Throughout my career, I have had many coincidences that make me think that we live in a small world.
One of the most interesting occurred when I was the director of New Mexico’s Commercial and Tourism Office in Mexico City. When I arrived, I made the rounds to different Mexican federal agencies, presenting myself and my state. In this respect, I scheduled a meeting with a high-ranking official (I will refer to him as “TM”) in Mexico’s Secretariat of Foreign Relations.
I arrived at the meeting and was escorted into TM’s ornate office, befitting of an important federal official. TM, a Mexican of Polish ancestry, was a big man, well over 6 feet tall and husky. As I told him about New Mexico’s new trade office in Mexico City and its functions, TM stared at me sternly. I started getting nervous thinking that he was annoyed with me for taking up his valuable time. I finished my introduction and he stared at me with that stern look for what seemed several seconds.
He then said, “You said you are from New Mexico, from where?”
……………………………………………………….
I told him my hometown was Española and wondered why he would ask. He then laid his hands on this desk and said in a loud voice, “Let me tell you something about New Mexico and Española.”
Oh no, I thought to myself, he had a bad experience in my state.
TM then proceeded to tell me how he and his future wife had left Mexico City to attend college in New York. When they graduated, they decided to buy a used car to see the U.S. on their way back to Mexico City. When traveling through New Mexico en route to Santa Fe, their car broke down in Española and they had to wait several days for parts to arrive. I slumped down in my chair thinking that something even worse happened to them in my hometown.
TM said that he and his future wife rented a hotel room and didn’t want to stay cooped up while waiting for their car to be repaired. They concocted a scheme to see northern New Mexico by calling a real estate agent under the guise that they wanted to buy a ranch. The agent drove them to several sites and then took them to Dixon, New Mexico, where they fell in love with some property. On a whim, they decided to buy the property and live on it, which they named “La Chiripada.”
They lived there several years until family obligations made them return to Mexico. He told me that living on that ranch in northern New Mexico was one of the happiest times of his life.
Read More: Stroke of luck links New Mexico with Mexico City » Albuquerque Journal