This fall semester was interrupted by a weekend trip to Mexico. It was too short for all the fun we had. I didn’t take enough pictures. I didn’t visit enough markets or museums. I didn’t get to see pyramids.
But I’m still dreaming of the colors of Mexico.
And the food. I didn’t take pictures of the food, either, so I’ll have to go back and eat more and make sure I take pictures of everything.
Returning to San Antonio wasn’t easy. Not because San Antonio is bland, or boring, and I do like my job and where I live, but the trip to Mexico was magical.
Isn’t every vacation? I realized I hand’t traveled internationally in years, and that in itself was exciting.
Not to mention that I found myself dunked into a foreign-language environment!
Sure, I can read Spanish (I’ll remember to take a pocket dictionary next time or upload one to my phone, because the words I missed seemed to be crucial), and at least I can tell if people are addressing me and I can ask where the bathroom is… But the particular focus required to stitch together what you hear in a not-well-known and unfamiliar language is quite an exercise… And I found that I had missed its like.
I did manage to do a little bit of touristing in Cuernavaca, but most of our attention was on the practical matters of a wedding… Picking foods, colors, making logistics decisions… More people to meet, more fun to be had.
A whole new cuisine (more like a collection of cuisines) to explore.
I had the most wonderful guides for my explorations and the most gracious of hosts. I would have been lost without them, and I’m grateful not only for their warm hospitality, but for their generous sharing of knowledge.
I’ll can’t wait to go back.