When I first arrived in San Cristóbal de las Casas, I was pretty sure I’d made a huge mistake and that I really wasn’t going to like it. It was misty, freezing, grey, and 6:30 in the morning. Oh, and freezing, did I mention? But after some sleep and when the sun had come out, I came to realise that this really is a quite magical little town, full of warm vibes and pleasant surprises. It’s a fitting metaphor for my experience of Mexico as a whole. As I started writing this, the hostel I was staying in was blaring The Black Keys’ El Camino, an album on which I pontificated back when I first came to Mexico, and an album that helped me deal with some of Mexico’s eccentricities. Again, it felt kind of fitting to start wrapping up my time in Mexico in much the same way as I started it.
Mexico has, on and off, been my home for about the last 10 months. I feel truly, genuinely lucky to know this country the way I do. Every day I was taken in some way by the warmth, the colour, and the sheer vibrancy of Mexico. It challenged and frustrated me, but it also delighted me and it just had a way of just getting under my skin. It was not always easy, but it was worth it.
Guatemala's Rio Dulce
And recently, as I was cruising down the Rio Grijalva towards the Cañon del Sumidero, it struck me, for the first real time, that I am living the dream. For years I remember looking at friends’ facebook pages and seeing pictures of their adventures through jungles and highlands, particularly in Central and South America, and thinking how wonderful and exotic it looked. Wasn’t it fantastic that they could speak Spanish to get around, weren’t they brave travelling through the Amazon, and how on earth did they find the money and the time off from work to have all these adventures? It all looked like such an impossible dream; something that I would love to think about doing, but which in my hectic life, would never be my reality.
Chichen Itza
Now here I am on hiatus from work and having, for a brief time, made Mexico home. But still in the midst of my day-to-day life, I’m sometimes too often caught up in what visa I need, which flight to catch where, how to fill in long days of solitude - and yes how the hell am I going to afford all of this?! – to stop and realise that this is the dream.
In NYC
Just over a year ago, I moved out of my apartment, shifted my life into neat boxes in a storage unit, and started my love affair with this part of the world. During my travels last year (which, fittingly, started in Mexico) I met so many folks who were in the midst of a quarter-life crisis, having thrown in a job they barely tolerated to head off, travel, and have some time to themselves. I was 27, and I smugly congratulated myself on loving my job as much as I did, and on knowing exactly who I was, and where my life was headed. Not only did I genuinely look forward to going back to work, but you guys I had a plan. Such a trip for me was just a vacation to a nice place in amongst my real life.
Coachella
16 months later, and it appears my smugness may have been premature. I did promise not to get ‘Eat Pray Love’ about it, and I’m not going to pretend that the last 16 months have been about finding myself. They really haven’t. But plans change, and with it my priorities have changed, and I’m pretty stoked to report that the world didn’t fall apart when my plans changed. And, better than that, flicking through a collection of photos (some of which I have taken the liberty of scattering through this post) it’s evident how much, among the daily logistical questions that come with travel, when I look up, I really have seen and done.
Oaxaca, Mexico
I was lucky to spend my final few days in Mexico not only with treasured Mexican friends, but with friends from home; real gypsies who live in house trucks and spend their lives exploring together. They totally embody the value in slowing down and enjoying the ride, and it was such a treat to spend some time in their easy company. And after my many years of gypsydom of a different kind, I have friends like that all over the world. The kind that you can not see since you last toured New Zealand in the back of a van together, and then randomly meet on the Caribbean coast of Mexico 6 years later. Those kind of friends are truly ace. And, bless their dear souls, they introduced me to Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, who I am listening to as I finish this post.
So, this is it for me and Mexico. I’m packed up and gone. After calling Mexico home on and off, I’ve finished my unfinished business, and I’m excited to see what happens next. I’m lucky to have homes and people all over the world, and I’m grateful that Mexico found its way into my life to be home for a while.
