I guess after 9 years of getting someone, usually Linda, Barbara and Heather, the well is going dry will have to think of something special for next year!!
I had a good sleep and was on the road by 6.30am I think you all know I love sunset shots but because of my sleeping habits I do not get the chance to take many sunrise shots but here is one from the road this morning!!!
Would this be allowed in your country!!!
I always think of Table Mountain in South Africa when I pass this…
Really was not an eventful drive at all I only went through one city and because of road construction and diversions got a little lost but plugged in the gps and only took me a few minutes to find my way.
The roads were really quiet which surprised me being so close to Easter …
I only stopped once for gas and a couple of times for a pit stop…but I did go through lots of toll booths
Total cost of the tolls today was 860 pesos!!
and exactly 11 hours and 975 km later I was pulling into my Hotel…
I have stayed here about 4 times and I even got the same room…it is safe with a guard and a gate and you drive right to your room…
I walked around the pool and the grounds for about 40 minutes and I enjoyed relaxing and getting some movement into my old joints!!!!
As I came back to the car I noticed the rear nearside tire was very low…..I checked it out and it was indeed really low I asked at the reception about a tire repair shop and wouldn’t you know it there is one right across the street so I drove over…
The two guys working must have been in their seventies but they got right to work
and this was the problem
They soon had me fixed and it was 50 pesos really un believable!!!!
Back at my room it was time for
I bought the little kettle last year and it is great!!!
Had a long shower and I find that I do not eat very much when I am driving and travelling so supper was just grapes and tea and after the blog going to watch a movie on the computer….
This was the drive today
and Jiménez is where I am staying….another long drive tomorrow and I have a room booked in Sierra Vista in the good old US of A!!!!!!!
So a great first day on the road!!!
I think this is so well written!!!!
Mexico: A Cautionary Tale
I was warned.
Repeatedly.
Warned.
So many times it lost its potency.
Warned.
By well-meaning friends
living in "safe" gated communities with armed guards
By acquaintances
who have never been here
By media reports
glamorizing and spreading alarm
Who have a different definition of danger. And of what
constitutes safety.
Stupid me!
I didn't listen
to any of it.
Adventurous, perhaps with a death wish,
I didn't look.
Worse.
I wasn't careful.
And…
In "dangerous" Mexico,
I was robbed.
Stupid, stupid me!
Yes, Mexico…
stole from me…
A smile.
At first.
And then,
they got bolder
and took…
A laugh.
and bolder still, they ran off with…
my poor self-image.
Which turned into a larger felony: They took …
time
to fill me with compliments!
Telling me
repeatedly
how wonderful it is…
to be a woman
of experience.
Who smiles.
Who laughs.
Repeatedly.
Time after time. Again and again.
Until
finally, I believed them.
As I was smiling and laughing, and actually trusting myself,
They had the nerve to go and pick-pocket my lingering self-doubts,
my well-nurtured insecurities including
my belief that "real beauty" was limited to youth…
While I was still reeling in shock,
from having been robbed,
and pick-pocketed
Mexicans took
the opportunity to kill my previous ideas of what constituted
"hospitality",
replacing it with a generosity
that
is frightening
to even try to emulate,
yet so, so fortunate to know.
See how really dangerous Mexico is?
And it got even worse!
I hadn't recovered from such brutal behavior, when
they committed another truly horrible,
almost unspeakable
crime.
They gave me hope and optimism.
Repeatedly.
About who I was.
About who I could be.
About who we could be together.
Amongst wrapping me in love and force-feeding me laughter and
compliments and
smothering me in generosity
and unfathomably fabulous hospitality,
I was rendered helpless.
Utterly
helpless.
Stupid, stupid, stupid me.
I did not cry for help
or
run away.
Mexico took complete advantage of my situation and committed the
biggest atrocity of all. Once again, they stole …
my heart –
and my soul.
Now I'm so scared -
deeply, utterly terrified -
that I cannot return the favor.
Never happier,
I steal away…
to wish
this kind of "danger" on everyone.
JC Sullivan is a poet and writer and also a member of the Travelers
Century Club for people who have been to more than 100 countries
Yashi Kochi!!!!
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