ABSTRACT
My formative years were spent in México City in the colonia of Tacuba,near el árbol de la noche triste (the tree of the night of sorrows), a tree where according to Mexican folklore and legend Hernán Cortés was said to have wept after the Aztecs soundly defeated his forces. Over the centuries the tree had been bent by the force of its own weight and was now almost on the ground. I did not understand the historical significance of the old tree at the time, but it was very much a part of my daily life as a child.
