paradoxical paradise
a little bit of both/and in México
It’s been about a week since we’ve returned from México, and I’m still processing the bits of paradise and urban life we experienced in only six days.
I’ve never visited the country before, despite all the years of Spanish I took in high school and during my undergrad years. Some of it came back, if only because I found myself saying ‘doce-catorce’ at several points in my day (1214 was our room number).
Danny C. and I had this little getaway planned since last fall. I already knew that my academic year was going to be furiously busy, and between that and Danny’s hip replacement surgery, we really wanted to have a trip booked to look forward to. We settled on Puerto Vallarta (and yes, we still kept our plans after the Mexican mafia snafu over New Year’s).
My first impression of México is that it’s a LOUD place for this nerdy introvert who’s been hiding behind a laptop for the last 18 months. At the same time, we also found some great moments of quiet peace. There’s my friend, Paradox, tagging along on our holiday.
Other than last winter’s Hawai’i conference, I haven’t had many beachy, tropical holidays — and Danny and I haven’t had many (any?) “fun” vacations that weren’t attached to a family or work trip. We were both unreasonably busy in the days leading up to our holiday, and over the span of the week, we may have grabbed several siestas.
Our resort was a big one to the south of the city, and since we were in Mexico during the end of the dry season, the hotel was not swarming with the usual number of Canadian and American tourists. If anything, we were largely in the minority at the resort, which made me love the experience even more.
Unlike Hawai’i, México has some striking contrasts between wealth and everyday local life. Just a 5-minute walk outside our hotel took us to a roadside seafood restaurant, tiny farmacias, and small lean-to convenience stores.
A big highlight (and quieter) part of our trip was getting to check out the Vallarta Botanical Gardens. This quiet grrrl splurged on a private tour, and I learned so much about the flora and fauna of the land I was visiting.
I had no idea that orchids are so badass and hardy — unlike the plants we get in our grocery stores (the same ones I frequently murder), these Mexican orchids are rugged in how and where they choose to grow. I also had no idea that it’s because of orchids that we have access to vanilla extract!
There were over 30 species of hummingbirds flying around us, including a cinnamon-coloured species nicknamed the “chihuahua” of birds. There were moments on our walk through the gardens when we simply sat and listened to the different birdsongs around us. Our guide told us that birds only sing like that when they feel safe and happy.
I believe him.
Our experience was an all-inclusive one (read: we wanted the easiest trip possible with the least amount of planning), which meant all of our food and drinks were covered for the week.
Despite being surrounded by alcohol (and even going on a tequila distillery tour), I did not feel the need to drink. It was a funny experience to be the weirdo tourist who 1. did not drink and 2. did not eat meat (and no, not even pollo/chicken).
For one day, we left the city and coastline behind to visit the Pueblos Mágicos (“magical town”) of San Sebastián del Oeste, high up in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains. To get there we took a 90-minute bus ride, and we really got to experience more of the complexity of everyday Mexican life. On our way to San Sebastián, our bus drove through many villages, a poison oak forest, rolling fields of agave plants, over cobblestone roads, and alongside mountain ravines.
Once we got to San Sebastián, we learned all about the area’s main money makers:
green gold (avocados)
black gold (coffee)
white silver (tourists)
The church in the centre of the village felt both creepy + magical through its iconography. I love how much Mary is honoured here, and walking inside this space felt like going back in time.
And it was so quiet.
If only to counter this memorable part of our Mexican experience, during our lunch at the local café, I got an unexpected call from Emmalee. She had been in her first car accident!
It was yet another paradoxical moment to balance in real time. She was teary but okay, and both she and the other driver were able to drive away. But it was hard to be away from my kiddo — though she did everything right, and her adopted family was there for her in all the best ways.
Other big highlights of our trip included Danny’s barbershop experience (with its unfortunate aftershave choice), wandering around the city of Puerto Vallarta, where I successfully bartered for an amazing abuela apron and found the perfect Mother Mary to take home, a rustic roadside fish dinner (Danny’s fish was looking at him the whole time), and drinking a million glasses of limonade.
To complete our paradoxical trip, Danny and I arrived home late on a Saturday night to a snowy Saskatoon that had just gotten a late-May storm.
Sunburns to snowbanks in less than twelve hours.
Both/and indeed.
