Was I really sitting on a mattress in the back of a small truck travelling along a pot-holed stretch of highway in rural southern Mexico? With people I barely knew?
Yes. And as I remember it felt just fine.
I was sharing the truck box with a young man who had returned from California where he worked as an indocumentado field hand, my teenaged friend Alejandra and three children including a 6-year old with Downs Syndrome who was leaning up against me.
Alejandra had invited me to spend the day with her relatives and although I had no idea what the itinerary would be, all my instincts said yes, go for it. It turned out to be the right decision.
My pictures are not stellar and I only have a few from those pre-digital days when you paid for film and developing. This was in 2004.
Our first stop was breakfast at the Tlacolula market, a special Sunday treat the kids were excited about. I was hesitant with the menu, no toast and peanut butter, but enjoyed listening to the banter from three generations of the family. I didn't contribute a lot but it wasn't from shyness. My language-learning was just starting in 2004, I knew lists of verb conjugations but couldn't manage to fit that into the conversation. My communication skills were sadly minimal.
We travelled all afternoon in the truck, first to the famous ruins of the Zapotec and Mixtec cultures at Mitla. I entered at the main gate with the family but was immediately stopped by a museum official. That doorway was just for nacionales, Mexican citizens, who do not have to pay to visit national archeological sites. I was sent to a different entrance and charged a small tourist fee which seemed fair enough to me.
And then back in the truck to visit a series of relatives in different communities. As I said, my Spanish was weak and understanding is even harder than speaking, so I never did figure out who the people were. They offered me food at every stop, and didn't seem at all surprised by a foreign lady tagging along. Alejandra was just learning English and her uncle Poncho spoke a bit from his time in the States, but the communication was based on a lot of smiling which is really all that was needed.
Late in the afternoon Alejandra assured me the family would drive me back to the city and deliver me home, and she left to go meet her boyfriend! By then there was room in the cab for me and I had a pleasant trip with her aunt and uncle. I was braver trying to put a few words together in my beginner Spanish and had fun platicando (chatting) with her lovely tia (aunt) Catalina. I was feeling happy and proud of myself for saying yes to the adventure.
What I really remember about that day was when her tio (uncle) Misael, the driver who had been silent much of the time, thanked me in Spanish for coming, and trusting them enough to spend the day with them. It was a touching comment from him as they dropped me off at my door at dusk.
My friendship with the admirable Alejandra has continued. After learning English she went to Europe to work and study and learned French and German fluently. I wasn't able to attend her wedding in Oaxaca, but we've reunited three times since then.
She and her German husband came to visit us in Swift Current in 2016, and we went to their home in Bern, Switzerland in 2017 where we met their first son. We met again in Oaxaca a few years later when they brought little Arthur and baby Mateo back to meet their Mexican relatives.
They still live in Bern, Switzerland and recently had a baby girl, now the three young kids are well on their way to being bilingual in Spanish and German. I like to think I'm their Canadian grandma.
How did I meet this young friend? The exact same way she first met her German scientist husband. Another post...
