vacation of a lifetime
it is the end of 2008, possibly the best year i´ve ever lived.
i write this entry from Pedregal, a neighborhood in the south of Mexico City, where i´ve been for nearly three weeks. it´s been a crazy adventure - one that has been poorly documented here because of the constant moving around and because of the vast quantity of emotions and thoughts that have circled through my head and confused my typing fingers.
mexico city is not a tourist attraction. that is, it is not a city you can see by yourself. you have to have an insanely skilled driver to take you through the traffic and confusing freeway exits, an historian to explain to you the foundation on which this country was built and its current economic slash political situation, a wealthy connoisseur to take you to the most delicious restaurants, a fluent Spanish speaker that can muscle his way out of a confrontation with the police, and a generous host whose home has many gates and locks. with glenny´s family, i´ve had it all, which has made for a truly unique and much needed vacation. without it, i would have survived two days. here people talk openly about police corruption, about the unsuccessful war on drug trafficking, about severe poverty and pollution. it seems that not a single family has been spared loss due to kidnapping and ransom demands - at some point, as i just learned, there were six kidnappings per day in this city alone. still, there is the most sincere, unexplainable love that people have for this country and with it comes the most intense desire to share it with others and to make them fall in love with it too. i am not susceptible because i have never felt attached to any land or flag, but the hospitality and generosity and the general closeness between people here has been unforgettable. i´ve been fortunate and grateful to see the very best of mexican culture.
i´ve been here long enough that i´m no longer treated as a guest. i kind of float between remaining a foreigner and attempting to integrate into the family - into the lifestyle - in some fashion. its proved to be a frustrating task because everyone has their own super complicated story, one that, even if i wanted to know, i´d have no business of knowing. more than once (and more than twice but less than ten times), i´ve found myself caught in crossfire and in misunderstandings that have really broken me. i think everything hurts more when you´re far away from home, especially during the holidays, and when you need to make a good impression on everyone.
but really none of that matters because i´m here with rodri. i´ve made the journey for him and with him, and i´ve learned a lot about his roots, which are really important (more to him than to me, but if believes them to be such a big part of who he is, then i think should get to know them well.) yesterday we returned from spending a week in the woods of Michoacan with his fam, which was spectacularly relaxing. i crashed a fourwheeler into a tree the day after christmas and absolutely destroyed it. he laughed and then talked the guy out of making me pay for the damages. today he shaved and put on a clean shirt and i thought: wow, i could marry this guy.
i can´t think of a better thought to end this year with.
i write this entry from Pedregal, a neighborhood in the south of Mexico City, where i´ve been for nearly three weeks. it´s been a crazy adventure - one that has been poorly documented here because of the constant moving around and because of the vast quantity of emotions and thoughts that have circled through my head and confused my typing fingers.
mexico city is not a tourist attraction. that is, it is not a city you can see by yourself. you have to have an insanely skilled driver to take you through the traffic and confusing freeway exits, an historian to explain to you the foundation on which this country was built and its current economic slash political situation, a wealthy connoisseur to take you to the most delicious restaurants, a fluent Spanish speaker that can muscle his way out of a confrontation with the police, and a generous host whose home has many gates and locks. with glenny´s family, i´ve had it all, which has made for a truly unique and much needed vacation. without it, i would have survived two days. here people talk openly about police corruption, about the unsuccessful war on drug trafficking, about severe poverty and pollution. it seems that not a single family has been spared loss due to kidnapping and ransom demands - at some point, as i just learned, there were six kidnappings per day in this city alone. still, there is the most sincere, unexplainable love that people have for this country and with it comes the most intense desire to share it with others and to make them fall in love with it too. i am not susceptible because i have never felt attached to any land or flag, but the hospitality and generosity and the general closeness between people here has been unforgettable. i´ve been fortunate and grateful to see the very best of mexican culture.
i´ve been here long enough that i´m no longer treated as a guest. i kind of float between remaining a foreigner and attempting to integrate into the family - into the lifestyle - in some fashion. its proved to be a frustrating task because everyone has their own super complicated story, one that, even if i wanted to know, i´d have no business of knowing. more than once (and more than twice but less than ten times), i´ve found myself caught in crossfire and in misunderstandings that have really broken me. i think everything hurts more when you´re far away from home, especially during the holidays, and when you need to make a good impression on everyone.
but really none of that matters because i´m here with rodri. i´ve made the journey for him and with him, and i´ve learned a lot about his roots, which are really important (more to him than to me, but if believes them to be such a big part of who he is, then i think should get to know them well.) yesterday we returned from spending a week in the woods of Michoacan with his fam, which was spectacularly relaxing. i crashed a fourwheeler into a tree the day after christmas and absolutely destroyed it. he laughed and then talked the guy out of making me pay for the damages. today he shaved and put on a clean shirt and i thought: wow, i could marry this guy.
i can´t think of a better thought to end this year with.