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Sunday, April 2, 2006
Arrival in Cuernavaca and Getting to Know
My B&B Hostess Marta Elena – A True Riches to Rags Story
After my arrival in Cuernavaca and
the lovely dinner at Vanessa's aunt's place the whole family took
me to my temporary home for the next couple of days: Villa
San Marcos is a bed and breakfast located in a historic mansion
in an area just south of downtown Cuernavaca. The B&B has five
beautifully decorated guest bedrooms, all with private bath, and
a wonderful totally private garden with tropical plants, flowers
and fruit trees. Free Internet access is available as well.
The owner, Marta Elena De La Fuente, greeted me warmly and right
away I was invited to join in a small private birthday celebration.
After a little while I didn't even feel like a guest, I felt just
like a family friend as I was included in the conversation and the
festivities. (Marta Elena, an avid and very talented cook, had made
this totally amazing mango birthday cake, it was absolutely delicious
and would just melt in your mouth). What a great start to my stay
in Cuernavaca!
Marta Elena and one of her darlings
During my travels I often run into interesting people, and Marta
Elena, as I found out tonight, is one of those. She grew up in a
very wealthy family in Torreón in northern Mexico and listening
to Marta Elena’s childhood stories brings to mind images of
the glamorous 1950s and 1960s, a time of jet-setting and entertainment
among the very wealthy.
Even the story surrounding her infancy is very unusual: Marta Elena
was adopted and her biological father was actually the nephew of
her adoptive father. In her own words, she was one of the luckiest
children as her father loved her so much to adopt her. At 7 years
of age she finally found out about her adoption through a young
friend. Everyone around her knew about it but her. Her mother denied
that this adoption story was true, but her father admitted it and
explained to her that she was wanted so much that she became part
of his family.
The wonderful tropical backyard retreat at Villa San Marcos
To illustrate her privileged upbringing, Marta Elena recounts
an interesting story set against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile
crisis: while she was studying at an upscale boarding school in
Paris as a teenager, all the foreign students received phone calls
from their parents to return home due to the political insecurity.
Marta Elena didn't and decided that the world was going to end,
so she figured she might as well go shopping. She had about $10,000
in a bank account and by the time she had finished her shopping
spree, which included Christian Dior lingerie, designer shoes and
pearls, there were only $500 left.
Finally she got the much desired phone call from her parents and
told them she was so sad since she was the only girl that didn't
receive a concerned phone call from her parents. Her father explained
that phone lines had been down and reassured her that politics would
improve and asked her what she wanted to do now. So Marta Elena
said she wanted to go to Rome to study Italian. Would he let her?
He said yes and sent her to the Opus Dei Residence in Rome. He told
her to call him so he would wire her some money upon her arrival
in Rome. Of the $500 she had left she had to buy a $250 trunk to
carry all the new merchandise she had bought, as a result she only
had enough money for a 2nd class train ticket. So she ended up sitting
on her trunk for the whole trip from Paris to Rome in a 2nd class
train. The irony of her youthful priorities isn't lost on her and
she now laughs about this incident.
My beautiful bedroom at Villa San Marcos
Marta Elena loved Rome and had contact with many young people in
Rome, mainly from upper-class families. She met many of her friends
at a party at the Brazilian embassy. One of her friends had a boutique
and this friend asked her to wear her clothes and translate for
potential clients in the languages she knew: Spanish, Italian, French
and English. The clothes were her reward for her effort.
Marta Elena’s father was a highly respected doctor and ran
a medical clinic in Torreón. She says she had a very sheltered
and privileged childhood and grew up in a household of 3 people
who had 7 servants. She went to high school in Monterrey at a nun's
school. Then as a teenager she was sent to a nun's school in Burbank,
California, and completed that school in 2 years. To this day she
speaks English amazingly well with barely an accent.
A beautiful pink pineapple at Marta Elena's house
Her father gave her many opportunities, among others he sent her
to European boarding schools. At 16 years of age she went to Paris
to study at a very well-known boarding school called 'l'Assomption".
Together with her friends, other girls from well-to-do Mexican families,
they would go on different excursions around Paris on weekends and
they would also explore neighbouring countries.
Of her time in Paris Marta Elena says that she learned a lot, in
particular from some of the older teachers, who had come from wealthy
families, but had lost it all during the 2nd World War. They taught
her that all the wealth you might have doesn't make you. They said
“It's the culture and your outlook on life who make you what
you are”. This message has stayed with her her entire life.
Her time in Italy made her very self-assured, she became an independent
young woman and was able to do and discover many things that had
not been possible for her in her sheltered life in Mexico. When
she returned from Europe at 19 she felt restricted and suffocated.
In Mexico City she went on a blind date, and fell in love with the
young man. The two young lovers were married shortly before her
21st birthday. Marta Elena has 3 children from this marriage: her
oldest - a daughter, and two sons, all of whom she is very proud
of. She says she wanted to be the best mother she could be.
The entrance to the beautiful mansion
Once the family came, the international travelling stopped, but
the family did visit her father's ranch near Torreón every
summer. When her youngest son started going to school, she started
volunteering in a hospital - the so-called ABC Hospital, the American
British Cowdry, or as the Mexican's called it: "El Hospital
Inglés". Every Thursday she volunteered for 9 years
between 9 am and 1:30 pm in different functions, including helping
out with administrative duties in the operating room.
She also took up gardening and cooking and took many classes in
both fields and has become a real expert in these endeavours.
After her divorce, Marta Elena moved back to her home town Torreón
as Mexico City had become very dangerous. Her daughter was married
in Torreón and her older son was going to university there.
After her divorce, her daughter moved to Cuernavaca, and requested
her mother to move close to her. To be closer to her daughter, Marta
Elena gave in and moved to Cuernavaca 2.5 years ago. She purchased
the B&B from a previous owner who was an American expatriate.
Without any trace of self pity Marta Elena refers to her life as
a “from riches to rags” story. After her father’s
death in the mid 1970s her mother managed the finances and many
of the family’s assets were sold off right around the time
of the devaluation of the Mexican peso, leaving the family with
barely a fraction of their worth.
Beautiful flowers in Marta Elena's backyard
As a result, Marta Elena, who had never worked in her life, started
to go to work at age 60 and has been running her
bed and breakfast for about two and a half years now. She is
one of the few people in Cuernavaca who run a bed and breakfast
without the daily support of a maid or a gardener. As a matter of
fact, Marta Elena runs her bed and breakfast with 5 bedrooms and
a large tropical garden all by herself, without any regular help
from anyone.
The amazing thing that struck me so completely is that Marta Elena,
who had been so used to a privileged lifestyle lived only by the
upper classes, who had never held a paid job during the first 60
years of her life, has adapted so well to her new role as the owner
of this beautiful bed and breakfast, working hard every day from
early morning to late at night. Her smile just radiates optimism
and she is one of those precious bed and breakfast owners who truly
enjoys the company of her guests. Marta Elena managed to turn something
that might have derailed another human being into a new challenge
and an opportunity. Now she works hard every day, yet she has adapted
so well to her new role, it shows in everything that she does.
Marta Elena is definitely a unique and interesting individual who
knows how to make her guests feel at home and I am looking forward
to hearing more of her interesting stories.
Useful Books:
Related Articles:
Mexico 2006 - My cultural immersion
experiment
Hello from Mexico City - First impressions
Hello from Mexico City - A skyscraper,
a little horse and a government pawn shop
Hello from Mexico City - The Zócalo,
the Cathedral, a healing ritual and a university dedicated to a
16th century female poet
Hello from Mexico City - A relaxing
evening in Coyoacán
Hello from Mexico City - Exploring the
Paseo de la Reforma, de Bosque de Chapúltepec and a nice
evening in San Angel
Hello from Cuernavaca - Arrival and
first impressions
Hello from Cuernavaca - Getting to know
my B&B hostess Marta Elena: A true riches to rags story
Hello from Cuernavaca - My first day
learning Spanish and two local icons: the Robert Brady Museum and
the Jardín Borda
Hello from Cuernavaca - A lovely dinner
in a garden paradise
Hello from Cuernavaca - An excursion
to Las Estacas, checking out orchids and a meeting at El Cafecito
Hello from Cuernavaca - An excursion
to Lake Tequesquitengo and a visit to the doctor
Hello from Cuernavaca - A conversation
with Andy Grater, local B&B owner and President of the Newcomers
Club
Hello from Cuernavaca - A presentation
about ecology at the Newcomers Club Meeting
Hello from Cuernavaca - Opening of a
South African photo exhibition and a visit to the Palacio de Cortés
Hello from Taxco - The city that silver built
Hello from Taxco during Semana Santa - The
famous Palm Sunday Procession
Hello from Cuernavaca - A new language
school, visiting 'Casa Vamos' and an evening with a very sad ending
Hello from Cuernavaca - My most intense
day: more language studies, 3 interviews, a guided eco-hike and
dinner at the Marco Polo
Hello from Cuernavaca - A day outing
to the enchanting mythical village of Tepoztlan
Hello from Cuernavaca - My last day
of school and a visit to Cuernavaca's Spring Fair
Hello from Taxco - An eerie experience: Visiting
Taxco's famous Good Friday procession
Hello from Taxco and Cuernavaca - Interviewing
one of the penitentes and enjoying my last day in Mexico
Related Interviews:
Presenting:
Ruben Córtes from Morelos Trails - Local adventure sports
and cultural guided tour operator, expert on Morelos and Cuernavaca
Presenting: Pablo
Buitrón from Fundacion Comunidad, helping local
women empower themselves
Presenting: Jorge Torres from
the Cetlalic Alternative Language School - Learning Spanish with
cultural, social and political awareness
Presenting: Hermilo Brito
from the Ideal Language School - Making Spanish learning fun
Helpful links:
Mexico
Tourism Information
State
of Morelos Tourism Organization
Official
website of the City of Cuernavaca tourism
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