Hello, I’m back home from my trip!
My god, it was a nightmare coming back…
We were supposed to leave the Monterrey airport Tuesday afternoon at 3:55 P.M., but for hours we were delayed due to mechanical issues on the airplane until they had eventually cancelled the flight altogether for the day at 7 P.M. This meant we’d have to stay overnight and wait for the next flight to Houston at 5 A.M. So, everyone waited in line to get hotel vouchers, then wait for a shuttle bus to take us to the hotel, and then wait in another line to get booked in our hotel room. All this took 3 hours before we had a chance to finally throw our tired bodies onto a hotel bed. We didn’t get home until Wednesday at 3:30 P.M. It sucked.
Despite the nightmare of traveling back home, the whole trip to Monterrey helped to begin healing a family wound in a part of my heart that was broken. Although I’ve missed out on years worth of building a bond and chemistry with my family, it was beautiful to be a part of them for just a few nights. I was slightly jealous seeing how they are with one another. They had all seemed to joke around, poke fun at each other, and get along so well. I wish I had that. I wish I knew what it was like. The closest family I had (other than my immediate) were as close as a 3-hour road trip. And even then, we didn’t visit them all that much and they wouldn’t visit us either. My family here in Monterrey have a 20 to 30-minute driving distance between each other at most and they actually like each other and don’t have any sort of drama from the looks of it. It’s satisfying to experience that sort of tranquility and assurance with life-long relationships.
On the second night that Aaron and I were there, we had gone to my tio Ricky and tia Gracia’s house to watch the clasicos futbol game between Los Rayados y Los Tigres. He was going to make carne asada for everyone while everyone was munching on jalapeno chips drenched in hot sauce and sipping on either Tecate Lights, Barrilitos, or Coca Cola. Their home was madly Mexican-modern and minimalistic. I was left speechless with how it gave the feeling of a rich hotel, with the back patio feeling like a lounging area at a resort. Their pool lit up in different colors and bubbled, they had a bar area with a nice kitchenette, and a TV mounted on a wall in front of really nice patio furniture.
My cousins Grecia and Kennia, who I also have not seen in years, showed up and we caught up. I remember when Grecia was still learning English in school, which was a requirement for her to pass. Nowadays, her English is near perfect with only a slight accent. It was surprising to say the least. She’s studying to be a pediatrician with only 2-3 years of schooling left. Her and her little sister, Kennia, are both heavily into K-pop and make videos performing choreography to groups like BTS or BLACKPINK. Kennia, is this soft-spoken, funky lil babe who recently graduated and is now working in marketing. She had her boyfriend, Gustavo, come along and meet us too.
They had brought up the idea of doing a primos trip and told me that my siblings and I should be a part of it, too, and we could make Cancun the destination. Obviously, I told them I was so down and I felt so honored to be included.
My tia Vero, tio Lalo, Laurita, and Natalia had met us there later on with Arturin and Pipe having brought us there to spend time with the family too. And here are some photos from that night!
The night was a success! They had all made Aaron feel as welcome as possible offering him beer, my tio Ricky carrying a conversation with him in English, and making sure he ate. And it makes me happy to hear from Aaron that he wants to come back again and thought highly of my family :.)
FOOD & DRINKS
A place we had very good tacos at: Botanero Moritas
A place we had good beer at: Sierra Madre Brewing Co. (a typical American-style chain)
A café to read books and have breakfast at: Libros, Café, y Detalles
A place we didn’t get a chance to eat at: La Casa de Panque
PLACES WE WENT TO:
Fashion Drive, a big modern mall.
Barrio Antiguo
Mirador Asta Banderas
NATURE
Chipinque
Hiking up and down this beautiful mountain for a total of 5.2 miles in 3 hours! We took the most difficult route and walked all the way to the top. I would’ve gone further to reach the peak, but I was starting to get pretty hungry and either way, you have to book a tour and bring special gear to hike the rest. It was a bit scary coming down since the rocks were very slippery and I feared I’d sprain my ankle 😳 My legs were giving out the last 30 min too phew!
Our last night at tia Vero’s eating Pizza Hut and just hanging out and looking at old pictures and talking about old nicknames they had for everyone.
* Will be updating this post soon to include more details, but I just wanted to get this out there before I cleared up my schedule and sat with this post ❤️