These pictures are loose and undated. There are no corresponding negatives.
Mother remarked that Daniel had home leave every two years. I dimly recall her saying that we went to Mexico when I was one years old; and, since other photographs I have show me either younger or older, I am supposing that these were taken in 1948. The date of "June" is hypothetical. Given the warmer weather in Mexico they could have been taken at any time in the year.
On examination, this group divides into three parts: an outing at a park, an outing on some hill and an outing at Xochimilco. They were most likely not taken on the same day and this is confirmed by the fact that mother is wearing a different dress in each set. The people accompanying mom and dad are "the Rafaels," a middle class Mexican family father had known prior to coming to the United States. We saw them with fair regularity through 1954, after which we lost touch except that later I would run into one of the daughters, Sylvia, who worked at Sanborns Reforma.
My dim recollection is that the Rafaels lived in an apartment in the Insurgentes Sur area. (In fact, I have a visual vignette of water in their tub and of their living room overlooking Insurgentes to the North.) That being the case, the park in question is either Parque México or Parque España; however, I have not been able to find a photograph confirming or placing the stone park bench.
The picture of me in the pram is different from the other prints of me at the park. However, that it was taken on the same date is shown by the following: (1) the wavy pattern of the pavement in the first photo is a typical mexican pavement design; (2) I am wearing the same suit; and (3) the wheel of the pram can be seen in a corner of the second picture. The sequence in which I have arranged them simply makes sense.
The two hillside fotos are identifiable by the fact that both show a populated hillside in the background. Given the roads in 1948, (it took four hours to Puebla and the new autopista to Cuernavaca wasn't opened until 1952), the location has to be within an hour/s drive of Mexico City, if that. The topography of the hills is more like to the north of the city although some areas to the southwest look similar. But there wasn't anything of interest to the southwest except San Jeronimo/San Angel. On the other hand, the church at Tepotzlan was always a magnet. However, there are no "arcos" like that one depicted in Tepotzlán.
The remaining fotos are obviously Xochimilco. My guess is that the party ate after paddling about through the canals. The layout looks better in reverse order.
I find it curious that there are so few photos of what would have been mother's first trip to Mexico. However, this apparent anomaly is somewhat offset by the existence of an 8mm film of their trip to Puebla to meet my grandmother, Martha.
One last comment on the date. Mother and father were not officially married until August 1948 and it is not unreasonable to think that they would have waited until sometime after then before hauling baby across an international boundary. Then again, nothing they ever did was all that reasonable.
©
