The Arrival

I wrote this post on Saturday night, but later deleted it on accident... I decided to re-post it for my own records. :)

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There are a few times in life when I've had to pinch myself to really believe that I'm alive. The last 24 hours have been one of them. Boarding the plane in Vegas, I thought things were feeling a bit Mexican, what with a few Latino flight attendants, pilots who spoke better Spanish than English, and magazines in Spanish. Flying into Mexico City, however, I began to get a taste of the land I would be trying to understand and learning to love in the next three months. Multi-colored, half-finished apartment complexes, concrete and rebar houses creeping up the slopes of the surrounding hills, new skyscrapers planted next to empty shells of abandoned concrete buildings, it was all a bit surreal. The airport was fairly manageable, with some odd twists on arrivals and terminal set-up, but the most consistent thing was the strange juxtaposition of modern machinery/buildings with traditional clothing and poorly maintained buildings. And the city was FULL of the same thing! BMWs drove down the road next to slugbug taxis ("bochos") from the 60s, brand-new windows were stuck into old concrete walls, new signs covered the sides of run-down buildings, and traditional street vendors sat talking on cell phones as we drove by. The traffic was unbelievable -- motorcyclists darting in between lanes, buses and cars running red lights and sticking their noses into the middle of moving traffic until someone let them in, young window washers rushing to stopped cars and trying to wash their windows if anyone had to stop driving for more than 5 seconds. Then (coming into the poorer outlying areas) we dodged around stray dogs at every turn, through the narrowest of gaps in between parked cars, under eves of houses with roofs full of plants, clothes, pets, and cheap tin siding stuck into stucco and brick, and finally up a huge hill to the home of our dear hosts.

But despite the chaos and newness of it all, the people will be the ones that most stay in my memory. Our hosts that night were Hugo Castillo and his wonderful mother Edít. Speaking of "we," I should explain that I spend most of my time with a dear friend named Taylor Fletcher. Taylor is on the internship with me, and we are going to teach the Career Workshop together as well as watch each others' backs for the three months. He is active, kind, incredibly friendly, and deeply caring about others. We've only known each other a few months, and only really spent much time together in the last few days, but I think he's going to be an extraordinary support and guide. Besides all that, he served his mission in Sinaloa, Mexico (a couple hundred miles north), so he really has a great idea of the culture and quirks of the country. Taylor was companions with Hugo (our host) on his mission, so Hugo and his uncle picked us up at the airport and drove us through the streets to their house. The uncle told us about his two rather disparate jobs -- one, killing chickens and selling them to markets, the other as a licensed massage therapist in his home and a nearby arts association. Say what? Then we arrived at Hugo's house, which is made of the same concrete/rebar/brick mix as most of the houses in the city. They were so welcoming and warm, and fed us even though it was midnight by the time we got there! Edít makes a mean Mexican dish, and we were well-fed for the three meals we ate with them. I slept in a mid-size bed with Taylor and dogs barking everywhere, woke up to the sounds of a live rooster, showered using hand-boiled water and a small cup, washed dishes outdoors in a big tub, and before we left climbed on their roof and looked out over the whole city (with chickens being cleaned next door). Most of all, however, the spirit in their home was so simple and pure -- they are converts of three years and are caring people, of the sort that offer food to anyone that happens to come by while they are eating. Edít also loves jokes, though she hardly has an outgoing personality. Her favorite was probably one about the bronze lion statues in downtown Mexico City being made of "little lies" (not bronze) because they are not real. :) Needless to say, we got along very well.

This afternoon we explored downtown Mexico City and Chapultapec park with the two of them. I saw the famous statues on the main boulevard, the huge castle in the middle of the park, several monuments, and more people than I care to describe. We enjoyed our last few hours with Hugo and Edít, then jumped on the bus for Puebla and were picked up by a middle-aged man named Ranulfo Cervantes, our Puebla Employment Center manager. My interaction with him (limited strictly to email until now) had brought me to believe that he was a mild-mannered but genuinely kind and selfless person, and in person he seemed nothing less. Time will tell, I suppose, but I don't think we could have been placed with a better leader.

I miss the United States a bit, truth be told, and the wonderful people there. But after the unforgettable blessings of the last 28 hours, I have a feeling that I will quickly grow to love this place and these people. You are all in my prayers.