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| S.E. Mons. José Rafael Palma Capetillo & Alex at the Nevería Colon |
While in Mérida, Yucatán last week Rosemary and I indulged
in savouring the nieves (sherbets) at the Nevería Colón on the Zócalo (city
square). There are three flavours that are my favourites. Two of them are also Rosemary’s, mango and limón.
The third the one that I enjoy is from the fruit of the guanábana (soursop which
is the fruit of Annona muricata). For
us it was a semi-sad event as we often had the nieves with our granddaughter
Rebecca back in 2007.
On one of the evenings when both of us were enjoying …de
limón I noticed an elegantly dressed man who was not wearing a tie but had a
large cross hanging from his neck. He sat down inside accompanied by 8 youngish
men who to me were cops in civies. I was much too curious not to ask.
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| Rosemary and her nieve de limón at the Nevería Colón, Mérida, Yucatán |
I went up
to the gentleman and said, “Usted parece ser un sacerdote muy elegante.” (You
seem to be a very elegant priest.). With a smile on his face he replied that I
was wrong and that he was the Bishop of Xalapa (the x is pronounced like an h
in ha), Veracruz. He further added that the young men were his priests and that
he happened to be a Yucatecan. He invited me to sit and we chatted in my rudimentary
Latin. He had one of his priests snap my picture.
S.E. Mons. José Rafael Palma Capetillo is the Auxiliary Bishop
of Xalapa in the Rectoría del Espiritu Santo in the fine town of Coatepec,
Veracruz.
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| Rebecca Stewart at the Colón with her nieve de mango, 2007 |
Sursum corda
I particularly delighted the Monseñor in telling him that I knew that
Xalapa’s baseball team are the Chileros. This bit of information came via my
friend Canada’s Poet Laureate George Bowering who happens to not only like
baseball but the Chileros are his favourite Mexican team.
I would think that the Bishop and Bowering should meet as they have a few things in common.
Rebecca's ghostly presence in Uxmal