ABSTRACT

My grandmother was born in 1915. She spent her childhood and teenage years in the harbour town of Tampico, Tamaulipas, in the north of the Republic of Mexico. As in harbour towns throughout the world, life was centred around the boats and their comings and goings. One of my grandmother’s favourite activities was to wait for the boats coming from far-away China, so that she could buy silk, lipstick, make-up and beauty products that could help her to look like Greta Garbo. As the daughter of a prosperous baker, she played the piano, played tennis and went to school. For my grandmother, thinking about her future meant thinking about meeting a husband who could ensure for her the same social status as her father.