Five Years

Five years ago today, I thought I had everything I ever wanted.

Five years ago I was happy and moving forward.

Five years ago I never knew the pain and heartache of losing someone close to you.

Five years ago I never knew what it was like to lose someone you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with.

Five years ago I never knew what it was like to say goodbye to a friend or member of your family.

Five years ago, I could have been called naive.

In those five years since, I've learned that when certain things change in the blink of an eye.

In five years, I've learned more definitions of the word finality that I would care to know.

What I failed to realize five years ago is that what started off as a trail to pain and heartache was a rebirth.

Five years ago I was given a new life at the end of an old one.

I am stronger now than I was five years ago.

Five years is not a long time, but enough time to change you for the better.

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.

The final weekend

I’m in the final turn for home on this vacation. It looks like it really cooled off back in Long Beach.

On Saturday morning my dad and I headed to Tia Chuy’s house for a while. I left my dad behind with his sisters and ran an errand with my cousin Alejandro before we headed out his almost all of his family to National Autonomous University of Mexico. The university is located on the other side of the city. It is sort of like driving from Hollywood to Irvine.

UNAM is huge. I think it is even bigger than UCLA. We parked next to the Estadio Olympico, the site of the opening/closing ceremonies as well as other events of the 1968 Summer Olympics. I took some picture and walked on the campus.

We only had time to walk around a portion of the campus. It is spacious with plenty of yards and athletic courts for its students and the public. I also discovered the school has an American football team that plays in a league with other universities in Mexico.

We headed back and I had lunch with Alejandro’s family before catching up with my dad at my tia’s house. We stayed for a little bit then walked to Alejandro’s job so he could take us back to his place for the night.

On Sunday the original plan was to go to a museum with my cousin Rigo. That didn’t happen but at the same time it didn’t matter.

My father and I went to my aunt’s house. He waited around and talked with family. My cousin Felipe asked if I wanted to go with him to the local open air market with him to pick up chicken for dinner that night. It’s more like a flea market combined with a farmers market where stuff is sold along side with fruits, vegetables and meats. The other thing is they close down several street blocks; busy streets too.

When we got back, my dad and I waited for my cousin. We got antsy and walked to another flea market down the road. We walked up a few blocks before we walked back. We were gone for more than an hour.

When we returned we found out that our cousin and his mother, my Tia Irene, went to the museum. My father and I didn’t mind. We stayed around and my dad talked to Chuy and others.

More family showed up, my cousin Betty and her husband Simon from Puebla. I met her last year and at first I shut the door on her. I heard the door knock and opened the door and saw no one was there and closed it. I guess I should have popped my head out and looked around.

I got my computer from Alejandro’s house, which wasn’t easy because of a flea market. I located one of my sisters and they talked to her on Skype. I also got a hold of my cousin, who is Chuy’s daughter, and her children in Canada. A lot of family members reunited over the computer on Sunday.

We talked some more and people slowly left. When my dad and I finally left, we walked out with Irene and Rigo as they were going back home to Guadalajara. Chuy was sad to see them go but my dad and his sister comforted her.

All four of us walked towards Alejandro’s restaurant. We actually saw Alejandro driving towards us. We stopped him and we went back to his business. Chuy and Rigo said goodbyes there too and we tried our best to hail a cab. Once we did, they loaded in and took went to the bus station.

We returned home and, after a while, my dad went to bed once Alejandro got back from work. After my dad went to bed, I asked them if they wanted to see any of my DVDs. They looked through and picked ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.’ It’s almost three hours long and they started it right after midnight.

Tomorrow we are going on a day trip to Puebla, the home of more family and Cinco de Mayo.

The worst nap of my life

Well Mexicana Airlines will not be causing me anymore problems.

I woke up more tired than usual as my dad kept me up at night with his snoring. I don’t remember it being that bad when we went to Las Vegas.

Once we got going we went to my Tia Chuy’s house where Tia Irene was waiting for us with her son Rigo. After talking, we headed out to La Basilica de Guadalupe in a full van joined by Alejandro and his wife and daughter.

It was nice to see my Tia Chuy outside of her house. When I was here last year, she stayed home the entire time. My father is trying to get her to go to Puebla on Monday.

My Tia Irene loves churches and especially this one. She watched a mass with almost everyone in our group; Rigo, Alejandro and I looked around. When we left there was a Native dance troop performing in the Basilica’s square. They were well choreographed.

We had lunch at Alejandro’s restaurant: Pozoleria Jalisco, Las Planchas. I had chicken enchiladas and they were great. My family had a good time talking.

Alejandro took everyone back to his place to show our aunts around since they had never been there. Later we all went back to Tia Chuy’s house.

As Alejandro was preparing to leave he asked if I wanted to go back to his place to rest. I said sure, I could use a nap while my father talks to his sisters.

I was really looking forward to that nap.

I barely got out the door when I got a text message from a co-worker asking me what airline I used. I thought he was just joking until I got a message on facebook when another friend asked me if I had heard what happened with Mexicana.

So after a brief inquiry I learned Mexicana would cease operations the next day, Saturday. I knew at that point I needed to make some calls while at the same time trying to limit international ones. My first thought was to call the Mexicana office in Mexico City. I had my cousin do that and he was directed to the website for a refund.

I texted one of my brother-in-laws for help and instant messaged one of my sisters. I even got help from one of my friends to make calls.

After thinking it over I decided to contact the company I purchased my tickets from, Orbitz. Unfortunately they didn’t have a toll-free international number. They did have an online chat to help out. So I gave it a shot.

The person on the other end didn’t know that Mexicana had folded but after looking into it he told me what I needed to do to get a refund. He told me to call Orbitz directly and gave me the international number that was not toll free. Beggars can’t be choosers.

So I called them up and of course they didn’t know what was going on. After getting caught up to speed she helped me get a refund for the cancelled flight. I won’t see it for two billing cycles by the earliest, but I’ll get it back.

The next part was finding a new flight home that was both cost and time efficient. The original journey home was supposed to be a two-part layover departing from Mexico City at 1 p.m. (11 a.m. PDT) and arriving in Los Angeles at 8 p.m. (PDT).

It was too expensive for a direct flight so I needed to do a two-parter. There were several candidates, one included flying into an airport where a dying tropical depression was projected to hit. I decided to go with an hour and a half layover in Phoenix. It’s a good thing my dad and I will have our papers with us.

After I get the refund, it is projected to cost $150 more but now we have a secure flight on an airline, U.S. Airways, which made money last quarter.

I spent almost three hours looking for a solution so for the rest of the night I was just burned out. I couldn’t sleep either. I just stayed up with my cousin’s children as they watched television and played with my PSP.

Saturday morning I’m setting up a Skype video call for my Tia Chuy so she can talk to her daughter that lives in Canada. After that, maybe we’ll go to a museum.

I just know I don’t have to worry about my flight home anymore.