from 11.28.2020

… five of us (a German rep in Mexico, his Mexican girlfriend, an Italian rep, one of the company owners I worked for, and yours truly) ended up at a local eatery, kind of like a mall’s food court. We went from one place to another sampling foods, paying mariachi bands to serenade us, then settled at one table. And drank tequila with lemons (not limes!). I stood up to go to the bathroom, which was made up of metal stalls not quite five feet tall on one side of the large room. I could see people’s heads when I sat down!

that is not the worst part:

I had to pay for toilet paper but had left my handbag behind. That’s not the worst part either yet — as I walked back, I realized I was not feeling well and had to get back to that stall right away. I fervently prayed as I picked up my handbag and walked to the toilets to make it there in time. Sit or kneel? I bargained for health, and promised never-ever to drink like that again. At some point much later,

i recall getting into a volkswagen cab

As the driver sped off, I tapped his shoulder and warned him in Spanish: I had one tequila too many. When we arrived at the motel (it was super-nice, adjacent to a hotel (I think=), the Italian rep asked if I knew which was my room. I said yes and pointed it out. He said he would wait until I was safely in it.

When the alarm went off the next morning, I sprang up and immediately and just as quickly regretted it. I never had, and never since, felt so dizzy. The room spun — I thought that happened only in cartoons. I could barely shower, but I did and called home to talk to my son before he went to school. Then I went to breakfast.

all eyes turned to me, and big smiles