Famous Urinals I Have Known

Note: Ron Unz, an internet friend of mine and publisher of The American Conservative, has by years of programming created a site, Unz.org in which, among other things, he has scanned and made searchable back issues of magazines, many no long extant, till slightly before the Big Bang. For hisorians, it has got to be like Fort Knox, only better. For the rest of us, just lotsa fun. Give it a shot if so disposed.

It was getting late in Ajijic when Vi and I headed for the Camaleon. The narrow streets were empty and somber. Gringos do not go out as much as they once did now that the narco wars have reached the town.

Light and music poured from the door. For some reason I thought of what the country must have been like in 1900, a wilder and cruder time with dirt streets and few people. Not much law, less schooling, raw tequila and suchlike bust-head in adobe cantinas, horses, guns, and rattlesnakes. Not a great world, but I would love to have seen it.

We took our usual table next to the fireplace. It is seldom lit. When it gets really hellishly cold here, you might need a light sweater. We ordered drinks and I wondered at the strangeness of life. (I know, I'm the only one who has ever done that.) I mean, what am I doing with an exotic Mexican woman in a town in Jalisco? (The exotic part is absurd, but I like saying it.) I communicated this to Vi. She responded that I wasn't exactly what she had expected when she was fifteen either.

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