Guanajuato, Millie’s Last Adventure – Guanajato, Guanajuato, Mexico

Guanajuato, Millie’s Last Adventure

Guanajato, Guanajuato, Mexico

The Kiss

“Take their picture.”
“Whose picture?”
“The couple over there, kissing.”

I reluctantly took the candid shot.

To me it was a possible invasion of privacy. To Millie it was an excuse to march up and show them the digital image on the back of the camera. And to make new friends.

Millie knew no strangers. People sensed the joy she felt in getting up close and personal with them and they loved it.

This was our second day in Guanajuato, Mexico. On Sunday we just enjoyed the amenities of the Villa de la Plata Hotel, the domed indoor swimming pool, the exercise room, an excellent restaurant (where we met a couple from Texas who spoke both Spanish and English) and met the owners, Clarissa and Louis (Clarissa also spoke very good English).

Monday, Clarissa and Louis drove us into the city where they also own a travel agency. They introduced us to Salvador, an English speaking guide and negotiated a private tour of the many art galleries, Don Quixote Museum, Diego Ravera Museum etc. for the next day.

Salvador had been a high school teacher for many years. His wife is a nurse. He is an expert in the local history and atmosphere and is an excellent personal guide for tourists. “Guanajuato means hill of frogs,” he said. “When the Aztec Indians lived in this area they saw rock formations on the many hills that resembled two frogs.”

We invited Clarissa and Louis to have lunch with us. Clarissa said they knew the perfect place to eat if we would wait until 1400 (2:00 PM), about an hour. We killed time by exploring the shops on the cobble stone street outside for a while. We finally sat down at a restaurant next door to the travel agency. We sat at an umbrellaed table for a beer.

After the couple sheepishly looked at the picture and showed their gratitude to Millie, she came back to the table. Later, I remember, she said: “I see more love in your eyes when I’m nice than when I’m not. I’m going to be nice more often.”

I kissed her, she excused herself, and went inside of the restaurant to the restroom.

A few minutes later – it may have been five. A waiter and a waitress came out and desperately motioned me inside.

She was laying at the foot of the stairs looking very peaceful.

Millie

I lifted her head, shook her and said: “Wake up honey.” Over and over. Blood was running down my pants leg from a gash in her head. Someone brought some smelling salts. I felt for a pulse. There was none.

I ran next door and brought Clarissa back to help explain what was going on.

There was nothing to do but watch them carry her out in a body bag.

That is when I realized what a great person Clarissa was. She, her staff (and her connections) got me out of Mexico in four days. A feat that should have taken at least two weeks.

First she assigned one of her girls – Terri – to translate for me and guide me through all the legal system. Having something like this happen in a foreign country (where you do not speak the language) would have been overwhelming at best. But, being grief stricken, I could not have found my way with out her.

Next was the police report: Did she have any enemies? Where was I when it happened? On and on. The thought gripped me that I should have known there were stairs and I should have been there to help her up and down. But, the doctor from the funeral home (morturario) came to the police station when I was filing this report and assured me that there was no concussion. A massive heart attack ended her life. Then she fell.

In this situation it is the law that there must be an autopsy. A quick phone call to her youngest son, Paul reassured me that Millie did not want an autopsy. Clarissa said the only way around that is to get an excuse from the governor. She said she was a personal friend of the governor. She got it excused.

The arrangements we had made with the personal guide Salvador? Now it becomes a trip to the American Consulate in San Miguel de Allende to arrange shipping the remains to United States.

Ninety miles north east of Guanajuato would be my “sight-seeing trip”. It turns out we had to repeat this trip to San Miguel again the next day because the American Consulate said we must have a representative from the morturario with us. The next day we brought Exiquio, a representative of the mortuario and got the required papers.

The American Consulate, a Colonel Maher, was very old, grey hair, arthritic fingers. Yet, for some reason he had to personally complete the form on the computer. He kept hitting two keys at once and at one point actually lost the entire file. He called his secretary to retrieve it. Once more he lost the file only this time, somehow, he “saved” the blank screen. Salvadore and Excequio had to re-type the entire document. Colonel Maher was like a sketch from comedian Tim Conway’s “old man” character where he puts on a grey wig and walks real slow.

One more detail: the death certificate. Exiquio actually held the records office open for hours after closing. Then he called the owner of a print shop to come down and make the required prints.

But, what about Millie?

Harlan & Millie

She lived a full life. If you Google “Millie Gallo”, you will get more than fifteen (contiguous) responses. From her art web site to her involvement with three art clubs and the Los Altos planning commission. The Los Altos New Comers club is mentioned. Even a remnant of an old association with Scientology. She inexhaustibly contributed to many organizations.

Art was her life. She was rarely without a sketch book. A fine arts diploma in high school and then she attended the acclaimed Art Students league in Manhattan. Almost all activities she engaged in – even employment had something to do with art, like drafting and color matching for a textile firm.

She enriched the lives of everyone who knew her. She enriched my life immeasurably.

There were 128 people at her memorial on October 8, 2005 – her 81^st birthday.