b'E d i t o rT he bond that exists between Corpus Christi and San Antonio is far be- along with other casas of those less known but of more substantial wealth. wed-yond geographicits familial, its cultural, and its deeply ingrainedI had met Ricardo at the office I shared with a woman who brokered advertising in just about every South Texas family that has been here for at leastmedia in Mexico for big U.S. clients, and ended up invited to his wedding that hap-a couple of generations. If you live down here, San Antonio is our bigpened to be planned for the same week as my next visit to Mexico City. Knowing city where you go for fancy shopping and supper on the Riverwalk, orlittle about Ricardo or his beautiful fianc, I found myself at this two-night to take the kids to Sea World, or maybe to see an A-list concert act. Ifdingfirst the civil ceremony and then the religiousat his mothers house in low-youre from up there, the Coastal Bend is your beach! er Las Brisas, a setting of indescribable magnificence. It turned out the mom was For this editor, San Antonio was my second home, and my first real, on-my-ownthe Julia Child of Mexico, having written many beloved cookbooks and catering the path as a young adult entering the big time of the print media worldat least,weddings of European royalty. Ricardos dad was an industrialist mogul.bigger than Corpus Christi. Back in the early 1990s, in a time when San Antonio wasThis was in April 1995, four months after the unceremonious collapse of the Mexi-ascending as a major, international city, I experienced the broad range of influencescan peso, which I learned was a planned and intentional act, and during a national there that I had never encountered back home on the beach. debate in the U.S. on whether or not to bail out Mexico with a $20 billion loanaka My publishing market was inbound tourism from Mexico to the United States, andpiggie bank money these days. I took advantage of the chance to chat it up with I learned quickly that no city in the country was more connectedliterally and cul- those who existed in a world that I had only heard about, but in which I had not turallyto Mexico than San Antonio. There were regular, direct flights to Mexicoyet co-mingled. The lesson I learned that weekend was from Ricardos right-hand City and Monterrey; thousands of local businesses, including mine, exported to andhombre, name forgotten, who commented on how the view of the bay was just as imported from Mexico; and many of us were wholly dependent on the health of thebeautiful on the poor, south side, as it was where we were, on the billionaires lower Mexican economya reality that came full-circle when the peso collapsed by halfnorth side. How different our lives are, he quipped.in value, overnight, at the end of 1994.At the tender age of 24, I witnessed first-hand how the world really works. I was in- We all knew that the peso was going to implode from the people inside, he told vited to attend an event for which I had little appreciation until I was smack-dab inme. The government could not keep buying pesos to keep the price up. So, I sell the middle of it all. If youve ever been to Acapulco, you may know about Las Brisas,pesos and send $3 million dollars to Switzerland, and we waited until the devalua-best known for the Westin Hotel that sets up the mountain from the main highway.tion took place, he explained.Lesser known is the Las Brisas neighborhood that sets down the mountain, towardAnd then I send the $3 million back to Mexico and you get twice as many pesosAcapulco Bay, where gate placards read Casa de Stallone and Casa de Streisand,so, we all doubled our money! he bragged in celebration.20THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE TheCoastalBend.com'