First Journey Beyond the Familiar

In honor of National Hispanic Heritage month, I want to share my first experience traveling to Mexico. Mexico is a beautiful country with beautiful people. If you ever get the chance I highly recommend you go see everything it has to offer. I am proud to be a Mexican American. It gives me two homes and two cultures that make me, me.

I was about 12 when I first discovered the travel bug. It was an eye opening experience for sure. Seeing a whole new country with a different language, and different customs. What a wild ride it was. I  just can not recommend traveling enough! Please travel outside your home at least once in your lifetime. There is no better feeling than discovering a new place with new faces, new food and a new you.

This first trip I took was about 2008. My mom wanted to visit my grandparents in Mexico and have us meet them for the very first time. This was so long ago so I can't remember exactly how I felt about it but knowing me, I was most likely excited to leave the house. I was also probably fearful. Anxiety has always tailed right behind. Anyways, at that time we lived in Tennessee. My mom had never flown on a plane before so that was not going to be an option this time. She did know how to take the bus so we got a round trip ticket on the Greyhound. I know many people haven't taken the bus before, but let me tell you. In my life I've ridden a handle of times and it'll get you to where you need to go safely. It's a good option *for short trips*. What I won’t recommend is taking a bus from Tennessee to Zacatecas, MX. It's about 2 full days. Looking back now, I think it's so crazy that we did that! I can't imagine being my mom, traveling with two young kids. I do admire her for that.

While we were on the bus, we got to see a lot of states and the wonders of nature. Wow, the earth is a beautiful place. But the most awe struck moment I still see vividly in my mind is when we crossed the border. Why are there these police men looking at our things? What are they trying to protect? Kind of scary. Ah, we made it through. The ride quickly turned into a learning lesson. I looked all around and there were all kinds of signs in Spanish. The stop signs said Alto. There were people everywhere that looked like me! In Tennessee I could count how many Latinos I saw daily on my hands. I didn't know other places like this existed. Another big difference were the roads and buildings. In the more rural areas the roads needed maintenance and the buildings looked old and run down. Overall though the towns had more liveliness. There was so much vibrancy and uniqueness. It was interesting to see the desert towns. Growing up in Tennessee, there were trees and grassy fields everywhere but going through Mexico I saw flat land. Places with a lot of dirt and rocks and cows, and chickens.

When we got to my grandparents house, once again learned a lesson. I appreciated my life a lot more. It wasn’t that they were living in a bad way, just different. They lived in a rural location so not much to do. The bathroom situation wasn't ideal. We had to heat up the water and use a bucket to take showers. There were critters all around. What was also interesting was that the rooms had a ceiling but the "hallways" were outside. When it would rain we would try to stay in our rooms. One of the worst days was when I saw a rat run around our room. That was a no for me! I was ready to go.

Looking back though, it was my first experience where I left my little bubble and it made me love traveling. I did enjoy the plants and trees inside the house. My grandparents live on a mountain where I could see the whole town from there. It was beautiful! There was also a river near by that I would beg my mom to take me everyday. We got to play in the water and be in nature all summer long! I liked the plaza. There was a park right in the middle of town. It was surrounded by all these little mom and pop shops. We would go to this one candy shop. That's where I would get my Mexican candy fix. Small little rooms that sold a specific thing. No department stores in sight. I didn't know department stores were an American thing. I learned more about our differences as I traveled around the world.

Experiencing how others live and adapting to it makes you grow and appreciate the little things. From the way we shop, activities we get to do, to the bathrooms we use. The wanderlust bug also came in hot and I haven't been cured since. So, here's my advise to you... travel. Travel at least once in your life outside of the country. Travel alone. Travel together. Earth is too extraordinary to miss those once in a lifetime trips. What was your first trip?

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