Highs and Lows in a New Country

It’s been ten days since we crossed the border into Mexico, making a short little jog in our track to go check out a NOAA weather buoy. Mexican fishing licenses already in hand, we dropped a hook in the water and caught a tuna 15 seconds later and then treated ourselves to the freshest poke we’ve ever eaten. What a high to start our Mexican adventure on. But the past ten days haven’t all been highs, and our short time in Mexico has already reminded me of one of my favorite things about international travel: the great highs paired with the similarly great lows. Somehow when you’re navigating a foreign land, highs and lows are more intense, more poignant. Maybe it’s the difficulty of finding your center while you vacillate back and forth between them. Maybe feelings and reactions are heightened by the challenge of, well, everything. Or maybe it’s just something in the water. Here’s a small collection of the pairings of highs and lows we’ve had here in Mexico so far:

High: I can communicate in Spanish! Low: I can’t communicate in Spanish. As the designated Boat Linguist, I have had to dive quickly into using what little Spanish I have. I’m proud of myself when I can make myself understood and even receive a compliment! But it doesn’t always happen. Those moments when I simply don’t have the right words are so discouraging, when I don’t know enough to even circumlocute a concept or a question and simple frustrated silence ensues. I’m grateful that most people don’t immediately launch into English when I fail. And so I take a deep breath, pull out my dictionary, and learn more.

High: Exploring a new city. Low: Very few street signs. Tom and I agree that exploring a new foreign city is absolutely one of the highest highs we’ve had since we’ve been here. We are travelers, and we love the process of navigating a new environment, finding special nooks and crannies, perusing grocery stores, trying new foods, and just taking in the surroundings. We feel in our element being, well, out of our element. I suppose that comes from a combined eight decades of international travel. It’s a lot harder to do with kids, but we’re managing, and they’re learning. It’s the lack of street signs that makes it extremely frustrating, and we find ourselves relying much more on landmarks than on street names.

High: Beer gardens and restaurants with places for kids to play while us parents enjoy awesome craft beer. Low: There’s really no low to this.  We took a 15-minute bus ride with our friends on Blue Heron up to El Sauzal to check out a few local breweries and discovered a wonderful world of Mexican craft beer culture. Our first stop was Aguamala, which had an amazing selection of beers, almost all of which we tried (!). We then stopped at a local pizza restaurant with a kids’ play area, and then at the Baja Brews beer garden, which boasted 7 local craft breweries and overlooked the waves crashing on the rocky coast El Sauzal. The kids (and their parents) can’t wait to go back.

High: Dollar tacos! Low: Bacteria. Street tacos are awesome and cheap. Tom and I have, however, already been afflicted with traveler’s, um, indigestion a few times already. Sigh. Since we’re going to be here a while and since we love trying new foods, we might as well get used to it.

Low: Paperwork I can’t seem to get right and 5 trips to the National Institute of Migration. High: The opportunity to walk all over town, to see places most tourists don’t go, and to get to know the city a little better.  I had no less than 5 visits to the INM to get all our papers in order to get our temporary resident permits, 4 visits to banks to figure out how to pay the annual fee, and wild goose chases to find places to get pictures taken of all of us and to make copies of all our documentation and payment receipts. This whole process was more frustrating than I am letting on, and Tom admitted that seeing me so torn up by it was one of his lows. The up side is that I got to know the center of the city pretty well while figuring out how to get all this done. Plus, I’m pretty sure my Spanish improved in the process. (For those interested, the reason we are applying for temporary residence cards is so that we don’t have to pack up all four of us and the cat and leave the country every 180 days. These cards will give us the flexibility to stay as long as we want and leave on a schedule that works for us. I like to think it’s worth the frustration now to avoid the expense and frustration numerous times later.)

High: Introducing your kids to a new culture, new language, and new foods. Low: Your kids melting down and becoming crazy due to the sensory overload of a new environment.  The first few days were hard on the boys. On us, too, but the kids’ craziness made it almost untenable for us, and I believe we all found ourselves in tears at various points in those first few days.  But we all seem to be settling in a little better now that we have developed more of a rhythm to the days. I’m even hoping to get the kids enrolled a few days a week in a local day care since we’ll be here for a few more weeks, but this is challenging the limits of my Spanish.

I asked the kids what their highs and lows were. They both said that the migration office on the first day was their least favorite thing about Mexico (waiting in line for two hours would push any kids’ patience, I suppose). Dylan said his favorite thing was the breweries. Well, playing at the breweries. And the trampoline park that he hasn’t been to yet.  Andy said his favorite part of Mexico was the bus ride and the breweries. Glad we’re making an impression.

High: Customer service. Low: No low to this either. The customer service we have experienced at Baja Naval Marina has been wonderful. We feel so welcome, and everybody has been so helpful. Additionally, the officer at the INM went above and beyond what she needed to do to help me get the paperwork in order, and the numerous people I spoke with at banks were helpful and patient as they answered my questions. We could learn a lot from such patience, customer service, and welcoming attitudes.

High: Color and beauty everywhere!  Despite some of the difficulties, we are loving Mexico and so glad that we made the decision to stay here for at least 18 months. We’ve only been in Ensenada for ten days, and a huge land beyond awaits us. We can already see that there is so much to learn from this fascinating country that is full of its own juxtapositions and contradictions. What a wonderful place to spend a slice of our life.