mexico travel stories juan of words

Mexico Travel Stories

It’s a little unusual traveling to a country that feels like home and having to register as a foreign national. That’s the first thought that crossed my mind when I was told I would need to fill out the proper paperwork to be allowed into Mexico for a few days. This would be my first time visiting Mexico City. There would be many other instances on this trip in which the fact that I was not born and raised in this country would become painfully obvious. The word “painfully” is used here on purpose because when people ask where I am from I like to say “I am Mexican.”

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My Childhood Adventures on the Road Inspired my Love for Travel

My Childhood Adventures on the Road Inspired my Love for Travel

I loved our family trips more than anyone else. The older I get the more they mean to me still. I think I love them even more now because I understand just how important they were to my development as an individual and an adult. On those long road trips across the border and into Mexico I grew up so much, somehow managing to discover myself in the midst of all the chaos of traveling with eight other people – my parents and six siblings.

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Grand Canyon Chronicles: Learning to Embrace Life, More

Grand Canyon Chronicles: Learning to Embrace Life, More

Los caminos de la vida no son como yo pensaba. Como los imaginaba. No son como yo creía. The journey of life is not how I thought it would be. It’s not how I imagined it. It’s not what I thought it would be. This song came on the radio at one point while we were driving along the southern rim of the Grand Canyon a few weeks ago before the end of 2017, and it put everything into perspective. The last time I really listened to the lyrics of Los Caminos de la Vida by La Tropa Vallenata I was headed to the cemetery in the funeral procession for my father. I remember thinking then, that life is too short to not do the things we want to do. I wanted to bring my father to the Grand Canyon. He left before I ever could. His passing was one of those things in life that hit me like a ton of bricks. I never imagined his time with us would be cut short, or so soon. And yet it was.

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