history at bay

Mexico Bob threw down the historical gauntlet to me in his comments section the other day.


I commended him on the unsual bits if history he has picked up here and there for his blog. He responded:

A challenge...you now live in a very interesting area. It is one end of an old Spanish land bridge from the Philippine trade to Veracruz at the other end. I am waiting to see what interesting stuff you come up with :)

That is a bit of a coincidence because I am about to start a little historical quest I discussed in standing pat in March.


The middle village of our three villages is San Patricio, named for Saint Patrick, the honored saint of the village parish. It is not that unusual for a place to be named after a saint usually associated with another country. If that were true, the capital of Chile could simply be called Jim.


But there is another Saint Patrick association with Mexico: the honored and reviled (depending on which side of the border you are on) Saint Patrick Brigade of the Mexican-American War.


I am soon going to start researching whether there is any connection between the brigade and this particuar village.


And I know I will hit some false leads.


An expatriate told me with a straight face (because I think she thought it was true) that the entire area was settled by the Irish. Melaque is a mispronunciation of "Melarkey," and Villa Obregon (the village whrere I live) is a bastardization of "O'Brien."


When I pointed out that the village is named for Álvaro Obregón Salido, president of Mexico in the early 1920s, she looked at me with that same pitying look that one child gives another when the Tooth Fairy is outed.


But, so far, I have found nothing authoritative to show a connection with the village and the Sant Patrick Brigade.


Bob make a good point, though. This area has strong colonial roots. We have no great Mayan or Toltec pyramids to act as extras in another Star Wars epoisode. But we played a big role in the trade between Mexico and the Philippines.


I covered all of that in manila extract last December. So, I will simply let the moving finger move on. And you may do with your mouse as you choose.


The horizom on our bay has been hazy the last few days as we start our shift to the monsoon season. As I sat watching the haze and thinking about the great galleons that once sailed from this bay to the East, I thought I spied, for one brief moment, a ghost of the past.


I am ready for more sleuthing, Bob.