Atdtda23: Fiesta, 638-639

[Paul Nightingale]

The appearance of Steve/Ramon allows us to dwell on the fate of "the gringo
population" (639). The previous section ended ominously with Gunther's
"exactly what I expected" (638), confirmation that he hasn't been
disappointed by plantation life, but he does appear to be making a living
successfully. Here, Steve/Ramon, "keeping ever on the move" is 'called up',
so to speak, by the "brief sandstorm". He lists his difficulties but appears
as a harbinger of fate for others: not least, his naming invokes a crisis of
identity for gringos who are in but not of the locality. As "a fugitive from
some bucket-shop catastrophe up north" he seems to be trying to escape his
fate; he claims to be impoverished but lives in one of the "grand
residences" (639) that, temporarily, shelter gringos ("... while it's still
ours"). For this colony of sorts the anticipated "native uprising" has
replaced the natural threat from the sandstorm on the previous page.
Partying ("... go on all week if we wanted it to") draws attention to the
absence of work or any means of support: Gunther, by way of contrast, is
"off to do some business with the extensive German colony".