In the lands of the coffee, from the book, Searching for treasures
Tlaxcala Historical Center, Tlaxcala Mexico
Out of all that Victor Hugo had mentioned, Jean Marie’s French mindset only focused on one single detail.
“An espresso coffee, you said? Now, that’s the way I drink coffee back in France,” he replied, taken aback with this discovery.
As he walked to the coffee shop, he encountered Jon Jairo once again, right before reaching the plaza. They walked together, and the avid coffee enthusiast inquired concerning the 1999 earthquake. His newly-found local guide explained how it came about precisely at noon, from one unsuspected moment to the next. He remarked how he was, for a fact, in the cemetery at the time of the event.
“I spend most of my time in the graveyard, and that’s where I happened to be at the time,” he began to narrate. “You can believe me when I say that that quake shook the world around us, bad luck, you could say! It was a scary thing, terrifying, to say the least. So many buildings fell down or were severely damaged. How life can turn around so forcefully in just the briefest instants.”
“What a pity, so many deaths that day and so many others injured. Especially during the first aftershock, when they were caught trying to rescue stuff inside their homes. Those poor souls gave up life, attempting to save a few trivial things from their homes. No doubt, they considered them valuable, at least worth the effort of going in for them, but compared to their lives, their value was meaningless. What a shame, you know, that was enough to scare the daylights out of anybody. But let’s change the subject to something a bit more cheerful, wouldn’t you agree? I don’t want to see you rushing back to your hotel to pack your bags and run! Where you heading, neighbor?” He asked, smiling.