El extranjero

According to my roommate, Acapulco used to be a happening place in the 70s and 80s, a rare resort town that retained at least some of its Mexican identity.

My parents went there for their honeymoon over 26 years ago and I have a vague memory of chasing a peacock in a plaza when my family vacationed there when I was very little.

Most tourists fly into Acapulco, bypassing the north of Mexico. The same goes for Cancun. Now, these places have become a haven for well-off northerners looking for a good time and cheap drinks. Acapulco, in that sense, doesn't disappoint.

This past weekend I ventured down to the famous hot spot with some friends for a much needed break from the D.F. The water was warm and the drinks were cold and we had ourselves a great time lounging on the beach and sipping tequila and spritz. The whole town would be absolutely breath-taking if all the sand weren't stolen and sold to hotel chains and foreigners. Styrafoam and shit is swept away into the sea every evening at high tide.

We took an organized tour around the bay and onto an island on the second day and as the commercial boat sped along through the turquoise water contaminated with trash, I hung off the edge, thinking back to a few remote days on Zanzibar in the middle of my African explorations.

***

One day Cholo, a local ship builder, invited me along with his crew to run some errands around the island. I'm not a strong swimmer and I know nothing about shipbuilding but for that day, and the following when Cholo explained and showcased all the styles of ships that were used on the island, I wanted to drop out of school and join his crew. I wanted to trade with the local Muslim tribes and strap giant logs to the side of a trim ship and live and work according to the tides and the rains.

But there I, as I am here and everywhere else in the world, am a foreigner.
I am restless and rootless. The latter feeds the former and the former feeds the latter.

***

Due to the negligence of my University here, there's a chance my student visa may get denied and I won't be able to finish out the semester. A part of me wishes that would happen so I have an excuse to skip town and head south...