IN SEARCH OF

By Roger Esty

So I went to Tijuana to the dentist to get some new teeth. While I was waiting for my porceline,I thought I'd try to locate where Antonio Margarito was training his young stable of fighters.

I asked the parking lot attendant if he knew the whereabouts of El Tony. To my surprise he told me that Margarito lifts weights at a gym between 1st and 2nd Streets on Calle Multilismo. Sure enough I found the gym ,but no Tony. The gym is a little hole in the wall called Hard Body. A few weights. Some machines and bicycles. Clean,but small. The fella' behind the counter told me Margarito would come in on Monday around 8 in the morning. I won't be there,but then I asked him about Colonia Francisco Villa. That's where Tony lives. The guy said that Tony's boxing gym is there. So back in the car and off to La Villa.

Colonia Villa is up the hill where I used to live,Canyon Jhonson. Canyon Jhonson is wedged down below between La Villa and Colonia Hidalgo. I asked around La Villa about Margarito's gym,but I must have asked people who were into bull fighting because no one knew what I was talking about.

I had some time to kill before I picked up my teeth so I walked around La Villa. It's not a bad little community. I say community because I could feel a sense of continuity. The plaza with the church. The main drag with its stores and restaurants. Schools and a park with people gathered enjoying a warm Saturday afternoon. It was alive.

I then walked to the edge of the colonia and looked down into where I used to live, in the canyon. It seems always that if you live down below the people on the hill have it better. It looked that way to me. Canyon Jhonson has no park nor play grounds. No stores. Can't eat anywhere. The street running through the ravine doesn't have a sidewalk. There's not even a church.

Sometimes I think the people that live in Canyon Jhonson are almost unable to climb out. In the bottom of that canyon, they seem forgotton.

Well after walking around La Villa for a while,I got in the car and headed downtown to pick up my pearly whites. I didn't drive through Canyon Jhonson on the way back.