San Andrés Tuxtla

May 1946

All photos by Henry Schnautz, Rights Reserved, Copyright 2008-2022 by Henry Schnautz and Terry Priest. All photos available for use under Creative Commons Commercial license CC By-SA 2.0. This means you can use for a book or an article. Please use the CC credit line and "Photo by Henry Schnautz". I would also appreciate an email with a brief description of your project simply for my education.

Tuxtla 1946 Photo Archive on Flickr

May 14, 1946, Henry and Esperanza took a plane from Mexico City to San Andres Tuxtla in Veracruz. Henry was discharged from the Army in April 1946, and was on a train to Mexico City on May 1. I have few details of the trip, just two plane tickets and a lot of pictures. This is the largest group of negatives of Esperanza, 50 on this page. In his notebook he says the trip was to Tuxtla and does not mention any secondary location. Negatives are 120 format, some are quite sharp, cut in pairs. I have tried to sequence them but its a guess. Enjoy a day on a hunting trip in the jungle near San Andrés Tuxtla in 1946.

The Spanish language magazine Jornada has an article about Gabriel Figueroa's recollections of Traven with a picture of Esperanza from this same trip. Henry also had a few prints and no negatives, so maybe Esperanza also had a camera. Jornada captions the picture Ocosingo but I think that is not likely. Recuerdo de B. Traven - La Jornada

plane tickets plane tickets


Outbound

Esperanza Lopez Mateos at airport holding books
Esperanza at the Mexico City airport in May 1946
Esperanza Lopez Mateos at airport holding books Esperanza Lopez Mateos looking out airplane window

Boats and Water

Esperanza Lopez Mateos talking to a group of men with boat and lake behind
Esperanza with her hunting party
Esperanza Lopez Mateos talking to a group of men with boat and lake behind
Esperanza and Henry Schnautz with feet in water lakeside
Esperanza and Henry Schnautz
Esperanza with men in boat
Esperanza with men in boat
This is a double exposure - the shirts are not dirty.
man in boat

Hunting


Esperanza with men hunting standing in water Esperanza with men hunting standing near water men hunting with dog man hunting near lagoon man looking at hornet nest men hiking in single file through jungle
men hiking approaching cabin in jungle
First sight of the cabin.


At the Cabin

Esperanza and men posing with hunting gear in front of cabin Man posing in front of cabin with dog Henry with hunting host in front of cabin

Eating

Eating at table inside cabin Eating at table inside cabin Eating at table inside cabin Eating at table inside cabin Resting outside on grass after eating Resting outside on grass after eating Resting outside on grass after eating

Swimming

Swimming before a waterfall in the jungle Swimming before a waterfall in the jungle Esperanza in bathing suit in lagoon Esperanza in bathing suit in lagoon
Esperanza in bathing suit standing in front of large lake
Possibly Lake Catemaco


Flower Dress

Esperanza with hat Esperanza standing on dirt road in front of thatched house
closeup of Esperanza standing on dirt road
Henry had a decent camera and several of the negatives were good quality
Esperanza sitting in shade with hat in hand Esperanza sitting in shade with hat in hand Henry with jungle background Esperanza with jungle background

Grape Dress

Esperanza on mat overlooking lake Esperanza standing lakeside

Town

Town street Esperanza standing before house in town Esperanza standing before house in town Esperanza standing before house in town Esperanza standing before house in town Esperanza standing before house in town

Return Trip

Esperanza standing in street Esperanza standing in front of flowers with airplane behind
Double exposure looks like Esperanza standing in front of airplane
Double exposure - looks like Esperanza standing in front of small plane on grass runway. Other photo is looking out from building with arches. This plane has been identified by the marking on the wing. It is SN 21 of the Curtiss Condor, built in the 30's which had a registration number in Mexico of XAFAJ. Curtiss Condors registration page

All the pictures on this page by Henry Schnautz, rights reserved