SWEET AND SOUR NYC

The Brooklyn Bridge-NYC

By the end of May, I was able to move to a nice room located in the second floor at 58 West 72th St. between Broadway and 8th Ave., only one block away from the Central Park and close to the place at which in 1980, John Lennon, the most famous of the four Beatles was tragically shot and killed by a maniac. I “inherited” this apartment from some friends who had lived there for years and were now moving to a larger apartment in Queens. Together with the small apartment, I also inherited an old queen size bed with some used bed clothing, a small table, an inflatable mattress in case I ever got visitors, and a couple of chairs. That was all the furniture I had while I lived in NYC, but it was enough, I lived very comfortably there. Color TV was a luxury in those days and I did not have it, but I bought a small, used, black and white TV set for $40, and a short band transistor radio which allowed me to watch and or listen to the news, and little else. Watching the news helped me improving my listening and comprehension skills, while watching young Johnny Carson in the Late Night Show used to frustrate the heck out of me because I was unable to understand most of his jokes. For most of the time I lived in NYC, my black and white TV set and my transistor radio were my only companions. Many years later, in the early 80’s when my family and I lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Late Night Show still hosted by Jonny Carson became one of my favorite shows, second only to “The Smurfs”, which our entire family and I, used to watch on Summer Saturday Mornings, while all of us were still in bed until close to noon time.

My friend Jorge Alberto Terreros was, right from the day I arrived in NYC, and up to the very day I left it, like my guardian angel. He was always behind me, supporting me, sometimes comforting me, guiding me to get every single job I got in the Big Apple or teaching me my way around in the complicated NYC’ subway system, or moving around in the inner and intercity buses, or even getting my drivers’ license which I never got to use it as a driver. But, in spite of his street smartness and his noble spirit and personality, he was never able to go beyond the severe limits imposed by his lack of better knowledge of the English language. Many years later in 1979, when I was the CFO of one of the largest banks in the Ecuador, he visited me in my large tenth floor, fancy corner office in the COFIEC building in Quito. I was extremely happy to see him after so many years and invited him to have lunch across the street at the Hilton Colon Hotel. There, he told me he was tired of living in NYC; that he was thinking of returning to Ecuador, but he didn’t know what to do after his return except to open a small restaurant in Guayaquil, which he did. A few years later I was shocked to read in the news he had been detained as a suspect in a ring of drug traffic. I visited him while he was behind bars; there he confessed to me, in tears, that his biggest mistake was not to have followed my path in education. One year later, his participation in the drug trafficking business was proved to have been minor and he was released. As far as I know, he divorced his wife Angela and went back to NYC, where he probably still lives. I have completely lost track of him, but, wherever he is, or whatever he does; I want him to know I’m very, very grateful for all his guidance and help. He was a great example of human solidarity and unselfish behavior. I wish more people like him would populate the world.

Just as I had many happy days and nights in NYC, I had many sour days and nights while I lived there in solitude, I was tempted many times to ask Anita to marry me and come to live together, which would have made her very happy, but I resisted the temptation and I didn’t do it, and I have no regrets about it. I missed Anita and I thought a lot about her every single day while I was in NYC and many days and months afterwards, I missed my friends and family in Ecuador, I missed the music, the food, the weekends rowing at El Salado estuary in Guayaquil, and, of course I missed my mom and my friends in Ecuador

I was raised Catholic and I remained Catholic then as I remain Catholic today, I never missed a Sunday Mass while I was in NYC, and my prayers there went, first and foremost for the health of my mother and father, and then for me to be able to endure the hardships of my solitude, for me to keep up my firm attitude toward my future and for me to survive this tough period and never give up hope. I firmly believe my prayers didn’t go unheard. I was convinced then, as I am convinced today, that creating anything meaningful takes a lot of effort and a lot of sacrifice; therefore, I decided to be unyielding to the temptations for an easy life and decided to keep going, to keep engaging. I’m sure my solitude and my tough life in those days contributed enormously to the formation of my character as an adult

In April 1968, two of my older sisters (Letty and Florcita) came to visit me, and stayed with me for two weeks in NYC. I felt very sorry that because I was so busy, I did not have the time to take them around and show them more of the Big Apple, as I would have wished, but in two consecutive weekends I took them to see Times Square and its large and impressive neon lights, to Radio City and its always fantastic show, to the Central Park and its incomparable beauty in Spring time, to the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn bridge. They really got scared as we crossed the Lincoln Tunnel in a big intercity bus that we took at the bus station in 42nd St. at Ninth Ave.

My siters wondered how I was able to endure the pressure of full time studying and full time working, and were fascinated by my ability to express myself in a language they did not understand at all. They told me they’ve heard me talking English while sleeping and, though they did not understand any of my words, they knew I was discussing in the classroom while sleeping, because they both had been teachers all of their lives. I did not feel I was doing anything really excessive; I was already then, as I am today, a veteran soldier of many previous wars. I grew up fighting for survival; I was never going to let myself sink in desperation. Yes, I felt physically tired many times; I even remember I used to feel some kind of pain in the upper left side of my back, especially when I was carrying those big trays full of dishes at the restaurant, but it did not cause a bit of concern to me, as I used to feel just fine after I got back home and took a shower. On the other hand, I was never psychologically tired. I was always ready to go on pursuing my goal, and in April 1968, I knew I had to push even harder for another year, which I did.


Lovely NYC-The Central Park in Spring Time
By this time, Anita, started visiting me in NYC on Sundays and we had a real good time together as we went walking in the Central Park, visited museums and monuments, we went to the movies, to the Zoo at the Bronx and many other interesting places, but she started to talk about “getting married”, two words I had become allergic to or was very scared of, and preferred not to talk about. This soured in some way our relationship but we continued dating. I wanted to take my time to know her much better before I made a decision which could have had long lasting consequences, and more than anything, could have derailed my long-term plans. I didn’t want to break up, I really liked her and I still believe I loved her then, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit myself just yet to something I was not quite ready for. I was, like we say in Spanish, “a scalded cat”, or, better, I had already gotten burnt, and I was terribly afraid of the fire. Anita was not ambitious, I’m sure she would have been very happy if we got married, had children and would have lived off two salaries while working in an unknown factory somewhere in NJ. On the contrary, I was living a time when I thought only the sky was my limit. This was, perhaps the main difference between the two of us.

In my next posting: MERRY CHRISTMAS NEW YORK!