VALENTINO - MAYOR OF LENINGRAD

FOREIGN

Mexican Chechnya is the rebellious state of Chapas on the border between Mexico and Guatemala, the ancient land of the Mayan Indians, which still keeps their pyramids. This territory was both Guatemalan, and Mexican, and independent, but Soviet in its rich ...

Mexican Chechnya is the rebellious state of Chapas on the border between Mexico and Guatemala, the ancient land of the Mayan Indians, which still keeps their pyramids. This territory was both Guatemalan, and Mexican, and independent, but it has never been Soviet in its rich history. It was all the more surprising to see on the Chapas map a small circle called Leningrado, that is, Leningrad.

The place, I must say, is breathtaking. First, the mountain-serpentine route takes off as much as one and a half kilometers up to the ancient city of San Cristobal de las Casas. Along the way, there are many settlements of the Chapas Indians, mainly the Tsotsil tribe. They don’t speak Spanish here, support the Zapatista rebels (they control entire areas), and an attempt to catch a live Indian in the camera lens can be followed by a ritual scuffle of a tourist - the Tsotsili still believe that photography brings evil spirits to them.

Behind San Cristobal, located at an altitude of 2120 meters, the road begins to decline. Alpine pine forests give way to shrubs, and then to sugar cane plantations. We go down to the “sugar capital” of Chapas, the town of Pukhiltik, pass the Chiflon waterfall of rare beauty - and here it is, the road to Leningrad, 40 kilometers of a normal Russian dirt road, scorched to the ground by the Mexican sun.

The first village, the second, the third ... A stone falls from the soul: all their inhabitants, and therefore the Leningraders too, are simple mestizo peasants. If there had been Indian settlements in their place, things would have taken an insulting turn: I have trouble with the Tsotsil language, and talking an Indian in Spanish is about the same difficulty as interviewing Valentina Matvienko in the Mayan language.

The last eight kilometers to the capital Chapassky city of Lenin, one has to ride like a goat along a narrow embankment, where two cars definitely cannot pass each other. And now, behind another meander, the flat roof of the first Leningrad house is shown.

As a discoverer, I christen the passed embankment with hills as the Pulkovo Heights and, for joy, I press the sound signal. Leningrad responds instantly: three thoroughbred yard terrier dogs crawl out sleepily onto the road, and a decent-sized Leningrader with mustaches and a sombrero comes out of that very first house.

I go out, introduce myself: so, they say, and so, don Sergio is a Russian journalist. The Leningrader's jaw drops, then he stretches out his mighty paw and says simply: "Valentino Aguilar Ordoñez, mayor of Leningrad."

Five minutes later, we are already sitting with Don Valentino (oh, what a match for the current St. Petersburg Dona Valentina!) in hammocks in the courtyard of his house, in the shade of mango trees, sipping the main drink of the Mexican tropics - ice beer. The local word of mouth is working with might and main: the Leningrad population is already starting to arrive, and in the meantime I am listening to the story of a real Leningrad mayor:

Why Leningrad? It was founded by the peasant Pedro Vasquez and his comrades in 1976 - before that no one lived here, the land was disappearing. And this land belonged to the municipality of Trinity. The confrontation was severe: the police came from Trinitaria, it reached the weapons. Believe me, but the peasants survived. Then Don Pedro told everyone that the Soviet city of Leningrad had once been a symbol of steadfastness in the defense of their land for the whole world. Everyone liked the name - so they called it. ”

Strange feints are written out by history: the first Leningrader was called Pedro - in translation, therefore, it turns out to be Peter the Great. The expropriation of the land with the revolution is quite Leninist. However, coincidences...

It was my turn to talk about Russia, about twenty people gathered. For a long time I didn’t have to spin like crucian carp in a frying pan. Well, how can you explain to these wonderful Mexican Leningraders that the city of Leningrad, the very symbol of the legendary defense, has long disappeared from the map of Russia? How can you tell that there is no longer that steadfastness in the defense of your land? In general, I had to wag and sweat pretty much, but all torture ends sooner or later. We go for a walk with Don Valentino - the first excursion of the first tourist in 30 years of Leningrad history.

To begin with, I learn that today there are 72 residents in the city of Leningrad, 33 of them are children. The city itself stands 300 meters from the local sea - the huge reservoir of Angostura. All Leningraders are fishermen and farmers. An unnamed rivulet, divided into several branches, flows through Leningrad and flows into Angostura. Streets and houses are not marked yet - no ideas.

I gasp: why not? I propose to Don Valentino and the rest of my companions the idea of ​​how to format the city. Approved unanimously, and the work began. The main street of Leningrad, of course, was named Nevsky Prospekt - Avenida de Neva in Spanish. The river became the Neva, and the bay of Angostura adjacent to Leningrad became the Gulf of Finland. Well, what if the water in it is fresh - this is not Europe, in the end, and so it will do ...

Go ahead. The tributary of the newly converted Neva, where two geese are splashing, is naturally the Swan Canal. We think longer about another tributary, but when Don Valentino said that Don Eduardo lives on it, who breeds mushrooms, the name came instantly - the Griboyedov Canal. The wooden bridge across the Neva on Nevsky Prospekt, next to which four Leningrad horses were grazing peacefully, was named Anichkov Bridge. The square overgrown with red-purple bougainvillea at the end of Nevsky Prospekt was named Vosstaniya Square in honor of Don Pedro Vasquez and his comrades. The house of Don Valentino himself, the mayor and part-time fisherman, reeking of boat tar, became simply Smolny. But the Winter Palace could not be found - however, what kind of winter is here, in the tropics?

Along the way, I learn more and more about the people of Leningrad. Almost without exception they are Catholics. True, there is a family of Adventists, but they all pray together, in a neighborly way: Christ is one for all, and the nearest Adventist church is 40 kilometers away in Tzimola. Getting there is almost a luxury: there are six personal semi-trucks from transport to the whole of Leningrad, but the nearest gas station for them is 60 kilometers in the other direction. For the same reason, Leningrad residents are not recommended to get sick. There are no doctors in the city yet, the sick must be taken to the mainland along that very single primer, henceforth called on the plans of Don Valentino the Road of Life. However, the people here are healthy, and the climate too.

Not here yet and LGU them. Zhdanova: well, the people of Leningrad do not know the great Zhdanov, and without this knowledge, what university? But all 33 little Leningraders as one proudly study at school number one in the city of Leningrad. They also have one teacher - the son of Don Valentino Mario Aguilar.

There are no communists in Leningrad. And there is nowhere for them to come from: the Communist Party of Mexico was outlawed fifty years ago and quietly died underground. Therefore, Leningraders are much more interested in football than politics.

It's time to say goodbye - it gets dark quickly on the 17th parallel, and somehow you don't want to overcome the Road of Life along the Pulkovo Heights at night. To be honest, local partisans are playing pranks near Leningrad and throughout Chapas, as in a war: they can derail and free an uninvited foreign alien from excess cash.

Gasoline seems to be enough to refuel in Pukhiltika. The last jar of beer was drunk with Don Valentino, which is not a crime here: there are no traffic cops in Leningrad, just as there are none in all of Mexico - as unnecessary.

Well, thanks and adios, Leningrad-Leningrado: see you again at Avenida de Neva! It seems that thanks to you I have found a simple cure for nostalgia: if you miss Russia, create it here. Himself, for himself and others, from a small point on the map with a native name ...