Reflections on Mexico

After our big push across the desert we are relaxing in the Silver City RV Park and reflecting on our Mexico adventures. We travelled about 6,000 kilometers, saw some beautiful places, had some amazing experiences and met some wonderful people. We managed to make it to Zacatecas and to Patzcuaro as well as to San Juan del Rio to visit the Reyes family. But after more than six weeks in a different culture, we were ready to leave and return to a more familiar one. We didn't actually realize until we got to Silver City how much stress we had been under trying to function with our limited language skills and travel around with the dogs and an unreliable vehicle.

We have learned more about Mexico and its people on this trip. Mexico is a beautiful and incredibly varied country but its greatest treasure is its people. We knew that the Mexican people are warm and helpful, but this was demonstrated over and over again. Even when we were confused or worried we were always treated with respect and kindness. Our fractured Spanish was always met with gracious smiles and helpfulness. In all our dealings with people we found them to be unfailingly polite and honest.

We learned that it's pretty important to have a working knowledge of Spanish in order to explore the culture of Mexico beyond the tourist scene. We saw every day just how warm and courteous the people are to each other. Mexican culture places high value on these interactions and it is difficult to manage these with only limited vocabularay. Sure we had a few words like “ola, buenas dias” “con permisso” “por favor” “muchas gracias” “como esta” and “una pregunta” to start with. And we could smile at people, wave at kids, and coo at babies. Whenever we tried to interact person to person we were never disappointed with the results. But we'd like to do some studying to improve our Spanish so we can communicate more easily next time and learn more about the people and the country.

We had a great time in Mexico and now we're happy to be back in an English-speaking country. It's a relief to be able to relax and interact with people in a more natural way. But we're not finished with Mexico. We are planning to come down next year in our van (not Mohita) and perhaps rent an apartment somewhere for a couple of months, so we can also invite family and friends down to share our fun.

Meanwhile, we're enjoying being in the southwest of the USA and we'll keep you posted on our journeys here as we wend our way back to BC.