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In July 2002, my wife Jane and I visited Palenque, in Chiapas, Southern Mexico. After spending three hours at the site, we took a taxi back to the bus station to return to Villahermosa, where we were staying. I inquired with the driver, whose nickname was "El Torito," about his fare and the time to drive us to Agua Azul Falls, which I knew was reasonably close to Palenque. He said it would be 550 pesos round trip and it would take 1.5 hours to get there. To be difficult, I said: "We will go only if you promise to take us to the place where Aracely Arambula almost fell to her death, only to be saved by [the well known Mexican actor] Fernando Colunga in the nick of time." El Torito said: "I will take you to the very place where Aracely fell and was saved by Un servidor (the Mexican way of referring to himself). Puzzled, I asked him to explain. He said that he moonlighted as taxi driver, but that his real job was as location specialist for TV Azteca... That he was with the ill-fated party at the time of the accident, about two years ago... That indeed, while filming on location at the top of the falls, Aracely slipped and almost fell to her death... That she clung to a safety rope as he pulled her up by the hair, only to be aided moments later by Fernando Colunga, who was standing a short distance from them. I then confirmed my long-standing suspicion about credit as being extremely volatile. |
