Last week in Mexico
Trip Start
Aug 08, 2008
1
14
17
Trip End
Ongoing
Guadalajara,
Central Mexico and Gulf Coast,
Mexico
Friday, October 17, 2008
Still here in Guadalajara, though for sleeping I've relocated to Tlaquepaque (right outside the city, even if it sounds like it should exist in a Dr. Seuss book), where I'm renting an apartment. For the most part, life has been very calm and quiet. This time next week, I'll be in Ecuador!
Got over the cold from hell... though I think I qualified for a world record in snot production. Went through three packages of tissues in 36 hours, which doesn't even include the toilet paper and napkins I used to supplement. You know it's bad when the ice cream man in the park walks up to you, not to sell you ice cream, but to give you tissues. (I've mentioned it before, but Mexicans are generally heartbreakingly kind.)
And speaking of healing and kindness...
Something really amazing happened with my e-mail recently... something which I believe was responsible for helping to feel much, much better.
As I explained last week, I get miserable when I'm not feeling well- a misery that fuels loneliness and spirals down, down, down. In an attempt to minimize that yuckiness, I e-mailed a lot of friends during my snotfest, and, nice people that they are, friends started e-mailing me (even some that I hadn't e-mailed first! Serendipity!).
As I was reading updates and well-wishes, I got to thinking about what an incredible group of people I have in my life. Really. People who are interesting, funny, kind, from all walks of life, and literally from all around the world (god, what I'd pay to get them all in the same room together!). So if any of you are reading this, please know I felt (feel!) so privileged to be somehow connected to you... thank you.
...but yeah.... mushiness, I know.
Having the apartment is nice. I've spent lots of time being domestic- doing things like hand-washing laundry each morning (one of my favorite things ever) and cooking. Last week, I devoted an entire day of my life to beef stew- shopping for ingredients, peeling and chopping vegetables, cooking, eating. It was yummy and I love this life.
It's no secret that I feel better suited to live outside of the US... I think it might be because Tanzania was the place I was first taught (forced?) to take care of myself. Right now, in Mexico- which resembles Africa with it's honest-to-god markets and laundry sinks- I feel like I'm able to treat myself better than I do back home. (If I only had my old charcoal stove!) I love playing homemaker and find feeding myself is somehow more "real" than office work or taking a trip to McDonalds. Granted, it takes considerably more time this way, but time is something I have... (another difference between my US life and my nomad life).
And, granted, most Mexicans I met don't live like I'm trying to- namely like the 21st Century never happened- but at least there's that option here.
A few steps away from my apartment, roasted corn, sugar cane, and dafu (unripe coconut) are available- 3 of my very favorite luxuries, and none of which are readily available in the US (why?!) but are so vividly linked with my experiences abroad.
I will miss it all. ...and even if it sounds like I constantly compare Mexico to Tanzania (which, it's true, I do), I will miss Mexico just for being Mexico....a beautiful, special place that I didn't even know I had room in my heart for.
Got a mass e-mail from Rita Golden Gelman, one of my nomading heroes, yesterday, and while there was tons I could relate to, this stood out for me:
"When I'm 'out there,' my body pounds and I feel a youthful glow of excitement and energy. When I'm a minority of one in a developing country I can't stop smiling. Even an ordinary breakfast, a wander into a store, a sit on a park bench, a meal in a stranger's kitchen give me a surge of joy that I can't duplicate in the developed world."
A wise friend recently told me that perhaps some good preparation for going home might be thinking about a commitment I want to make with myself. It's not a radically new idea for me (feel like I do it all the time- the marathon, for example, this trip even...), but the stakes are higher this time and I don't know if I'm ready. The proposal?: Be me no matter where I am. Yikes.
But even if I'm really sad and scared to be leaving Mexico, I'm also ready. I hate to admit it, but my time in Guadalajara has, and will continue to be, nothing but a buffer. After Mexico City, I was done traveling. Besides being physically sick after leaving DF, I was depressed and homesick.
But I am here in Guadalajara now, am being present, and am feeling good. Had a great day today, including an amazing run. I have big plans for the next several days (including running the marathon!), but everything's still unfolding.
Will update from Ecuador next week, and Peru the week after, and then it will be over. Just like Guadalajara, my time in these places aren't much about traveling... more about people actually, but I'm excited for it, if not entirely prepared.
This is a private blog 
