"I am living in Orizaba now," he continued, "and have been hunting deer
for the past few days just below Cordoba. We saw plenty, but our man
and dogs did not understand the game, so we returned empty handed. The
only thing wounded is my friend back there, who fell out of a hammock
while we were away and sprained his ankle." As we told him Orizaba was
also our destination, the next question was where did we intend to
stop, and found it was the place where he lived. After he had given
the wounded man into the care of friends, we got on a car and soon
reached our hotel. It was so dainty and nice that I cannot resist a
brief description for the benefit of those who may some day be in its
locality.
It is known as the La Borda, and is near the station, as well as the
best in the town. The rooms are a model of cleanliness and neatly
furnished. From the front one can survey part of the village, and the
range of mountains outlined against the sky like immense waves, each
one climbing higher, and above all the great mountain, that majestic
monument which wears its snowy nightcap seventeen thousand two hundred
feet above the level of the sea. At the rear of the house, just below
the dining-room windows, is a never-ceasing waterfall which goes to
feed some mills in the vicinity. In the first glimmer of day with our
wakening senses we hear its murmuring song with that of the birds. Its
sound is in a gentle, half-subdued manner, as though enticing the
birds to come nearer to its brink and bathe their toes and quench
their thirst with its foaming waves. Near mid-day it gets loud and
boisterous, and you seem to hear: "The day is short, improve your
time," over and over with a monotony that rather fascinates us.
Directly above this wonderful fall is a cozy little garden, cultivated
by the landlady, who also deserves a word. She is a German, who
accompanied her husband to this country some years ago. He died and
left her in a strange land with two baby girls, whom she maintains by
running this hotel. She is quite pretty, and speaks German and Spanish
fluently, while she is studying English, and understands some now. She
keeps her house, like most Germans, as clean as it can possibly be
made, and endeavors to have all her guests feel at home. The cooking
is so good and everything so comfortable that one would fain have the
little German woman and the La Borda in every town in the Republic.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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