Maddy's Travels

Various friends have accompanied me on my trips to Mexico.  Last year our B&B hostess labeled us “Las Guapas” (The Beauties).  The group is growing.  My friends continue to follow me like the Pied Piper on my journeys.  This year, friends from different trips assembled on varying schedules.  At its largest, there were eight of us on the roof deck of our favorite restaurant, watching the sky turn pink and crimson.  Was it really turning those colors, or was it the Margaritas?

 

Why do we love this country, this town so far from the beach?  Let’s start with the $35 two hour massage/facial.  And what of the sweet sounds of women sweeping the grass in the garden with a broom, of the cacophony of church bells ringing from all directions?  The climate is perfect in March – a dry 85 degrees in the day, light sweater needed in evening.  My vacation reading this year “Avoiding Prison and Other Noble Vacation Goals (Adventures in Love and Danger)” by Wendy Dale says:

 

“On the other side of an international border, even walking across the ground felt new.  It was like a drug induced high, only better – with travel, the next morning when you woke up, you were still there.”

 

Much of our fun involves the bastardizing of Spanish with our varying levels of incompetence.  Why was my Mexican friend, Beatriz talking about being “constipado” at the table?  A-Ha!  It only means “congested”.  And then there was Jodi, trying to tell the cab driver to chill out - “Keep your pants on” was the expression she was going for:  “Quedase (remain) en sus pantalones.  Except she said “Quitase (as in remove your pants!) 

 

The second half of my trip took me to Puebla, and small colonial city, (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) a half a day’s journey away.  I have never seen more lip locked lovers anywhere – the waiter almost had to pry apart a very middle aged couple to place the coffee on the table.  It was cute, gross, AND I was jealous all at the same time.

 

I connected with a Cuban friend I’d met on my trip there.  His parents and sister live in Mexico.  This was his first trip outside Cuba.  It took three years to get the necessary visa to leave.  I was party to some contentious arguments about Fidel.  Although I didn’t quite understand what the disagreement was, it seemed that no one was outright against Fidel.  Still, what will Ivan think when he returns to a country that bans the internet?

 

I have not yet talked of food – of the five flavors of mole sauce – varying combinations of sweet, picante, chocolate, nutty.

 

Travel sometimes has those discomforting moments – where am I?  Where do I get off the bus?  These moments pass quickly with special travel moments.  Twenty five school kids clamored around me as I tried to teach them “How are you?”  “What’s your name?” and finally waving and saying “bye bye”.  Then there were the two women who went so far out of their way to get me on the right bus.  When I paid their fare, they said “no, that’s too much!”  It was all of 80 cents.   Walking down a tiny street in a tiny town, my Cuban friends and I stopped at a tiny store.  We ended up spending a spontaneous afternoon drinking cerveza with the Columbian family that owned it.  Life rarely affords opportunities for such spontaneity.  It is a real treat.

 

When it was time to go home, I was ready to return to its comfort and familiarity.  I’ll try though to keep the special moments with me.