Parents Visit to Mexico!

Hello a todos!

The first week of vacation has past and it´s been a week well-spent with my parents! We managed to do a lot in the week they were here, it was great to get to introduce them to my family and friends here, as well as the food, places, smells and sounds that I´ve been experiencing the last 3 months. We started off the week in Cuernavaca where I was for a month. We were openly welcomed into the house where I stayed with a host family, it was really good to see them again, as well as the neighborhood kids who I used to play soccer with, the owner of my favorite panaderia in Cuernavaca and various other people who I got to know in Cuernavaca. We also took a tour of the sprawling market and bought fresh mangos before heading to park with a much more tranquilo atmosphere. Since it is Semana Santa, there were also various cultural events in the center center with lots of people out and about.

After being in Cuernavaca for a day and a half, we headed to Xalapa where we were greeted by some fairly nasty weather, but the next day things cleared up and turned out to be super nice for the rest of their stay. While in Xalapa, we went to various nice parks around the city, my parents tried lots of the local food, among the favorites: orange juice on the street, bread from the panaderia, chicharrones (typically fried pig skin with mayo, chicken, lettuce, pico de gallo, etc), esquite (corn, mayo, grated cheese), my host mothers smashed black beans, and the list could go on... We also managed to go to Xico, a small town near Xalapa, and visit the waterfall there and we went to the ex-Hacienda of Santa Anna (a prominent figure in Mexican history who was from Xalapa). One night was also spent dancing salsa with a few of my friends and their families at a bar/restaurant with a live band from Cuba.

But above any of the things we did or places we visited, it´s hard to describe the hospitality and connections that my parents experienced in both places. For me, it was really incredible to see the people who have reached out to me with such open arms for the last 3 months do the same for my parents. I think they were able to meet just about everyone who I spend a lot of time with, and in every connection, there were lots of laughs, smiles and invitations to return to Mexico. One thing I really appreciate about people here is the tradition of telling a visitor, ¨Esto es tu casa cuando quieras venir, aqui te esperamos¨, or basically that now you have a house to stay in whenever you come back to visit. And it´s said with a certain sincerity that you know that one day if showed up at their door without notice, they would take you in and be overjoyed that you had come back to visit.

It was also felt to me like a reunion between latin culture and my parents, after the many years that they hadnt been in a latin country. I enjoyed hearing they speak Spanish with people here and we actually communicated amongst ourselves the majority of the time in Spanish as well. Well, I could continue to write much more about the past week, but I´ll leave it there. I put various pictures because I know I enjoy looking at pictures more than reading sometimes.

1-Us with Omar and his family

2-Me in front of the university where I take classes

3-Mom and Dad enjoying fresh orange juice in a bag
4-Mom and Dad in a park in Xalapa

5-Mom buying platanos in the market in Cuernavaca

¡Que estén muy bien! ¡Hasta la próxima!