After a couple of days on the beach we decided to pop back into town today. Easier said than done on a lazy Monday afternoon. This anchorage is a few miles from town and literally the only thing out here on the entire bay are incredibly dilapidated fish restaurants. So on a day like this, after a busy weekend, there is hardly a cockroach stirring.
We asked at the first couple of restaurants if they could call us a taxi, but either they had no cell phone or the cell wasn’t working, I couldn’t make out which. So we just continued walking and talking to whomever we ran across until we came across an older guy cleaning a pile of shrimp on a plastic table in the road. He yelled across the street to his wife who came out and gave us the same spiel about the phone. So we continued on again. Then they called us back. The guy was finishing up and was going into town for more shrimp (in case a customer actually showed up and then ordered three kilos of shrimp), he could take us. Nice. When we got there I handed him 50 pesos, the taxi fare, which he happily accepted, though I got the impression that he wouldn’t have said a word had we simply climbed out and said gracias.
In town we went to a tiny taco restaurant that we’d eaten at last year. There are only two tables, both of which were taken, but they didn’t mind squeezing us in. We were waited on by a gloriously large grandmotherly type whom we immediately remembered. She squeezed the kids and then about a minute later asked us if we’d been in there before. She remembered Lowe. I remember that day that Lowe got passed around like a hackey-sack between all the ladies in the restaurant and even a few passersby.
Lunch was great and while we sat there afterwards Ouest found a kid’s toy on the floor. It belonged to a grandchild of the lady’s but after watching our kids both play and fight over it she asked us if we’d like to take it with us and bring it back tomorrow. A sweet offer.
Then we walked across the street to play in the plaza. It wasn’t long before a local girl came over to join in. In every plaza in Mexico there are young girls who spend their entire day looking for something to do while their mom sells newspapers or trinkets or whatever. Ali keeps balloons in her purse to pull out when our kids are looking for something new to do so we blew up three and passed them out. The kids started running around with those, and the girl’s sister joined in to, but within a couple of minutes balloons started popping and we were down to one.
The girls ran off and I figured we were done, but then they came screaming back with two huge balloons their mom had pulled from her cart full of miscellany. She’d been sitting back quietly on the other side of the plaza watching everything that was going on. The kids all had a blast bouncing those all over the place until the girls were called off to go to dinner. The mom waved us off as if to say the balloons were ours and then they all disappeared.
When we finally convinced our kids that it was time to get going Ali and I couldn’t decide what to do about the balloons. Bring them back over to her cart? Accept them as gifts? What if she didn’t mean them as gifts? What to do, what to do? Ouest would have died of a broken heart if we’d taken her giant yellow balloon from her so we eventually settled on sneaking over and leaving a few pesos for them.
Anyway, that short afternoon in San Blas pretty much encapsulated all that we love about Mexico. The friendliness, caring, unselfishness, and genuine affection for children are incomparable here.
11 Comments on “The Best of Mexico”
I grew up like this.. so thank you for bringing me back to those beautiful childhood memories!! Sitting here on my desk in the great Corporate America, these pictures have caused me to close my eyes and remember my childhood in Mexico. I could even feel the sun, the breeze and the laughter that Ouest and Lowe were feeling during those moments. So glad they get to enjoy life as this!!
Thank you for that Mely. That’s what it’s all about for us, giving them a life that they will remember fondly when they are older, no matter what or where they may be.
Love the shots of Lowe surfing. Something tells me those won’t be the last.
That’s beautiful Mely!
Good people living simply … Mexico sounds like our kinda place! While we love our country, we can’t wait to get away. Too much materialism and “entitlement”. I guess we’ll have to deal with the “swell” swell. I like heeling, but admit I find it scary too! I can see where a catamaran would be more comfortable, especially when trying to sleep!
Mexico is everyone’s kind of place. If it isn’t there is something fundamentally wrong with you. 🙂 And yes, yes, I remember sleeping. I did that once many years ago. Good times.
Your photography is so excellent.
GREAT photos as usual. I especially love the very first one of Ouest and Lowe as mirror images and all the balloon photos. Those are much bigger, nicer balloons than I envisioned while reading the text — it was wise and kind of you to leave a few pesos for the lady who provided them. What a lovely day!
Ha–I love the little girl not that much bigger than Lowe trying to carry him and how he’s not having a fit. He’s a trooper.
Pat & Ali – what you said about the friendliness, unselfishness, caring and regard for kids is why I love Costa Rica, where those qualities exist also. I did travel in my stepvan in Mexico with my 4 yr old son for many months (37 yrs ago!) and I know it influenced his outlook. Your kids are amazing and will be wonderful people to have in the world.
Pat, where did you get those black and white board shorts? I have been looking for some like that forever.