My Heart Lies South: The Story of My Mexican Marriage

Elizabeth Bordon from California, where she graduated from Stanford University, gives us an account of her life in Mexico. She had led a privileged existence and travelled all the way to Boston to study the violin and became an accomplished musician. In the 1950s, a young educated woman who wasn't afraid to travel had three major vocations from which to choose: airline stewardness, telephone operator or newspaper reporter. A more stable job which I tried on occasion was secretary and took more skills. The higher class pay childcare so the "smart" momma can feel fulfilled outside the home. Ms. Borton was sent into Mexico by the "Boston Herald" and spent five years interviewing film personalities. The photos show her at the ball in Casino of Monterrey, where her duty was to tag after Don Luis Travino from the Chamber of Commerce; she looks almost like me at my first college dance. She was becoming Spanish. I had a nice penpal in Barcelona, Spain. That's about all we had in common except for the fact we left our homes and stayed away for a very long time. Like Jennie Jerome from Brooklyn, a century before, she adopted the country and its restrictive ways, and there was no going back for either. Lady Randolph Churchill became an aristocrat play girl and the mother of Winston Churchill. Both were free spirits with time and money to go wherever they chose. In Mexico, women did not discuss religiion and politics. Elizabeth taught her two children how to be cultured people, something I wish Christine would attempt with Eric and Alec. Mrs. Churchill was a concert pianist and pushed her only son into politics at an early age, like Victor Ashe's mother did. Her affairs of the heart were similar to Diana's. Young Mr. Churchill became one of the most famous British statesmen of the 20th century. Both had fulfilling and rewarding lives in different parts of the world, something Mark has tried and yet to accomplish. In the Epilogue which was written twenty years after her account of a good life in Mexico, she lists some of the changes taking place on both sides of the border. She learned by making mistakes and doing what she could. In places, someone would say "You don't know me but I know you," to her -- just as I said to the newly installed mayor, Haslam. She knew Carlos in Monterrey. A nice biography of a woman brave enough to do what I should have, gone to Sabadell, Spain.

This wonderfully authentic depiction of Mexican life and culture was a true joy to read! It took me right back to my childhood.

It would be hard to resist a person who asks, "Shall I sing you a song about love?", and so it's not difficult to see why Elizabeth Borton de Trevino fell for her husband. Their unusual courtship and often hilarious marriage is chronicled in "My Heart Lies South: The Story of my Mexican Marriage," a story of clashing cultures and hysterical family. She first met her husband Luis in a hotel lobby, while on a writing assignment. After courting her with love songs in a taxi, Elizabeth Borton ended up going home with him to meet his rambuctious family and adoring parents, who approve of the young American "mees" as Luis's future wife. Suddenly Borton found herself living in Mexico -- but with a lot to learn. At first, Elizabeth struggles to deal with the cultural barriers and how she is being snubbed by the neighbors. But soon she adjusts to her new life, and runs into an ultra-religious cook, troubles with the legality of her marriage, a playboy in-law who falls madly in love with a very proper girl, and finding out how much fun it is to be pregnant in Mexico. Surprisingly, "My Heart Lies South" is not just an autobiography about Borton de Trevino's "Mexican marriage." It's also a portrait of 1930s Mexico, which was very different from anywhere in the United States -- a place solidly entrenched in old traditions. It wasn't backward. They just did not see any reason to change things like the "Tia" aunts who care for a whole family. Borton's brisk writing goes pretty quickly, telling stories of young Romeo-and-Juliet lovers, authentic Mexican food and getting drunk in front of her husband's clients. She's funny and self-deprecating, not to mention unafraid of telling the world when she committed some social sin. It's almost like a sitcom, except it was all real. Perhaps the most endearing thing she shows us is Luis's family -- a sprawling, warm bunch of people who immediately take her under their wings. Particularly likable is Luis's mother Mamacita, and her playboy brother-in-law Roberto. But Borton de Trevino brings everyone to life, right down to the eccentric cooks and kindly judges. "My Heart Lies South: The Story of My Mexican Marriage" is a thoroughly charming look back in time, where an American woman clashes with Mexican traditions. The results are funny and heartwarming.

This book is an autobiography of an American woman who came to Mexico on what she thought was going to be a brief assignment and ended marrying with a Mexican and staying in Mexico for the rest of her happy life. But the book is much more than this. It describes the clash between the very different cultures of Mexico and the USA which result, almost always, in hilarious situations.Almost everything described happens in Monterrey, Mexico where she lived with her husband and eventually with her children, but as she mentions in the book, the extended family is extremely important in Mexico and she got to love and respect her "Mamacita" and "Papacito" (mother and father-in-law) as much, or maybe even more, than her own parents. "To Mamacita and Papacito I dedicate this book in loving memory."The Treviño Borton family is, in my humble opinion, "every family of mankind, the archetypal family about whom all mankind is dreaming." (Quoting from a review of Finnegans Wake). As such, anyone may appreciate this book, but... for Regiomontanos (people from Monterrey) it means much more: it describes the inner workings of the social fabric in the city, it brings to life the infinite subtlety of their ways, it gives a microscopic historical view of the 1930's that you can hardly find anywhere else, it creates a deep longing for a beautiful past.I, like Borton, married with Monterrey. Her husband was Luis Treviño. My wife is Olivia Treviño and through Borton I finally understood why "the Family" is of such overwhelming importance for my wife.The interest that this book generated in me was so great that I decided to journey through Elizabeth's world... 70 years later.I have built a web site where you can see how her house, her Mamacitas house, and many other places she mentions in the book look TODAY... 70 YEARS LATER. ...Many things have changed during the years but writing from Monterrey I can say, as she once said, "I was then, as now, so safe, so happy, within that fortress - the family."