En el Campo con Mina

Tuesday, March 3, 2015Same old same old Tuesday.  Craig and Rudy played tennis and I went for a swim.  We had made arrangements to meet Mina in front of the Santander Bank in the Hotel Zone at Las Glorias at 2:00 PM so we hopped on a Camino and arrived there.   The plan was that we would all go to the countryside to meet her new sweetheart, José Enrico.  We took a cab and went past the Buenos Aires section and arrived at the Colonia Paso Ancho area of PV, on the outskirts, towards the mountains.   There, José met us.  He and Mina have been seeing one another for about a month and she is totally smitten with him as you will see from the photos.   He is a campesino, not a city kind of guy and this was the first time Mina had seen the land he has.  From our discussions (and remember that my Spanish is not great), I get that he would really like to build a house for her and her two sons for them all to live in.  They are cautious, however, moving poco a poco since both have been in relationships before and with Mina's children, two teenage boys, acceptance of a new relationship for their mother comes slowly.  

We felt honored to be included in this day trip and to have this window into Mexican life outside of the tourist zone.   José was very reserved; Mina says he doesn't talk a whole lot.  We could see that as time went on, he felt more comfortable around us and Mina shared with me today that he said that when we come back, he invites us to spend more time with him in the country.  Something like that.  And today, Mina said, as we were saying goodbye, "perhaps next year I will have a house made of wood."  We surely hope this all works out well for her; she deserve to live well and be treated well.  

As we were returning home, I had that sense of the importance of travel.  I know it changes me.  I am reminded of this quote I displayed in my World Languages classroom.  By Richard Bach:
Languages are fluffy big pillows stuffed between nations - what others say is muffled and nearly lost in them, and when we speak their grammar we get feathers in our mouth.  It's worth it.  What pleasure to phrase an idea, even in child's words, slowly, and sail it across the gulf in another language to a different-speaking human being!

We laughed a lot.  And I think it all worked well.  Mina had no idea if we would be ok with this adventure.  We surely had no idea what to expect.  And José...

A nurse cactus!

A ride in the back of a pick up truck!  Haven't done this in 45 years!!