Word: alai
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...American with "muchas pesetas" (exchange rates were favorable)--regional dishes like roast suckling pig, and eggs "al flamenca" with typical sauces and spices were cheap and delicious. Few visitors missed keen Jai-alai games (a Basque invention, Jai-alai and pelota, which resemble squash, are two of the world's swiftest, most exhausting sports). The sparkling wit of the decadent Spanish theater commences evenings at 11 as do most films. The most spectacular events, however, beside peasant flestas, were the colorful bullfights put on in large arenas every Sunday...
While not slighting the legal National Lottery (government percentage: 19%) and the well-taxed (15%) wagers on the jai alai games at the vast downtown Frontón, citizens of Mexico City not tony enough for brincos find plenty of ways to risk their money. Some go to the cockfights at the Posada de los Cuatro Caminos, just outside the Federal District limits, where pesos change hands with every spur-thrust. Thousands play la bolita, an illegal policy game paying off 80 t01 on the last two numbers of the regular winning National Lottery ticket. In the bullfight fans...
...that the mural contained a portrait of Don Ignacio Ramirez (an anticlerical follower of Juarez) holding a placard with the words Dios no existe ("God does not exist"-see cut). Sadly, the Archbishop canceled a date to bless the just-completed hotel and went off to bless some jai alai courts instead...
...National Lottery will hold a $2 million drawing. But a complete ticket costs $400, is not for the ordinary man. The bullfight, once the national sport, has also become the privilege of the few; big spenders pay from $20 to $30 for a seat each Sunday. At the jai-alai Frontōon four nights a week the betting is hysterical...
When in Chicago, he goes to night football games (his big lung is parked in a corner of the field and he looks on through his mirror). In Miami he is a constant spectator (and bettor) at jai alai games. His favorite sport: bridge, which he plays almost every night with his wife and friends. An expert, with a rating of three master points, he plans to compete in the national championships in Florida this winter...