My hosting began at an early age before I was even out of my twenties, so that first girl is only ten and a half years younger than me. She lives in Mexico, and over the years since her return to Mexico, she has become my very best friend, so she is the one I visit the most and the one I am about to go visit again.
The others who have graciously and enthusiastically welcomed me and my daughter into their homes live in Spain and Italy. As a high school Spanish teacher, I have taken four trips abroad with students -- two to Mexico and two to Spain. Three of these trips were prior to my hosting experiences, so while I was in Spain on those two occasions, I did not know anyone who lived there.
The contrast in the experience between going to a country where you don't know anyone and going to that same country when you do know people there is a night-and-day sort of difference. Nothing beats the authentic quality of a trip where a local is showing you around over the highly structured touristy quality of the organized student trip. I haven't led another student trip since I came to realize what I was missing out on.
Exchange students commit to the exchange programs to get the real deal. They want to immerse themselves in the culture of the country where they go to study. When those same kids and their families take you in and show you around, you get a mini-version of that immersive experience.
I teach, so that means I have limited financial funds. Not only do I not want to fly all the way to Mexico just to remain at an all-inclusive resort and never really get out and see the true Mexico, I also cannot afford that kind of trip. I can, though, every now and then scrounge up enough for plane tickets, meals and souvenirs.
Originally, I traveled to Mexico alone to see my friend, but for my last few trips, which have been to Mexico, Spain and Italy, my daughter has accompanied me. My son went on one to Mexico, but world traveling just isn't his thing. However, my daughter loves it, and I love having the company and someone to share those wonderful experiences with when we get back home.
That company is expanding for this next trip as my boyfriend is about to embark on his very first trip abroad! My two best friends -- female and male -- are about to meet, so I'm really excited about that.
When people learn I'm going to Mexico, they immediately ask me where I'm going. When I tell them that I'm heading to the Yucatan, I'm surprised at how many of them ask me where that is! First of all, it's one of two pretty well known peninsulas in Mexico, and secondly it's a state in its own right within the peninsula that bears its name. You can bet that if I said I was going to Cancun, most of those same people would know immediately where that is, so why don't they know that it's on the Yucatan Peninsula?!
I'm actually heading to Merida, which is the capital city of the state of Yucatan, and it's a really big city in its own right of two million people, yet when I say I'm going to Merida, I'm usually met with blank stares followed by the next question asking where that town is. Then I say it's in the Yucatan, and the circle starts all over.
Granted, there are a lot of people around here who, first, can't understand why I go to Mexico, and, second, really can't understand why I'm not going to an all-inclusive resort on the Caribbean. So, when their mindsets are blocked by an unwillingness to go to a country that has been sullied by both the war on the drug cartels and by the media coverage of said war, and when their only idea of a good time in Mexico involves white beaches, massages and every conceivable restaurant type all within the same compound, then they really aren't going to understand why I go to the part of Mexico that I go to.
In fairness, I'm a lucky person for a couple of reasons. First, I speak the language and I've studied the people and culture both in school and up close and personal, so I have a leg-up on the average non-Spanish speaking American. Secondly, I have personal connections in the country, and no travel agent or resort can beat that.
Since I've traveled to Mexico more often than any other country, I've had opportunities to see and do some pretty great things, but I've also relished my trips to Spain and Italy in the company of former exchange students and their families.
Let's see . . .
In Spain, we went to a really small and ancient town in the Gredos called Amavida where we stayed in a house that was over two hundred years old and owned by the family of the girl I once hosted in my home. The ceilings were low and wood-beamed, and the staircase to the small upper floor was windy and narrow. The streets of the town were crooked, and there wasn't a single store to be found in the whole town; instead, trucks came through every so often selling things like shoes, meat, ice, etc. I loved every slow, old-fashioned, clear-aired moment of it.
In Italy, we stayed in the long, narrow apartment of a friend of the family's in Napoli (Naples to we Americans) on the sixth floor of an older building with no air conditioning or screens on the windows. The four of us had to cram in two-by-two inside the smallest elevator I've ever encountered in my life! Anyone with even a smidge of claustrophobia wouldn't have dared to set foot in that elevator, but we made the trip numerous times. We also got to eat the best pizza in the world in the very city in which it was first invented, and while I still love pizza, Italian pizza has put all other pizza to shame for me because it just can't be beat.
We also drove the Amalfi Coast, and we stopped to visit a family friend in Ravello, a beautiful city perched high over the Mediterranean with views to die for. Most tourists stop in Amalfi or Positano which are both gorgeous port-of-call cities, but they miss out on the gem that is Ravello by not venturing upwards
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In Mexico, my unique experiences are far too numerous to share here, but I'll try to hit a few highlights.
When my friend lived in Xalapa, she took me to an isolated fishing village that we had to reach via a rutty dirt road that seemed to stretch on forever and which rattled my teeth until I thought they'd crack. However, the drive was worth what awaited us at the end. A beach that looked like it was made of chocolate! She actually hated the brown sand since she said it looked like poop, but I loved it. Best of all, it was a Saturday, and we were the only two on the beach as far as the eyes could see. It was glorious.
When she lived in the actual town of Cancun, not the resort part, we took the ferry across to Cozumel after we drove to Playa del Carmen. There we rented a convertible red Volkswagen bug and drove completely around the island to the side that tourists don't really visit because it is rocky and windy. We also stopped at a lesser known beach and swam in the calmer water. I swam out quite a ways and discovered that there are things put out there at the bottom of the sea for people like me to "discover." There was even a small pyramid out pretty deep. I was swimming around it, and then my young son's pre-departure admonition started playing in my head: -- "Mom, don't get eaten by a shark." The next thing, I heard the damn theme music from "Jaws" playing in the background, so I beat a hasty retreat back to shore since I'm so blind I wouldn't have known if a shark was in the vicinity until he was too close for comfort!
Ironically, my favorite Mexico memory involves sharks! Whale sharks, that is. I'm returning on this coming trip to the island of Holbox to once again swim with them. This time, though, I am taking a prescription snorkel mask to get a better view of them than I did two years ago. Holbox is a treasure. Some tourists know about it and visit it, but they tend to be more like me because there aren't any all-inclusive resorts on an island whose streets are made of white sand and whose mode of transportation are golf carts used as taxis. The main thing that brings tourists there are the whale sharks themselves for a few months each year. During the rest of the year, the two small towns on the island are primarily just simple fishing towns.
As to Merida itself, the heart of the town is very old and retains a lot of its Spanish charm.
However, the city has grown outwards from there into a very large metropolitan place. One of my favorite places, though, no longer exists. It was a really small, dumpy restaurant that served the most unbelievable and delicious sopa de lima (lime soup) I've ever had. I was really disappointed on my last trip there to learn it had closed down. My friend took me to a restaurant that also served lime soup, but it just wasn't the same.No matter what we do, though, while I'm in Mexico, the primary reason I now go there is to see my best friend. I can't even begin to explain and describe all the crazy, fun, wonderful things we've done together and all the great places I've visited with her, but every one of them has improved my understanding of the Spanish language, the Mexican people and my outlook on life.
And to think that my trips abroad would probably have been limited to structured educational tours and travel agent arranged resort packages if I hadn't hosted exchange students and then taken the time to go visit them. After Mexico, we hope to get to Germany to visit two more of them and to the Czech Republic to see a third next summer.
If you've ever hosted an exchange student or know anyone from another country personally, but you haven't yet been to his or her country for a visit, pack your bags, book your ticket and get out there and see the place for yourself. It will change your life!
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