the bedroom and had Chubasco while the thirty
Americanos were eating dinner. When Mr. Diaz came
out and told everyone it was a boy, I could hear every-
body cheer and drink lemonade toast to the new baby
and the mother. I no make noise when it happen, just
bite my lip hard because i not want to upset the custo-
mers' supper."
Little by little their project grew. One after another
adobe cabins were erected with sketchy furnishings and
community plumbing at first. The Diaz service and good
food outweighed any of the disadvantages for the early
american vistors, but Antero was not satisfied with
things done half way. he had visited the United States
and knew how things were done there. One at atime
bathrooms were put into the individual cabins, also
dressers with mirrors--even electricity. It has been a
steady, mushrooming growth. Antero knows what he
wants. He wants what the tourist wants. he wants good
meals, pleasantly served, and he has them. He wants
clean cottages with adequate facilities and he has them--
but not quite enough to suit him.
He also wants a good supply of gasoline and oil for
planes and cars--a reliable supply. This was awhole
new concept in servive. up to now people selling gas in
Baja Califonia had a few fifty-gallon drums hauled in at
a time. If they ranout, it was just too bad. There would
be some more when the next truck came, if they remem-
bered to bring it.
Antero knew froom the start that a dependable supply
of gasoline was near the top of his list if he was to get the
reputation he wanted among travelers. this ment get-
ting a truck and hauling the material himself. he looks
back now and says, "I scared very much when I think
how much cost a truck--thousands of pesos. I borrow
the money and this scare me too, maybe I no can pay it
back. I worry but work hard while I worry."
That, of course, is old stuff now. he has larger and bet-
ter trucks and, doubtless, larger outstanding debts but his
credit is good. All of northern Baja california knows that
the Casa Diaz is a going concern. last year they served an
average of thirty meals per day. This would be no great
problem if they knew how many were coming that day.
Even without this, if they could run down to the corner
grocery and get something extra, it would help. It so hap-
pens, howver, that as many as fifty people may fly in on
a week-end and two-thirds of them will arrive unan-
nounced. It also happens that a trip to the corner grocery
store and back takes a truck an average of ten days.
To offset this, refrigeration has grown from that first
Servel gas refrigerator to a whole row of them, plus a
large ice- making machine and a walk-in ice box. The
power plant has been a source of worry. it breaks down
at embarrassing times just when the place is full of
guests. Antero is dreaming of a diesel plant big enough
to handle everything and produce electricity twenty-four
hours per day. he will doubtless be doing something
about that dream too.
PART THREE TO FOLLOW
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Martyman
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Great historical story. I stayed at Diazs' when I flew down with my Dad and Uncle in his Beechcraft Bonanza in 1969. I was 11 years old. We had
turtle and lobsters for dinner.
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David K
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Martyman
Great historical story. I stayed at Diazs' when I flew down with my Dad and Uncle in his Beechcraft Bonanza in 1969. I was 11 years old. We had
turtle and lobsters for dinner. |
Seemed like all the pilots knew when Cruz Diaz was making her famous turtle dinner!
I wish I could remember if I had it when my parents and I drove there in 1967 (I was not yet 10 that summer)!
I kind of think I would have turned my nose at the exotic dish at that age!?
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David K
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Papa Diaz in 1966
From Erle Stanley Gardner's 'Off The Beaten Track in Baja' c1967
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Barry A.
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Great post, David. I had forgotten that picture. Funny, Cruz's face is vivid in my memory, but for Antero, less so. Thanks for refreshing my
memory.
Barry
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David K
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Cruz Diaz
Here is Sra. Diaz (she did not like being called 'mama') with Erle Stanley Gardner in Feb. of 1966.
She never smiled back then, my parents even commented on her sour disposition in '67. We would later learn she resented being dragged from the city to
the wilderness by her husband... In later years, she relented to being called 'Mama Diaz' (it is hard to have a papa and not a mama, and Antero
enjoyed being called 'Papa') and she even smiled!
After Papa (Antero) passed on, she moved to her daughter's home in Escondido, CA for the remainder of her life.
[Edited on 10-21-2011 by David K]
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David K
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Barry, do you have a Mama/ Cruz Diaz story? I have a tiny one...
Meals were served family style at Casa Diaz... We were there in July (read HOT)... and my mother noticed Cruz serving lemonade to family members in
the kitchen. I think my dad was out fishing. When my mom asked if we could also have some, she got an abrupt "no", we don't have lemonade. 
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Barry A.
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No specific story, David, but lots of memories. We used to go to LA Bay quite often in the late '70's, and all of the '80's. At first "Mama" Cruz
was downright hostile to us, but she softened over the years when she began to recognize me, and I stopped calling her "Mama" (then called her Cruz).
I gave her a bad time also, so what goes around comes around, you know. I purposely acted like an ugly American, just to get her goat. I do remember
one of the earlier times I went alone into her store and asked for a Negro Modelo--- she replied loudly "NO BEER" and went about her business. I then
looked in the cooler and of course there was beer-------I looked over at Mama and she just stared at me, her face expressionless------I started to
laugh hard while pointing at her & then the cooler, and she cracked the tiniest of smiles, and took my money. To this day I laugh when I think
of this episode.  In the later years she would actually say "hello" after
she recognized me, but getting a smile out of her was always REALLY hard!!! but doable.
I miss both of them, tho I have not been down there for several years now, and knew Antero only slightly.
I knew one of their daughters slightly in the states, and she was beautiful and charming. I believer she married a CHP officer, but can't really
remember, and can't remember her name, either. I was smitten by her, for sure!!!  When I worked at JimsAir at Lindberg Field, I used to see her coming and going on private flights down to BOLA.
Barry
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David K
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That's excellent! 
Cool that my memory of her (and my parent's thoughts) from when I was 9 1/2 years old seems to match yours.
Her daughter was a beautician in Escondido, from what I recall. 
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David K
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From Mary Ann Humfreville:
Mary Ann sent me the following email, and said I could share it with you... about her Cruz Diaz/ Papa Diaz experiences...
"I've been reading the biographical story on Antero (Papa) Diaz and loving it. I copied it and am sharing it with friends down here in the bay.
We first met the Diaz's when we first came down in 1974 when we built our hut on the property that is now Gecko's shortly after Michael and I were
married. We used to drive into the village and sit on the Diaz porch and watch the planes come in and talk to visitors.
We often would place an order for a meal with Cruz (Mama). Her turtle dinners were to die for. Antero was usually out fishing, so we got to know
Mama much better. She always had a sour expression on her face, but underneath it all, she was a sweatheart. She took a fancy to us for some reason.
Many times we would go into the store to chat with her and maybe purchase something from the store while the nieces and daughters were making tacos
for lunch. Mama would more times than not bring us each a taco. And once she gave Michael a really nice lure for fishing. Lots of people told us
she tried to cheat them, but she was always very nice to us.
Michael and Sammy Sr. became good friends. They were the same age (I found out later), and he was the mechanic for our Land Cruiser. Michael and a
friend had put a different engine in the car, and Sammy had to always redo the motor mounts so we wouldn't lose the engine. Chubasco, who is now a
grandfather, was just a boy playing in the store and on the patio.
Time has certainly moved on.
=============================================
Read about the Humfreville's experiences in Bahia de los Angeles in Mike Humfreville's book:
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vacaenbaja
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THE FABULOUS MR. DIAZ PART 3
One great disadvantage, up to last year, was the lack
of emergency communication. Now the San Agustin has
a radio that reaches KMI in Oakland. The High Seas
Operator there puts the caller in touch with anyone any-
where who has a telephone.
A by-product of the trucking of groceries, gasoline,
soda pop, and beer is the problem of back haul to help
with the cost. Out of this has grown a turtle-fishing busi-
ness. This gives employment to several additional fami-
lies at the bay. The otherwise empty trucks carry live sea
turtles to Ensenada. the profit pays the gas both ways.
Antero would be the first to admit that he has had a
lot of help from frinedly Americans. most of them are
friends of the Bay "sufferers" who come back regularly.
They have brought with them materiel and know-how
for a lot of things. For instance, the over seas radio was
through the efforts of Dr. Grifford Ewing of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Folks such as harry Schlitz
and Doctor Gordon Carman bring in needed parts for
machinery and boats. people like Ted Chevalier have
built boats and brought them down on a parnership
basis. All of these things are an improvement not only
for the Diaz family and the visitors but for the rest of the
village. The standard of living in the community has
been raised considerably since it became more than a
turtle-fishing depot and the part-time mining project.
The Bay of the Angels and the Casa Diaz have a strange
effect on people who stay there any length of time. our
friend Bob Noonan of Santa Barbara came down with us
this time. When he got out of the plane he looked around
and said "i like this place." he has been here almost six
weeks now. the other day he told me, "John, you know
i get downright mad if somebody kicks about anything
here from the climate to the service. I might kick--I've
got a right to because i live here--but by golly it shakes
me if some darn tourist has the nerve to criticize any-
thing. they don't know the problems involved. Another
thing, if someone comes down here and doesn't get
enough fish, I feel it personally. It upsets me. I want all
the nice people who come here to like it and to the devil
with the others." Very few of that kind get here yet, in-
cidentally.
Many of the regular visitors have chipped in to buy
materials to build a school house. Now the bay has an
adequate structure of which they are all proud. The next
project is a church. The wrought-iron windows are fin-
ished and delivered. Lillian Carman has seen to that and
has drawn up an acceptable set of plans. Several hundred
dollars toward the construction are already pledged. I
have agreed to do a mosaic of pearl shell from San Fran-
cisquito as a background for the altar. Mrs Diaz has pur-chased the figure (The Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos)
for the shrine. A priest in the States is working out the
ecclesiastical details with the local Bishop of Ensenada
and the local heads of government have chosen a spot
near the ancient Spring of San juan with its beautiful
cluster of date palms. the construction will be done by
the people living at the bay out of stone of various kinds
and colors, including onyx, from all over the area.
The place is growing up. the Sufferers are already talk-
ing about the need for a small recreation hall for the
fishermen--perhaps a pool table in it, and some sort of
phonograph with a lot of favorite records. of course,
when the pavement finally arrives, there will probally
be trailer courts, neon signs, and juke boxes. Some enter-
prising soul will set up a stand selling mexican curios
and fireworks. the childeren of visiting Americans will
probally buy firecrackers and make both night and day
a thing of horror as they now do in Ensenada and San
Felipe. Who Knows? the place may become really civi-
lized and sprout neon signs.
In the meantime, the Suffering Angels may organize
and do something about it. Control laws could be passed
before these things come in. The sale and use of fireworks
should most certainly be confined to holidays. I person-
ally, have a great deal of faith in Antero Diaz. I believe
he can convince those around him that some of these
things are objectionable. If he does, he will be the father
of the first fishing resort in mexico with the advantages
of civilization and few of the curses.
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vacaenbaja
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THE FABULOUS MR. DIAZ PART 4 (Fin)
Those of us who know Antero never fail to be amused
by his sense of humor. Nothing delights him more than
to pass a beautiful plate of fried venison to some new-
comer and ask him if he would like burro steaks or coyote
meat. He manages to keep the guests and the help laugh-
ing most of the time and explains seriously,"Is good for
digest the food." His timing is infallibly perfect. he al-
ways digs up something to make people laugh if the con-
versation seems to be too serious for too lonf a period.
One of his gags, which has become famous, concerns a
black dog who is in the habit of sleeping on his back. An-
tero will study the dog's position, taking note of which
way each leg is sprawled, then he will nod his head wise-
ly and say, "Boat come in from San Felipe today," or
"Truck coming pretty soon," and "Two planes come this
afternoon." the strange thing is that these predictions
are almost always true. Whether they are based on some
knowledge or premonition of Antero's or whether he can
actually read the legs of a sleeping black dog like tea
leaves, is a matter of running discussion on the Diaz
front porch that has been going on for some years and
has even been mentioned in the American press.
As we sat there in the early morning talking and think-
ing all these things, Antero happened to remember some-
thing about the Diaz marriage which he thought would
amuse us. "When Mrs. Diaz and I decide to marry, I still
have very little money and want to keep what we have
to get ahead," he mused. "About then jacot decide to go
to Baja California and of course, I decide to go along. In
my home town we got lots of friends. In her home town
she got lots of friends. If we have a wedding in her house,
like her mother want, we got to make big fiesta. I like
fiestas. So do all the friends. Only trouble fiestas cost
much money and I no got much money--make me broke
easy. So I go to the mama of Mrs. Diaz and I explain. I
want marry with your daughter if you can send he to
Baja California where I can marry with small fiesta not
cost too much money and make me broke. Her mama no
want the daughter to go away without marry but finally
I convince her is better. My intentions are honest. So we
come to Baja California and marry here. Not cost much
money that way because got very few friends here that
time.
"This year I send Mrs. Diaz to see her mama in Mexi-
co and send the new station wagon and bring the mama
of Mrs. Diaz back for visit here. She saw the home, the
children, and think everything pretty good. Maybe not
wrong about letting her daughter marry with me. Yes,
Don Juanito, this twenty years been very good to Mrs.
Diaz and me--very good, Don Juanito, gracias a Dios."
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