Good Neighbors Start Young

When spring comes to Arizona, it is time for Spanishlanguage students of many high schools to close their books for a few days and step across the border into the fascinating land of Mexico, where they may put to test what they have learned, as a sort of final examination. A first-hand picture does much to clarify and impress the classroom conceptions gained from lectures, movies and the printed page. One can read about the age and beauty of a mission or a cathedral, or look at a few pictures and then forget with the turning of the page. But it hits real deep and lasting to step across a threshold into the hushed, majestic interior of a chapel: to faintly hear the soft-whispered undertones of prayer, to see solemn worshipers kneel with bowed heads, to sense the overpowering presence of reverence, to thrill to the deep, rich tones of the chapel bells, to feel the emotion underlying an age-lined face, to witness a tear running down a weathered cheek, to happen onto an old lady as she lifts her veil to kiss the image of a saint, to see in the dim recess the candlelight flickering on the altar and the bright sunrays subdued and filtered into many colors as they pass through masterpieces of stained glass high in the walls like gateways to Heaven. all this is a part of Mexico that does not come from books.

To walk along a busy street where traffic is half auto and half burro cart, to ask directions in halting Spanish of a traffic officer and try to keep up with the Spanish tempo of his courteous reply, to pass a not-so-modern market place with its conglomerate smells and ample distribution of happy flies: all these things impress you in a way that doesn't come from books.

It can be quite an amazing revelation to discover architectural works of art where you almost expected only adobe huts: exceptionally fine studies in form, line and color equal to the grandest 20th century buildings of any country. To walk along streets lined on both sides by drab, sunburned walls with barred windows and doors, and to be invited into one or more of these doorways, finding within a beautiful cool patio of scrubbed stone and flower gardens, shaded with scarlet bougainvillea and a variety of vines and trees towering to the second story roof, is quite an experience in itself. In doorways around the patio a child may be playing with a kitten, a mother may be washing clothes or making tortillas: all the family from the infant to great-grandmother living their daily lives in this tiny walled world of their own. Somehow the full impact of the two or three step transition from a street of barren walls glaring in the hot Mexico sunlight to a cool, cheerful, well-lived-in patio is rather difficult to catch from the printed page. Nor from the printed page can one quite sense the silent air of dignity of the National Palace of Hermosillo, or the friendly welcome into the home of the Governor of Sonora and the warm understanding of a friendly hour's chat on the parallel problems and history of Mexico and our own great country. Somehow, writing a composition in Spanish doesn't compare with using the words, of necessity, to make one's self understood with the waiter, the hotel clerk, the taxi Each April, approximately 50 Spanish-language students of the Pan American Club leave Casa Grande Union High School campus, via school bus, for a get-acquainted trip into Mexico.driver, the shopkeeper. And perhaps the most exciting of all is to be young and to meet other young folks your own age from Mexico's high schools and universities and to dance and converse with them in your very best Spanish that they don't understand too well. However, politeness being universally much the same, and laughter too being the same in both languages and the soft music of the mariachis being everything that a Latin string ensemble is supposed to be, a thrilling and enchanting insight into Mexico is attained that books are but a weak substitute for.

One of the most enthusiastic and outstanding groups of students to make an annual expedition to Mexico, for the purpose of becoming better acquainted with this neighbor to the south, is the Pan American Club of the Union High School at Casa Grande, Arizona. This club of Spanish-language students makes the trip each spring to Hermosillo and as far as Guaymas, 260 miles below the border.

The main objectives of this trip are: to promote better understanding between English-speaking and Spanishspeaking students by means of association in the midst of In Tucson, at the Mexican Consulate, arrangements are made for the tourist cards.

It is a thrilling moment at the border gates of Nogales when the Casa Grande school bus enters Mexico.

In Nogales, Sonora, many students get their first taste of Mexico, and it is not long before a sidewalk photographer has a group decked out in sombreros and serapes before his lens to record a Mexico visit.

The highway from Nogales south passes through miles of scenic desert, and it is hard to keep from stopping to make friends with a young burro or two along the way.

The Spanish environment; to increase interest in the study of the Spanish language by giving students the opportunity to use the language in a practical situation; to stimulate interest in the background and customs of Spanish-speaking people by visiting the various places of interest in Sonora, Mexico; to add to the social maturity of those students mak-ing the trip. In order to participate in the visit to Mexico, Pan American Club students must make a B in Spanish for a semester, with no grade lower than C after gaining mem-bership. The Pan American Club is sponsored by the Casa Grande Rotary Club as one of its international projects. The tour is conducted each spring by Virginia H. Rosbach, Casa Grande High School Spanish instructor who is well versed in the language, manners and customs south of the border. The trip is also chaperoned by a group of interested parents. Perhaps the value of such a trip might be summed up in the following words written by a student, in a letter to a friend, upon return from Mexico: “Besides having a good time at a very little cost, you learn the customs, the lan-guage and the way of thinking of the Mexican people.

They are the friendliest and politest people I have ever met. Governor Soto was most congenial and so cooperative to let a bunch of kids come into his home where he treated them with such warm hospitality. He is a very wise, yet humble man and I am sure he does a lot for his state. I certainly believe the Governor was right when he said trips like ours were worth while because we should all know more about each other and see both good and bad to know each other's problems. He said this is the way toward friendly, understanding relations between our two countries. “One may read books and see movies about Mexico but he never has the thrill that he experiences while making a trip, such as ours, to this land of enchantment.” Many of these students will be the businessmen and businesswomen of the Southwest tomorrow. In numerous towns and cities of the Southwest, understanding the Spanish language and the Mexican people in business is not only a splendid attribute but a necessity. Since there is nothing like getting off on the right foot, a deep sweep of the Southwest's sombrero is due to all those who devote time and effort to this worthy foresight, that good neighbors start young.

In Hermosillo, the modern attractive San Alberto Hotel is the headquarters for the visiting Pan American group.

Students try their Spanish on the desk clerk.

It's fun to make friends with students of Mexico.

Under the spreading Yucateco trees of the San Alberto Hotel outdoor dining terrace, students order in Spanish and enjoy the romantic serenade of the wandering minstrels of Mexico, the Mariachis.

A special dance at the hotel makes getting acquainted easy when American students and students from Mexico intermingle.

Young ladies cover their heads and young men kneel in respect during a visit to the chapel of the Hermosillo Cathedral.

One of Hermosillo's new modern buildings.

Many historical buildings are visited, like this, the National Palace at Hermosillo, The ultramodern library at Hermosillo, as seen from an arch in the facade of a university building, is a creation in beauty.

At Guaymas, American students visit the beach for an afternoon frolic in the sun with their Mexican friends. Shopping for some mementos is always a must before leaving this friendly land south of the American border.