Taco Stands and World Events

I last stayed at the Howard Johnson's in Xalapa in September 2001, a few days after 9/11 and during Mexican Independence Day. I was with a friend who was then with Universidad Anáhuac del Sur. We spent the day going to a bunch of places in the state of Vera Cruz (Santa Ana's house was one highlight) but ended up on that night in an Asadero which serves great food (meat) and then to a disco. I remembered that evening as we were leaving why I thought discos should have died. We left the place about 5:30 in the morning and could not find our way back. My young friend said let's pick up some guys who could show us the way. In Mexico City that would be dangerous but I was then convinced by my friend and his cousin that it was safe in the country. We picked up three guys who were obviously not well off. We offered them something like 20 pesos to guide us back to our hotel. The guy in the middle had a bottle of Johnny Walker Red stuck in his pants.

We got to the hotel and one of the three (I am not sure with the 20 pesos we gave them that they had more than about 100 pesos between them) said to me in Spanish - Are you an American? I replied yes. He said - and I remember this phrase - even when my Spanish was less polished than it is today - Tengo un obligacion del mi corazon (I have an obligation of the heart) - he then went on to say "The loss you think you suffered on Tuesday, you did not suffer - the whole world suffered." He then said as his obligation he had to buy us breakfast. In the end we sat down at a Taco stand in front of the hotel and spent about an hour talking philosophy (in my limited Spanish and his non-English). It was a memory I will keep with me always.