Hola, amigos. Remember me? Remember how I used to write to you about my travels? And things got too busy — too many responsibilities, too little time. But I do so miss sharing what I see and what I learn. So I’m lucky to have a tiny opportunity to do so over the next 3-4 days.

I’ve flown south to Oaxaca (pronounced wah-hah-kah… which someone should have told our United flight attendant). My friend Janie, who leads our Rowan Tree Travel tours in Oaxaca, has been here for her usual two month, mid-winter stay. Just at the end of it, she fell and broke her ankle. Yowch. I volunteered to come down, help her pack up and accompany her home. She’s still in a wheelchair. Long story short about her experience: great doctors, so-so hospital with terrible food, super supportive neighbors in her condo coop, good help from her network of local friends but absolutely no way to be out and about in this city while confined to her wheelchair. In fact, she can’t even leave the front porch of her condo. Stairs everywhere. Sidewalks crumbled and only occasionally present, uneven paving, etc etc out and about. Remember, not every country has to meet the requirements of the ADA Americans with Disabilities Act) as we do in the States. No 1:12 sloped ramps going on here! So, it’s been a real struggle for her, even though she’s in her beloved Oaxaca.

But fear not! Suzie to the rescue!

Okay, really all I’m doing is helping her get things and move things and pick up things at this point. But it really helps to have another person there when you are injured. The whole world turns upside down. All your amazing abilities and independence go right out the window. So I am here, with the financial support of Rowan Tree Travel, and will do what I can. On the side, I’ll do a little scouting, a little familiarization and see if I can get my head around this place Janie loves so much.

I did have a bit of a hiccup getting here. Delayed flight from Albuquerque to Houston and an hour and a half layover (Never less than two hours, people! NEVER!) meant I missed the one flight per day from George Bush International Airport to Oaxaca. Oh my. That’s never happened to me before. It was… umm… quite a learning experience. I’m sooooo much wiser now. I will not bore you with the details. Let me just say that if you walk into a hotel and the carpet is stained, the windows are nailed shut, you can’t get the fan or a/c to work and you’re going to have to walk out and about at night, in the dark, to find food, just leave.

I took a shuttle right back to the airport and got a room at the Marriott. I can’t tell you what a relief it was to walk into a clean, beautiful room and know that I could get dinner right downstairs. The staff was helpful, cheerful and totally on top of things. I had a nice conversation with an Englishman traveling to Belize the next day.

I had a good night’s sleep, stayed in bed until 10 am, sat outside in the warm Houston sunshine and leisurely caught the same flight. Just a day later.

So all that… and then a trouble-free two hour flight and I was in Oaxaca. What? No eight hour extravagaza flight? No marathon of movies while I sit in my tiny seat until my rump is numb? Nope. I was there in almost the blink of an eye.

Unfortunately, I arrived at night. Janie sent her friend and “adopted son”, Alex to pick me up. When I came through customs, there was a handsome, neat young man about the same age as my own son waiting to greet me. While he drove, we chatted, I rolled down my window to take in the evening air, glimpsing huge trees of bougainvillea and green highway signs in Spanish. I had a brief flashback to traveling through Hermosillo on my way to Kino Bay, along the Sea of Cortez, in oh… the mid 1990s??? Mexico has a very particular feel – and I was curious to see how I would react to being here again. It’s been many years since I lived in Arizona, close to the border. But memories of Agua Prieta, Nogales and Naco came flooding back. Even my earliest exposure to Mexico, in Ciudad Juarez, flitted through my memories. But before I could think too much about it all, we were at the condo. I met the neighbors in quick succession, got the lowdown on what we’ll be doing for the next three days (Oh, did I think I’d have time to go to Monte Alban? The Textile Museum? The villages surrounding Oaxaca city, to see Zapotec weavers, learn about how mezcal is made and pick up some outrageously gorgeous textiles and handcrafts? Oh my, no! That’s what we do during the tours though. So I’m going to have to come back to see and do all that.) However, I so get to do some fun things, including the first morning I was here. So, to keep this post from getting too long, I’ll tell you about it in the next one. Lots of pics coming. And here’s one to keep you interested…

Hasta luego.