Around what must have been already a decade ago, I found in the shelves of my house, 'Instrucciones para vivir en México'. For many years, the content of it remained my sole knowledge of Mexican history and society. Even earlier this year, while I was studying from actual history books, the book jumped to my memory as I found a mention of Miguel Hidalgo and his liking of cards, among other things.
Mostly impulsed by the reading of this one volume, one of the first things I did after obtaining a library card, was to choose among the available titles the one who I felt would appeal to me the most. It was this one.
As the title might suggest (It reads 'Do you forget your luggage?' in English), it covers part of Ibarguengoitia's articles written while he was abroad, in England, Egypt and Spain. Apart from these ones, which are mostly about the ways in customs and living in those countries (focusing often in minor details, as it's the writer's style), there are some about Mexico, changes in the structure of the capital city of that country (A reestructuration of Coyoacán, the building of the first line of the subway, and the Habitational Unit Tlatelolco, which would a few years later be better known for the massacre taken place there), which, read in our days, comes out rather pessimistic, seeing as none (or few), of his dark predictions ended up coming true. However, as outdated they are, they still reflect the thoughts of Mexican's society about those changes, back then.
The final section of the book is kind of devoted to Secret Services and spies, even mentioning in one article how apparently he met a spy and promptly forgot about it. Mentions to the then ongoing Vietnam War can be found, too.
Overall, a good reading, I particularly enjoyed the ones about his abroad time, and I'm looking forward to reading more of the compilations of Excelsior's articles.