Chapter 16 border town night

It was late at night when we arrived in Santiago, and when we didn't know where to go, I opened the map and found that Santiago was just on the border of Mexico.San Diego at night is beautiful, but like cities in the western United States, there is no place to go alone at night.I asked the waiter of the hotel casually, and he said: In the border town of Tiwana, Mexico, it is open at night until the early morning, and there are many cheap and good Mexican fur goods. The wife jumped up when she heard it: "Let's go to Tiwana!" We caught up with the last bus bound for the border. There were very few passengers, and it looked very cold; there were several Mexicans who had legally come to the United States to work, and they were talking in rapid and somewhat excited Spanish, and their words were circling around in the bus Going, it made me feel like I was sitting in a roundabout car.

It is very cold, and the southwestern frontier of the United States in January has a little flavor of the Northland.There is a heavy layer of fog on the window glass, the fog is really like a curtain, you push it away with your hands, and in a blink of an eye it quietly climbs up the window again.I was opening the fog curtain on the window with my hands, and an enthusiastic Mexican chattered a bunch of Spanish. We couldn't understand a word, and after a long time of gesticulation, we realized that he said: car heating broken! Two other Mexicans, walking back from the front row of the bus, also leaned over to chat with us. Fortunately, the two of them understood English and asked us a lot of questions: Where are you from?What are you doing in Mexico?Mexico City is very beautiful, do you want to go for a walk, because their questions are too fast, there is no room for consideration, and they don't know how to answer us for a while.

"Do you like Mexico?" asked one of the handsome young men. His question made us laugh: "I haven't been there yet. I don't know if I like it or not. I heard from friends that it is a place full of original customs. The wife responded quickly, and she said: "We should ask you this question, do you like Mexico?" The Mexican youths couldn't help laughing, but they didn't answer our question, lost in thought, looked up at the front of the car, In the distance from the front of the car is their hometown we are going to.Finally someone spoke up: "If I really like it, I won't go to work in the United States, but my home is always my home!" "I heard that Mexico doesn't welcome Chinese people, is it true?" I asked he. "The Chinese are so good at making money, they take away all our Mexican money!" He thought about it: "It's not that they don't welcome it, and we don't know the exact reason." When the car was approaching Mexico, the driveway suddenly widened. It turned into a six-lane road, which reminded me of the highways in Taiwan. "Mexico is here, Mexico is here." They said happily to us.The bus slowly stopped at the border, and there was a big sign hanging high above the border checkpoint: "Mexico". Many beautiful women were painted on the wall next to the checkpoint, advertising Coca-Cola, TV, watches and other things.

We went straight into Mexico without going through the customs (there is no need to check within 20 miles from the United States to Mexico). As soon as we entered Mexico, many taxi drivers flocked to us to give us passengers, "a car costs 50 dollars to Tiwana", I asked one driver after another, and they were all fifty dollars. I said, "It takes less than ten minutes to drive from here to Tiwana. Fifty yuan is too expensive." "Have you been to Tiwana?" a driver asked. . "I have gone to buy leather goods several times." I deliberately deceived him: "I used to take a car for ten dollars per person, and twenty dollars for two people. If you don't take the car, we will go back to the United States." Let's go, he quickly stopped us: "Okay! Okay! It's twenty yuan, but a tip is required." "Tips are five yuan for you." I said.He readily agreed.

In fact, Tiwana was closer than we expected. Mexican taxi drivers drove like desperate. We arrived at Tiwana in seven minutes and parked in the city center.I looked at my watch, it was exactly one o'clock in the morning, and I didn't realize it was bad until I got off the bus. Although the lights in Tiwana City were still brightly lit, all the shops were closed.We were unwilling to go back by the original car, so we just wandered around. At the corner of the street, there were two restaurants written in big Chinese characters, which were opened by Chinese people. In terms of food, Chinese people are really far away. .

The boss speaks Cantonese, and we don't understand a word. Fortunately, his son can speak English. I ordered a bottle of beer, and my wife ordered a cup of coffee. The boss figured out that we are Chinese, and the coffee was free.There were four Mexicans at the next table. They were wearing wide-brimmed straw hats in the late-night restaurant. It is said that they were waiting for dawn to line up to work in the United States. Occasionally, one or two Mexican girls in casual clothes came in. Their expressions and behaviors were from here. soliciting. The boss said that their store is open 24 hours, so we made up our minds not to go to the hotel, but to sit in the restaurant overnight; just as we were thinking this way, a pair of twin Mexican children ran in, they looked exactly the same, and they were dressed in shabby clothes. It was tattered, and the one walking behind still had a snot on his face, and he looked very handsome.One of the leaders ran over and said in very rough English: "Can I sing a love song for you?" I nodded.

The two brothers stood still and began to sing with a very generous voice. The song was in Spanish, but they sang it very softly, and you could tell it was a moving love song just by listening to the tune.They sang very hard and beat the time with their feet, but they didn't dance with the guitar in their hands. The wife said: "You are so young, and you can sing love songs so well. How can you grow up?" After five minutes, the singing was over, and the two little brothers stretched out their hands shyly. It turned out that they wanted to give money, so I gave them a dollar. "Sir, you gave too much, we'll pay you back with another song." Said with a runny nose, and both of them laughed.

This time what they sang was not a love song, but a nursery rhyme. Because of the quick rhythm and short sentences, the whole restaurant was filled with a bright and bright atmosphere, and the clear and clear children's voice flowed in the air.They finished singing very quickly, bowed deeply politely, said thank you, and turned around to leave. I said, "Sit down, and I will invite you to drink tea." "No, we have to rush to another hotel Let's go sing love songs!" After finishing speaking, we ran away in a hurry, and we couldn't help smiling. I think that no matter where, what nationality, what suffering, all little children never completely lose their innocence.

We sat in the restaurant all night, and some peddlers came in with things to sell. Seeing their clothes, I felt that the people in Mexico were quite poor. I didn't expect the restaurant owner to say: "Tiwana is still good, because It's a tourist town, and you go a few miles inland and you're really poor." At dawn, we walked out of the restaurant and saw the bright sunshine gently shining on this border city. It is a bit like an American city, but it has a unique flavor, an indescribable bitterness. Tiwana is It is beautiful and lively, but the life of the people in Mexico is generally difficult. I was on several streets and saw road signs with "Revolutionary Road" everywhere. Why did Mexico revolutionize the lives of the people for decades? ?

When we left Tiwana, we had to check passports at the border. I saw a long line of Mexicans, men, women, old and young, standing at the border checkpoint, waiting to enter the United States to work, and some were still sending out in the night wind. trembling; seeing these people, I don’t know why I suddenly thought of the little Mexican brothers who sang love songs for us in the restaurant. I was really worried that one day they would also come here to line up, as if they were my friends. However, they cannot be allowed to sing love songs for the rest of their lives to strangers passing by!

On the bus, I looked back at the English letters of "Mexico" shining on the customs, and the car speeded away as if I had never missed this country.The handsome Mexican youth I met when my eyes flashed over, and his eyes looking blankly at his hometown, when I think about it suddenly, it turns out that there is a little helplessness in those eyes. — April 21, 1982