Doings of Dudley Doolittle: This is the name I use in the sometimes hilarious, outrageous, or cynical short stories posted monthly on https://bingsbuzz.blogspot.com/
A fictitious name will be used in most of the stories. It is there to protect the identity of the guilty.
These true stories are over half a century old or more.
LUPERIOS…OR FLYING WITH ARMANDO -
In 1925 in Mérida, Yucatán, México. Armando Troyo Canton G. was born into a very special place in time.
In those years the Yucatán Peninsula was an island within an island, cut off from the rest of the world except for ship travel. It wasn’t until 1961 that the first paved road to the Yucatán was built, and even today the peninsula can be cut off from the rest of the world in the fall when the hurricanes take out the incoming road.
The Yucatán today is still different from the rest of México in many ways, the climate, the food, the dress, and for sure the way of life…slower, kinder and gentler.
Back in the 1920’s the mix of cultures was very distinct, the Mayan Indians lived in their palapas or palm thatched roof homes as they had thousands of years earlier and their distinct costume was uniquely their own. The colonial settlers had been in the area for more than four hundred years, the Spanish first, then followed by the French and Lebanese and many others. Each brought with them a distinct culture and home style, and all were business people.
The family of Armando was well to do and had a large “Quinta” or country place hacienda named Petcanche within a walled compound not far from the city center. In those days Mérida was known throughout México as “Cuidad Blanca”, or the “white city”. All of the people of class in those days had lots of servants and an elegant standard of living.
When Armando was a teenager his parents moved to México City, but each summer they would make the two-day boat trip from Veracruz to the Yucatán for summer vacations.
I had a chance to glimpse some of the wonders of that place that held so many fascinating curiosities of centuries gone by when I first arrived on their shores in the early nineteen seventies.
So vividly I can picture the very early morning sun casting its first rays of light on the shore of the Yucatán as hundreds of small fishing boats slipped into the water and caught the offshore breezes to fill their sails and carry them out to sea.
In days gone by, the coast of the Yucatán was in its tropical splendor with endless miles of towering coconut palms forever swaying in the breezes, and that gave the place a magical feeling of an isolated tropical island, which it was.
In the 1920’s when Armando and his family made the trip to Mérida from the coastal port town of Progreso, it was a twenty five-mile ride on a narrow gauge steam train. That train was finally out of service by the 1970’s.
In Mérida the train depot bustled with commerce, the streets surrounding the large white colonial style structure were filled with venders hawking their produce, beggars both blind and lame filled the exits with outstretched hands and pathetic pleading expressions. Lined up and waiting were the “calesas”, horse drawn carriages that were the taxis of the day…at present in some of the out lying towns calesas are still in use as taxis.
I fell in love with the strange charm of this place that gave a glimpse of a time gone by, a kinder, gentler place that Armando had the good fortune to spend his younger years in.
The world was not going to stand still for Armando, an eager reader, and a good student…he excelled. While still a teenager he was enrolled in the Mexican Air Force as a pilot trainee.
As Armando has later related, those were the days of real pilots. He first trained in a DC-3, and on one of his first training missions while carrying some dignitaries and military brass and flying through the Mexican mountains, Armando lost his way. In those days navigation was with a compass and chart that marked significant landmarks. In trying to get back on course to their destination, the fuel supply was exhausted. The option of going on was lost. Armando had been trained that if a crash landing was eminent it was better to go down with power than to just glide in. The plane was put down in a cornfield without personal injuries. In a nearby village the priest was able to find a guide and round up some mules. The expedition set out headed to the nearest road some two days away. Armando said that each night he had to be lifted from his burro because his legs had become so crippled into that unnatural position, and his posterior so red and raw that he just didn’t have the resolve or strength to dismount by himself. One thing good came out of all of this and that was: Armando never again in his long flying career had any accidents.
Just to add insult to injury Armando was put under house arrest for destroying government property, and he was restricted to the base for two weeks. The airplane had to be totally dismantled and taken out in pieces
Years later, when Armando had gained the position of a commercial pilot, he enjoyed greeting the oncoming passengers. One day as Captain Armando stood at the entry door, who should appear but the old general from the ill-fated trip down in the cornfield. The general looked Armando straight in the eye and told Armando that he was going to México City and that he didn’t want to go on a burro!
Armando was assigned to fly with the United States Air Force towards the end of World War II. He was stationed at Napier Air Field in Dothan, Alabama. There he met a “gringa”, American girl, and had his first romance. Neither could speak the other ones language at that time. Armando had to learn English later in life when his flying took him to many corners of the world.
While stationed at Dothan, Alabama, an idea took shape to have a real Mexican fiesta complete with all of the authentic Mexican food and drink…well Armando to the rescue!
A special flight was made to the place to buy the real stuff…México!
I was told that the “fiesta” was a huge success, but this time, as a reprimand for his unauthorized flight he was restricted to base for two weeks over Christmas
In 1947 Armando married in México City when the city had one and a half million people…one of the most fantastic cities in the world at the time. Today the population has risen to in excess of 24 million.
Armando took a flying job with Mexicana Airlines and over the years had an accident free record while he flew every type of aircraft that the airline had to offer, up to and including the DC-10. Flying to Puerto Rico, LA, Chicago and New York to name a few, he especially liked those two-day layovers.
A couple of stories that he especially liked to tell were, for example, of his time as co-pilot flying into LA International when the pilot got on the radio and informed the control tower that he didn’t speak much English and that he was coming down…you can rest assured that radio message got lots of prompt attention. Flying with the same pilot Armando often would mention that they were not flying at the prescribed altitude and the captain’s response was always, nobody ever pays any attention to the control tower!
Coming or going from the Yucatán, Armando loved to catch a glimpse of his favorite beach getaway spot in Chabihau on the Gulf of Mexico. There can be no mistake that Armando had a fondness for the place and also loved his beer as well, he fondly referred to the place as “Chevas House”, a real English-Spanish corruption of the language, but it could only mean, beer drinking house…and later in life it was just that!
When headed to México City form Yucatán in the late afternoons he used to joke that when altitude, speed, and direction were attained, it was customary to put the newspaper over the windshield to keep out the offensive afternoon sun…a true Yucatecan, the afternoons were meant for shade.
I can’t help but think of a story that Armando told that was a real classic. On a two day layover and after lots of party making and celebrations and as Armando was sleeping off his excesses in the nude in a very fancy hotel in Puerto Rico, he had the urge to urinate. He got up, half awake, and staggered to the bathroom to relieve himself. Then when he turned on the light there was in the same bathroom with him a naked stranger…terrified he took flight and found himself out in the hallway. Only after the door had slammed shut behind him did he realize what had happened. As he stood stark naked in the hallway of this plush hotel, the whole thing came into focus. It had been himself that he had seen in the ceiling to floor mirrors…that terrifying, naked stranger, and he was locked out of his room!
I must admit that in all of my life and in all of my travels I have never met a person that truly loved the out of the way cantinas and could savor cool beer quite as much as my good friend Armando. A whole book could be dedicated to the cantina experiences that I have shared with this man.
Armando loved to read and discuss the books and authors, to travel and discuss the culture, and when we got around to it to practice his English. Drink, drank, drunk, sink, sank, sunk and with his last gasps he would grab the tall necked beer bottle and blow across the top to make the toot, toot, toot of a ships horn and announce that “this ship is sinking”.
In México, one of the most popular beers of all is “Superior”. On the label at that time the name was written in a very fancy scroll type and upon close scrutiny it is easy to see that the “S” is written like a capitol “L” and at the end of the word as the scroll trails off the final “S” is there…and that is how LUPERIOS is formed and in the cantinas across all of México if you asked for LUPERIOS you are sure to get a Superior beer and perhaps even my old friend Armando as his nickname is Luperios!
The label from a Superior beer bottle with its distinctive scrolled letters.
Note; 1992 was the last year that Superior beer used this scroll type lettering.
Captain Armando Troyo’s business card with his México City phone number.
Mexicana Airlines was joking known as “Aero Lata” or tin-can airlines. and had the distinction of unlimited drinks included in the fare…we got our share.
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