Where Have You Been All My Life?

(originally written May 22, 2012)

Where have you been all my life?

I have a confession to make. I, Candace, am in love. I'd thought that maybe I wasn't much of a traveler...I'd grown a bit weary of my trips and I was longing for my own bed so badly that while was in Costa Rica, I...well...I bought an early flight home from Mexico because I didn't want to stay the full two weeks I'd originally planned to be here. I know, horrible!  So now, instead of coming home on June 1 as I'd planned, I'm coming home May 26. It was a risky move, buying an flight home from a place before I'd even visited, but I knew I had to act fast because flights get more expensive every minute. Boy, do I regret it.

sheepish [ˈʃiːpɪʃ] (adj):abashed or embarrassed, esp through looking foolish or being in the wrong

Turns out that maybe I'm not such a bad traveler, it's just that I havent fully enjoyed where I've  been. Well folks, all that has changed with my arrival in Mexico. I've been in this country for all of three days, so I feel qualified to give a full opinion on the entire nation (I kid). But seriously, I love it here. Things are so cheap that I'm mad that I even went to Costa Rica in the first place, let alone spent three precious weeks there, when I could've been here. In fact, I almost feel bad that Costa Ricans live there instead of this wonderful country, and I'm angry at Mexicans who immigrate to America and leave all this marvelousness behind. What's wrong with you people?

There will be some smart ass out there who says that I'm obviously in the tourist part, and that's why I like it. Well, jackass, you're wrong. As I did in Costa Rica, I'm staying with a host family here in Playa del Carmen, in a residential part of town. I will say that from my nonexistent knowledge of the rest of the country, Playa is safer than many parts, and more suburban. At least that's what some locals have told me. Alls I know is I'm definitely coming back.

I have much more to write before I get into the details of my Vida Mexicana (for instance, maybe I should get into my Vida Costariccense a bit more), but I had to take a second and pen this brief, but serious love letter to Mexico. Who woulda thunk it?