Feeling My Way Around Mexico

This is not an extensive travelogue and it doesn’t cover all I saw during my trip, but rather these are some really subjective impressions of traveling in and around Mexico City, Guanajuato, and Puebla recently with my 24-year-old daughter. She is such a private person, and so far the only way she has allowed me to show her image on this blog is through this caricature a wonderful artist did for us. She’s beautiful and as the portrait suggests, she looks young for her age. She’s a sweetheart but don’t let appearances fool you: She’s also a tough cookie.

Before getting to Mexico, I had a feeling that it would be a life-altering trip for me and I wasn’t wrong. In addition to wanting to see my daughter, I was well overdue to shake up my routine, get away from worries, clear my head, and just relax. Being around my daughter’s energy was a huge factor in helping bring me back in balance.

The Guantajuato mountainside

At first, I was a bit nervous about the trip because my Spanish is not very good. However, it’s true that when you lose one sense, such as sight or hearing, your other senses get stronger. In this case, 

Polite Conversation

We are probably at our most human when we are naked, sick, or otherwise emotionally or physically vulnerable. Yet we spend so much energy hiding these real or perceived vulnerabilities, to the point where there are just some things people don’t want to hear or talk about.

I can’t help but think of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. A fascinating figure in her own right whose paintings are stunningly beautiful, she may not have received the acclaim she deserved in her lifetime because she was married to famed muralist Diego Rivera. Much of what I know about Frida I learned from my time spent at an amazing Web site, Frida Kahlo Fans. It’s well worth a visit. There was a 2002 movie called Frida, that I have not seen yet, for which Salma Hayek was nominated for an Oscar.

Frida was a victim of a horrific traffic accident in her late teens that left her physically and emotionally scarred. It was from that experience that she began painting.