Wrapping up my final days in Mexico
I’m in Puebla now for one more day. WiFi has been poor so I haven’t written, downloaded photo’s, uploaded videos or any of those blog related things. Here, it is a bit faster but it still has taken me several hours just to move and edit images, work with a couple video’s and so forth.
Yesterday, I received a notice that my email was sent. I sent it on Monday…yesterday was Thursday! Yes, things move at a slower pace here and everything seems to work out just fine!
I’ve had an excellent trip! And my body is tired! Arriving here in Puebla after a full day of travel, I planned to sit and rest. That worked for a few minutes until I went out to get some dinner. And then, before I knew it, I had been walking and exploring for several hours!
More determined, I was going to take it easy yesterday. However, I wanted to buy a couple things I am unable to find in the US! A simple task I assumed! However…it was not to be! Some of the stores I found on google were no longer in business. Then, I found myself near the market so went in looking for the great taco’s I had. Wandering isle to isle, looking for something familiar, I was suddenly overwhelmed by all the stimulus. My fatigue contributed to that feeling. So, I left!
Remembering where we had the great cemita’s before, I walked about 15 blocks looking for that place. My visual memory and spacial memory are really good! Having a sense of the general area, I did find it!
Huge sandwich, providing both lunch and dinner, this is a famous sandwich this area is known for! Everything is fresh from the cheese to the chicken to the bun!
Plus, it’s a family run restaurant with kids and grandma present. Such a nice experience! The kids quickly turned from shy to playful with me adding to my experience!
Time???
Time has flown by! But that didn’t always feel true! This trip began with a glimmer of an ideas last May or June! As travel restrictions continued to drop, I began considering a longer trip exploring and wandering with my backpack! And I have loved being in Oaxaca for Dia de Los Muertos.
My first step was to check and see if lodging was available, it often books a year in advance! The hostels were still recovering, communication a bit sketchy, but I found available space which was perfect for me! The next step was checking in to flights!
At first, flights were extremely pricey! At one point, I considered minimizing my trip, focusing on Oaxaca and Puebla and flying from Denver to Cancun! From Cancun, I found a very inexpensive flight with Volaris. Round trip, that route was well under half what it initially looked like flying into Mexico City.
However, that is NOT the trip I felt I wanted to experience! So, patience and persistence paid off as I got a notice of 50% discount flying with Volaris. The good news, they fly direct from Denver to Mexico City. The bad news, I haven’t traveled here for so long, I forgot some of the basics!
While flights initially appear really inexpensive, passengers must purchase everything else individually. There is airport tax added. Want to choose a seat, pay in advance. Carry-0n luggage is not included nor is checked luggage so purchasing both of those is necessary. Flexibility options and premium boarding can also be purchased!
Thinking I’d be flying light, I made my decision and purchased my ticket. And then the fine print intervened! My travel “fit under the seat in front of you bag” with computer, camera, lenses and so forth was heavy. My backpack is carry on size but…the combined weight of both might not work. It took me SIX phone calls, numerous futile attempts to connect with the airline via WhatsApp and Messenger to no avail. Finally, I talked to a most helpful man who knew the regulations and was very clear!
My memory of travel returned! Now, I remembered how inexpensive it was to purchase everything I might need at the time I bought my ticket. Ah ha! Experience!! I had to pay an additional $60 to check my bag…initially they told me it would be $100 or more. At the time of purchase, that was around $35.
I love clarity!! And I had to be really patient to get there with any representative from Volaris. Next time, get everything I might need at the time of purchase!
The photo’s above are my travel packs. The small black one I keep with me always. The blue shoulder bag is my “essential equipment” bag plus anything I want access to flying. It’s much heavier than I would like and I’m considering leaving my laptop and camera at home next time bringing only my iPad and small point-and-shoot camera. That would mean less blogging and more reliance on facebook? That is unclear as of yet.
The black large backpack is the biggest one I have now. It is 30% smaller and 7 pounds lighter than my old Madden mountaineering pack I once traveled with! The only reason I need that for this trip was because of the Oaxaca treats I am bringing home with me. Even with that, the pack weighs only 37 pounds or so! Still, I have some things I’ll leave home next time.
Once home, I’ll go through every single thing in the backpack and write down a list of things I will take and things I’d leave next time! The climate affected me this time! The last time here, it was really cold! So I brought along extra cold weather gear that I never used since it was not ever that cold!
So these final days of this journey began close to six months ago! What a journey it’s been and I mean all of it going back to the planning and getting ready part!
Engaged!
Traveling slow. Talking to everyone. Working on my Spanish every day. Connecting with travelers. Conversations with local people, taxi drivers, restaurant staff, etc…this has been such a richly engaging experience. I love walking everywhere! People smile and say hello! Neighboring tables interact with me in restaurants. It’s such a contrast to the isolated life more common in the US! And, I’ll need to remember how to drive soon! I plan on bringing this sense of engagement back with me!
Cost and bugdet!
Yesterday, I went for one last walk to the bakery for something to treat myself with. I found a very tasty carrot cake, the kind that will last for three days with a nibble here and there. The cost of that cake was $55 pesos. That would be restrictive to many local people! I had lunch several days ago, tacos and something to drink at a local stand for $50 pesos!
Recently, in Boulenc restaurant in Oaxaca, I was looking at the menu prices which are much higher than the local restaurant I had been eating at. But, I was here for a treat. And high prices meant breakfast might cost me $10 US rather than $5 US. I noticed a Mexican couple at a table near me ordering, and ordering, and ordering….mimosa’s, croissant, breakfast, coffee, more food. It’s likely their breakfast cost $800 pesos. This is the new Mexico, similar to America, where there is a large division in wealth. The poor remain poor. The wealthy continue to be more wealthy.
But options that are affordable remain easy to find! That is more difficult in the US! I went to one Mexico restaurant that was new and recommended in Longmont. A burrito and soda was around $14 US! Nearly across the street is a favorite place where I can purchase more tasty burrito’s for $4.50. But those low cost tasty options are far fewer in the US!
Coming back from Huatulco to Oaxaca, I noticed a couple things. San Jose del Pacifico is an area made famous by their psychedelic mushrooms. When I was there five years ago, it was a bump in the road. Now, there is much more development, more traffic, wood framed homes with sliding windows and much of the traffic passing through is nearly new cars! BMW’s and Mercedes and Audi are common! The economy is doing well!!
And this, a photo of me with my hair cut yesterday from Juanita! Cost of a local hair cut was $4. Rents and costs are such that people are not driven to constantly raise prices just to survive! You can find salons that charge much more but, these kind of affordable services are available.
Insights!?!?
I practice living NOW, in the moment. And I travel from feel, not from planning. Of course planning is involved but it comes from what feels right first. One other thing I do, I focus on talking to people from NOW, this moment, rather than telling old familiar stories! That’s been really helpful. Someone asks me “what do you do”…and I feel in this moment right now asking myself “What is the answer to that right now”?
Within the first couple days of arriving in Guanajuato, I found a great massage therapist. After, we talked about healing and managing energy and such. She stopped for a moment before looking at me and asking, “Have you thought of writing a book”? Since then, at least five or six more people have asked me that! I mentioned that to a friend in San Miguel and she said “I’d read anything you wrote”!
So one new thing is feeling into the possibility of writing a book! I don’t want to “write” a book but to have a feeling of the book flowing through me. When I work with groups, I plan a lot and have many options available to flex into if needed. But, when I begin, I don’t know where I’ll start until the last minute. Often, a conversation, a comment, overhearing what people are talking about during a break, some small thing will pop up directing me at the last minute where to begin and then how to flow.
That’s the type of writing I would like to participate with. I saw a PBS special on Elmore Leonard. A friend of Elmore Leonard, a well known and significant writer, shared advice he always gave to aspiring writers. The advice, “Please, don’t try to write”! That’s the idea!
One other very obvious impression I have here: the Mexican culture is friendly, loving, warm and inviting! They might not have a lot but they share and they are happy! Of course, the qualifier: I am too! Maybe we evoke that from each other? But it’s the one consistent I see from nearly 40 years of traveling in Mexico!
Culture, food and experiences!
So many highlights from this trip! One thing I am clear about is that I spent a bit too much time in Oaxaca. It was overwhelming and tiring. Of course, I could have had more discipline and stopped but I loved every minute of immersing myself in the experience. However, it was a completely different energy from slow travel discovery I love. Next time, I’ll have that in mind!
Some images from my experience below!
Manuel and guests from Rhodas Hostel in PueblaIf Catrina’s represent what we loved in life, this could be me!Or this, me drinking coffee?Or this…hammock dude!Relaxing at the beachGreat food!!Fresh tasting everything!New friends and great connections!Learning more about Mezcal!
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Final Procession in Oaxaca…such fun!!
And the Cemetery experience!
Images from the past Six weeks
now…..heading home!
Early in my travel days, I often traveled to get away. However, that always included major culture shock when I got home. So I started traveling intent on staying present from moment to moment, never leaving myself, being present with the experience. When I continue that on returning to the US, the adjustment is minimal.
What is more challenging is the culture change. I’ve asked several people here who lived in the US and then moved back to Mexico what the culture experience was like!? Two men made identical comments: “It’s easier for me to find a friendly Mexican than a friendly American”! The adjustment for me is how differently the cultures go through life…one being very social and interactive and the other being very isolated and “thing’ oriented. I heard a psychologist once describe the culture in the US as a “psychosis of more”. People seem to be constantly striving for MORE. More stuff. More money. A bigger home. Something always out of reach. But also something external that never brings real inter satisfaction!
That is the adjustment for me when I get back to the US! It’s a busy culture. How have you been? BUSY! I have never heard the word BUSY here!
So one journey is ending, the other about to begin again!
Ciao!