Mexico On My Mind

Everyone knows the game plan. We plan on spending 3 months of the winter in Mexico this year.

My kids are starting to be less surprised at my crazy adventures; my grandkids think I’m pretty cool and my husband is always tolerant (Thank God!!) and he may be just a little crazy too, because he always seems to go along with most of my crazy ideas.

I love Mexico and travel there as often as I can. So when people ask me “Why Mexico?”, I am never sure what to say. The “snowbirds” from the northeast generally go to Florida for the winter, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone ask them “Why Florida?”

I know that the ones that have to ask “Why Mexico?“ only know the border towns like Tijuana and Nogales or they are too familiar with resorts like the concrete jungle of Cancun and other resort areas; where the only Mexicans that they come in contact with are the maids that clean their rooms or those serving their food.
It’s another Mexico that I love so much. The wonderful colonial cities with their wide boulevards, central plazas and huge churches, the little fishing villages with their gravel streets and deserted beaches, the beautiful countryside, the majestic mountains.

But mostly the reason I keep going back is the Mexican people. They are so warm and friendly and family orientated. It’s a common every day sight to see 3 or sometimes 4 generations of a family strolling together or sitting together; just being together and enjoying each other’s company. They are a happy people, always smiling and laughing. And once you get to know them, you have a friend for life. Their loving ways and simplistic lifestyle is something that has been lost in America.

Even though I live in a small town in the country, the America that I grew up in is gone. It feels shameful to feel it and even more so to say it, but today, in America, we live a shallow life of materialism and junk food. We’ve lost sight of thinking for ourselves; our knowledge, our information and how we see world is limited to 15 second bytes on the nightly news. We are a warrior nation who has become disconnected with the simple value of just how precious life is. I have to wonder, where are we going from here? Have we lost our way? Will we survive…find our way back to some semblance of values? I hope so.

So when I am asked “Why Mexico?” , I just smile, shrug my shoulders, and say “Why not?”… all the while I’m dreaming of sitting in a tree lined plaza, listening to Mariachi music and watching the simple lifestyle of the Mexican people play itself out.
Adios
Gypsy Girl