Traveling to Mexico to visit relatives was an annual event that I always looked forward to. Both my parents were born in Mexico and our adventures to visit family were always special to me. As I grew older, I started to venture there on my own.
My grandmother was much older and could no longer take care of herself and wasn’t living at home. Growing up, we always stayed at my grandma’s house, so that was never a concern, but this time it was different.
On the day of our trip, I was ready, excited, and nervous. It was my daughter’s first trip to Mexico—and a long time since I had been. Our flight left at around 1 a.m. and was relatively smooth, until we tried to land. There was a deep fog that prevented our pilot from seeing the ground and landing in Guadalajara. We were diverted to Puerto Vallarta and waited on the runway for over five hours until the fog lifted.
I didn’t anticipate how exhausted and cranky we would all be as we debated between renting a taxi van or taking the charter bus to Tepic, Nayarit. Looking back, I would have preferred to arrive in the late evening, check into a hotel by the airport, and then venture out the next day to our destination.
I was so happy to arrive because it had been such a long journey. Immediately, I was ready to go and visit my grandma, who was staying at one of my Tía’s (Aunt’s) house. I was, too but I didn’t want to admit it. So, we settled in, ordered food to be delivered, and notified relatives and friends that we arrived.