My family is all alike

We left for Puebla kind of late on Monday. Puebla is about an hour and a half away. Getting there you drive through a mountain range.

Driving through there reminded me of the Grapevine that separates Northern and Southern California on Interstate 5. The only real difference is you see nothing but lush greens in Mexico.

I feel asleep after that but woke up in Puebla, not far from my cousin Lupe’s house. She’s very friendly and very humorous. She reminded me of my sisters with the way she carried herself and the way she spoke; always going for a laugh.

She fed us then we went into the historical part of Puebla. It’s a city that was founded in the 16th century and has much of the architecture intact. The streets are cobblestone and are tight for more than one car. The streets are jam packed with cars at intersections.

Lupe was proud to show off her town, and why not? Puebla is the home of Cinco de Mayo. In the downtown area, there was plenty to look at and that included churches. The Cathedral of Puebla takes the appearance of a castle with a gate. On top of the gates were angels. Lupe told me the full name of Puebla is “La Puebla del Los Angeles.” Sound familiar? The cathedral, as you might have guessed, is spectacular inside. There was an altar and behind it was a tribute to the kings of Spain.

We walked to another church, Templo Conventual de San Miguel Archangel. The real beauty of the church was the chapel inside. It outshined the church with gold. The chapel had a functional purpose. If you didn’t have a rosary, you could walk around the church and at each angel, say a Hail Mary, just like the beads of a rosary. At the top of the altar were angels looking down. There were also angels in the back of the chapel where the music is played. Each angel held an instrument to appear as if they were playing along.

We left Puebla at about 7 p.m. Lupe, like all my relatives that I meet on the trip, said I was welcomed back anytime, with or without my dad.

I slept again on the drive back. I woke up on one of the bumpiest roads. Most of the roads in Mexico make potholes in the United States seem like simple cracks in the road. My cousin is a pretty aggressive driver, but he’s also very cautious. This time he was caught off guard and one of the bumps knocked off his rear view mirror.

When we got closer to his home, he called his son and told him to order some pizzas, then said that I requested it. They were thin crust pizzas and his son told me it was the preferred way.

The next morning, Tuesday, we went to my tia Amalia’s – Alejandro’s mother – house in northern Mexico City. My tia Chuy went with us as well.

From the moment I entered her house, my cousins Patti and Angelica made me feel like I was at home and with my sisters the way they talked to each other. They served us a late lunch and my dad talked with his sister Chuy and sister-in-law Amalia. When we left I was told that I was welcomed whenever I returned to Mexico City.

It was nice to see my Tia Chuy out again. She was so happy to be out with family she hardly sees because she’s always doing house work.

I started packing for home Tuesday night and finished on Wednesday after we got back from running errands with Alejandro. I bought some more Mexican candy, mostly Mazapan.

After a late breakfast, we headed out to the airport with a quick stop to see my tia Chuy one last time. She was sad to see us go as we were too. She told us she looked forward to us returning.

Alejandro, with his wife and daughter, took us to the airport and for the first time we didn’t have a surprise waiting for us by our airline.

On the flight home I had some thoughts about my 13 days in Mexico. I meet a lot of family and had the same prevailing thought, “If I only had more time here …” I wish I did have more time, I know my dad did.

He rushed a lot of family into 13 days in Mexico. The first couple of days were hard for me since I was waking up at 6 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, 8 a.m. Guadalajara and Mexico City time. It’s about three and a half hours earlier than I would have liked. But there really wasn’t time to spare.

I was more at ease in Mexico City because I had been there before and knew everyone. Plus, I had adjusted to the time a little better by then. My hope is when I go back to Guadalajara I’ll be more at ease with everyone. Hopefully, my Spanish will get better too.

So when will I go back? That’s a question asked of me several times. I know if it was just my dad, he’d go back as often as he could. My siblings, however, think it is best to have one of us with him, so it kind of limits how often he goes back.

I know when I book a flight again I’ll make sure I look into the company’s recent economic performance to make sure they won’t go out of business midway through my trip. I will say the distractions with Mexicana Airlines didn’t really hamper the trip at all. They added new elements, but never once did it cripple us. The funny thing is I was going to originally book everything a few days earlier. Had I done that, Mexicana would have suspended operations the day we would have flown back to Los Angeles.

But getting back to the question; it’s hard to say for any degree of certainty when I would go back and for how long. There is so many and so much I want to see. But I have to be in two places too. That’s what makes it so hard, trying to find a balance. Maybe one year I’ll be bold enough to take more than two weeks off and see all that I can.

I’d also be willing to go on my own too; however, I think my dad would want to come along too.

What I can say for sure is I can’t wait to go back and see everyone again. I know no matter where I go I’ll be welcomed in their home, just like with my family here.