The wheels on the bus go round and round....

I received an e-mail asking if I wanted to go on a bus trip on a Saturday.  Ken would be studying and the two destinations sounded interesting....one was a butterfly sanctuary (monarch butterflies come down here to Mexico yearly from Canada....), and the other was a city on the edge of a lake called "Valle de Bravo", often described as the "Switzerland of Mexico".

I wanted to meet people.  I love bus rides in Mexico.  As they say here,"porque no?"

Being 100% American, I arrived very early.  There was another Type A American woman  already waiting, so we had coffee together.  We both seemed to have similar goals here in Mexico.....doing less, expecting less of ourselves, relaxing from years of job pressure or self-imposed pressure.

The group began to gather and people got on the bus. Being Mexico, everyone introduced themselves.  We were from about ten different countries.  I immediately made a friend, a Mexican woman named Nancy.  She spoke much better English than I spoke Spanish, but we were both interested in improving our language skills.  We sat together and shared cookies.  I liked Nancy right away....she had a big, beautiful smile....she laughed at my feeble jokes....she loved to talk...and she loved cookies.  

The bus didn't leave on schedule.  This is called "Mexican Time".  The group leader said we were waiting for a family.  That's the way it is here.  And when the family came aboard, no one grumbled or looked at his watch.  Everyone called "hola!" and the bus got underway.  It seemed great for a while.  And when we pulled up in front of our first destination, I was filled with energy and ready to see butterflies.  Except...it wasn't our destination.  Directions were asked for and received and we were told we would be at the butterfly place in twenty minutes...."mas o menos"....(more or less....).

We somehow ended up at our second destination instead of the butterfly place....more directions...more confusion...and we were off again....and again....the road was hilly and very twisty.  After a very long time, we had to stop for traffic.  The road was FILLED with butterflies!  I had never seen anything like this.  The sky was cobalt blue, and the monarch yellow and orange bodies looked so pretty against that background.  Nancy and I got out of the bus and walked in butterfly lane, snapping pictures.  I loved this!

But....we weren't yet AT the butterfly sanctuary.  We finally arrived and broke into two groups.  We started up the path to see the butterflies.  Up, up, up, up....I am at an altitude here in Mexico that my body is not yet used to....and I have never been in good shape...up, up, up....the path is filthy...dust fills my lungs....and finally, I can't move.  My legs are cramping and my lungs are on fire.  I sit down.  The group leader comes and sits with me.  I try to explain to him that it only makes me feel worse to have him waiting with me.  He urges me on.  I try, oh how I try.  But in the back of my mind is the promise I made to myself when I came to this country.  I would NOT push myself too hard.  I would NOT try to succeed, the way I have been trying my entire life.  I would do what felt good.  I would stop punishing myself.  I firmly told the group leader that I was heading down.  And I did.

While I was waiting for the group, I sat on the bus with some of the Mexican women around my age who had wisely opted not to even try the hill.  When Nancy and the others returned, they shared their photos with me.  So, I feel as if I did see that butterfly sanctuary after all.

The bus now brought us to our second stop...hours late.  I told Nancy that as much as I wanted to explore the town, I was thirsty and hungry and just wanted to have a nice, relaxing very late lunch.  Nancy and an interesting guy from Canada and I found a lakeside table at a beautiful restaurant on a floating dock.  We talked, laughed, ate, drank....we simply enjoyed the day and the company.

On the way back, Nancy and I dozed and talked and told each other how nice it was to have met.  I hope to see her, and some of the other people from the trip, again.  We were late getting back, because the driver let anyone off where they wanted.

I thought about how the trip would have gone over in the U.S.  I can, sadly, imagine people asking for their money back or writing nasty comments.  But here in Mexico, it is understood that people try to do their best.  No one is perfect, and no one is expected to be.  At the lakeside, we all posed for a picture.  We smiled, put our arms around each other and said "cheese" in ten languages.  We were a happy group who had a nice day together.  And, really, wasn't that the whole point?