söndag 20 mars 2011

My criminal past?

All of a sudden, a piece of paper unexpectedly falls out of an old book that had obviously not been read for ages. My very first driver´s licence obtained in Mexico City in the 60´s!
I can´t believe it:
It is me on the photo, dark dyed hair in a Farah Diba hairdo soooo very fashionable in those days! And the name! They -the authorities-had to provide me with a typical Mexican name in order for me to be able to obtain a provisional "Permiso para manejar"
So ..this is the story how I suddenly became married to a certain "Perez!"

And the authorities did that!
I took driving lessons in Mexico City (NOT easy!) for a great old lady who could be cut out of a Oscar Lewis "Children of Sanchez" literary casting.
She was a sole provider of a huge family of children, her business went well though and she had bought a plot in the outsskirts of Mexico DF where she was building a big house. In digging the grounds for the projected building they came across heaps of Aztec artefacts which they - as unfortunately is all too common in many developing countries - refrained from reporting to the the authorities.
Who would have stopped the building project.

OK.
As a farewell present from this colorful lady, I got a small Aztec object dug up from her grounds - a little jar with a grinning face - which I subsequently smuggled out of the country hidden among my hair rollers. (Shame!) An object which has become so dear to me. (Not the rollers!) And I guess I was too young/innocent/naive to realise this deploring act in those days!
And..I really wanted the little jar! (Greed takes it´s toll!)
Nor did I realise that later, in applying for my Californian driver´s licence, I had to tick a column saying "Did you ever apply for a driver´s licence under a false namn?"
Oh. Perez!
No, I never met him! But I figure he might have looked something like this!
Well, I will never know but the guy very much has the face of my grinning Aztec jar!
It all ties up, doesn´t it?