The longuest stay in a Mexican city: Querétaro

After mom left, I decided to relax for a bit, as being a full time tour guide is enjoyable but also tirering! Initially, I decided to stay in Querétaro, the last city mom and I spent together in, because it was simply the easiest way to continue my journey. However, I realized that, the longer I stay in a place, the harder it is to leave as we are definitely creatures of habit and I started to grow attachments with the locals and the places I frequent, notably the gourmet restaurant "El Rojo esta mejor" (pic with owners in front of resto), and Blanca, a store clerk with whom I chatted easily for 3hrs as I stumbled upon her clothing store :)

After arriving back from the airport, I felt a sense of loss and loneliness. I decided to just relax, visit my favorite restaurant, and then take a quiet walk alone in the centre. 20 steps later, my eyes met those of a Mexican, who has till then, given me a welcoming smile for the 3rd time. We ended up chatting for 2hrs until night falls. I later shared my thoughts with a friend and indeed, humans do care for each other, and particularly when a feeling of desolateness settles, a smile and warmth of another soul is most welcomed and appreciated. Humans bond easily, regardless of colour, language, past and future :) And I thought that my emotions would get the best part of me for awhile, however this short encounter fueled in me the strength of a new beginning. In hindsight, had I spent the time alone, it would have taken longer to start, all within a day's time. Thus shows the power of social interaction that I lack and refuse to commit to, in my routine life at home. Alas, another lesson learned.

My stay kept on being prolonged day after day, as I wasn't able to leave the food, nor the people! I started to know the hostal so well that I was welcoming newcomers and showing them the places to go to and do. I kept on repeating to myself that I need to plan the rest of my journey, but kept on failing to do so as my heart refused to accept that I'll have to leave Mexico one day and continue further. What I did accomplish though, in the 10 days spent in Querétaro, is practicing a lot of Spanish! or rather listening :) as I noticed, Mexicans LOVE to talk! and most would not hesitate to share their life story, as Marie Carmen, a lady from the hostal talked to me about her life and the discontent of her parents. Culture and history is much more fun to learn it this way!

Finally, without planning or rather thanks to my inability to plan, I felt that my time in Querétaro is finally up (ok after a friend of mine cooked two delicious Yucatecan dishes!). Although I met my first "couch surfing" host, a French lady whom shared with me her love for the city, I only spent 1 night at her place. As comfortable and enticing as it is, somehow, I had a very strong feeling that I had to leave. Such premonitions are such rarity to me!! But yet, I felt it. How strange, but I welcome them and followed them by leaving a piece of me behind in Querétaro, and onto Real de Catorce, where a mystical force of the semi-desert awaits.

Just dropped mom off at the airport and am sitting here trying to recount the memories, the places we've been, the things we've shared... We've visited more than

• 12 cities (Mexico City, Valladolid, Tulum, Isla Mujeres, Oaxaca, Morelia, Patzcuaro, Quiroga, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, San Miguel del Allende, Querétaro)
• in 8 different states (Mexico, Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Oaxaca, Michoacán, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Querétaro),
• seen 5 major ruins/pyramids,
• slept at 10 different places,
• each took turn in getting sick (I will spare you the details!),
• met a German Jehova's witness who pulled out the bible in the middle of the conversation and started to explain me about having faith in God (Querétaro),
• met an older but handsome policeman on motocycle in Valladolid that came up to talk to me and was enchanted that I could speak Spanish and welcomed me to his city,
• did the first hitch hike together and got picked up within a few seconds by the owner of the hotel that we were staying in! (he just owns, but doesn't manage it) in Tulum
• watched mom being convinced in an almost hour long beguiling conversation by a very talented, charming and patient snorkling tour seller! Her main concern was not to be exposed to the blasing sun in the midst of the day. And guess what, now that I asked her what did she enjoyed the most? It was that snorkling trip! I'd have to thank the talented salesman at Isla Mujeres! Even I wouldn't have been able to convince my mom to inhibit her vampiric tendencies (yes, she cringes from the sun at EVERY MOMENT!)
• met the most friendly boy in the park of Mexico City who came up to talk to us and shared us his experiences on chilies and all the good food that his mom's street stand offers all the while continuously corrected my Spanish as I speak, and my mom shared with him her knowledge of origami! He left excited that he learnt how to make a balloon out of paper! and me, impressed that my mom has a lot more tricks up her sleeves that I'm unaware of!
• had a mexican boy who got his friend to ask me the permission to take a picture with me as a souvenir on top of the Teotihuacan pyramid nearby Mexico City
• dined with mom in a small pedestrian street in Mexico City while all of a sudden she bursted into singing a tune as the music plays "besame, besame mucho"!!! it was the first time I heard my mom sing anything else than nursery rhymes! It was a moment that will remain in memory for a longgg time :) She told me that it was a famous song that even in her days, she heard it loads!! You have to know that my mom is not the type to share a lot about her past, but sudden outburst like this is to be treasured!
• had a lady who suddenly came up to us while we were eating a snack at the park in Oaxaca, and asked me what is a good recipe for "chinese" food, meanwhile wasted no time during the conversation as she took one of her breast out and started feeding her baby, while the other hand was jotting down the ingredients that I've listed to her. She even told us that if we wanted to have asian food, she was gonna go to the only asian restaurant closeby that is about 20min drive by car and invited us to join her. When we declined, she left as fast as she has came. Talk about a woman with a purpose!!
• had a fantastic time with Angelica and mom, a good friend of mine in Oaxaca who taught me all the necessary slang to survive in the streets of Mexico (see pic in front of church!)
• met 2 very friendly american couples from North Carolina with whom we shared several breakfasts together, stories, and tips went to a "tianguis" (an ambulant outdoor market that moves everyday to a different "pueblo" which means village in Spanish) in Ocotlán. And on the way, Mike and Tanya (see pic of us lunching) demystified the famous fraternity of the Masons to me from a real Mason's perspective, and a mason's wife' perspective :)
• convinced mom to open the bottle of mezcal (which is basically undistilled tequila made from a cactus called "maguey") when she remebered that it may help kill the germs that lurk in some of the Mexican food! She also finished a small bottle of brandy that the american couples left us. Not only did she drink them, but finished all 3/4 liter of mezcal and the brandy as well by the end of our trip! The day that I got sick and she didn't while we both ate the same food. That day, she ingested 3 shots and I did not... The theory really does seem to apply in this case! (pic)
• partied with a super friendly hostel employer and his friends in a gay disco when I mentionned that I noticed some gay men in the city. They decided to show me what it is like to party in Guadalajara and to drink Tequila, a la mexicaña (the mexican way), which is straight from the bottle: Mouth open, neck back, down comes the Tequila!
• met a fruit vendor in Guadalajara who took out a fruit from under his cabinet and cleaned, cut, prepared (salt, lemon and chili powder) a fruit especially for the both of us that he was convinced, we've never tasted before! And was proud that he was the first to be able to open our eyes to the wonderful fruit that is from his state! (see pics)
• met a German on the bus, who's been living in Mexico for 30 yrs, divorced and has 3 daughters living in Mexico. He invited us to travel with him, his oldest daughter and his daughter's bf (who's a German on school exchange in Mexico!) for a day in Guanajuato (pic) and was very courteous, and eager to share his mexican experience with us and wanted me to practice German with him. A few days later he even picked us up from our hotel and drove us to another town with his youngest daughter. We even spent a day at a thermal spring (see pic) with the two, nearby San Miguel del Allende at which point his compliments to me turned rather unproper... At that point, I knew I would decline "politely" his invitation to go visit him and his family in his hometown.
• met the daughter (see pic) and the wife of an artist (originally from Chile) in Bernal whom i've purchased jewelry from and heard from my bare ears that he had spent 4 1/2 months with a simple bike (no gears) and a hamac from Panama all the way up to Guatemala, surviving solely on his craftmanship, that of making jewelery!
• crossed paths with many more fabulously friendly Mexicans and travelers, young and old alike who've made this trip a memorable one :)

I cannot say if this is what I had expected or not, as I had only envisioned to share the experience I've last had in Mexico with my mother. What I did forget and did not plan for, is that we are indeed very different and don't see things with the same perspective! I had to remind her often to stop worrying about details (put on sun screen, walk on the shady side of the street, etc.) and enjoy the beautiful scenary and the people surrouding us. I had to remind her to stop looking at the ground and look up!!

My mother is not one that expresses lots of emotions or share her thoughts. I'd like to believe that, albeit critical, she enjoyed all that we've seen and done together. We tasted different types of fruits and foods, shared stories from her childhood with me that I've never heard, had a bit of a quarrel, showed me some more tricks from her taiwanese ways (and laughed at me for being afraid of bargaining and being too unassuming thanks to my canadian upbringing)... Some positive things I know for sure, is that she is now very fit and has happily shed some weight for being such a trooper backpacking with me at the age of 62, and had experience the kind of traveler's life that she has already read about in books but has never lived. It was also important for me to show her my way of traveling and living, so she is less worried for letting her daughter travel for an extended period of time abroad.

Thus ends the paragraph of 32 days in Mexico with mom. We survived being together 24hrs/32 days! And this is when my journey REALLY begins...