The Heart of Mexico

This is Carlos Guadalupe and his mother.  Carlos found Tim's day bag on the bench next to the Virgin of Guadalupe church by his house.  The azul mochila contained important international travel documents as well as an IPod and other stuff you carry in a knapsack.  We can all give Tim a hard time for leaving his bag behind for the rest of his life but this was an opportunity for us to feel the heart of Mexico. About 2 hours later, upon realizing the bag was missing, Tim backtracked to find it immediately, unfortunetly he could not find the small church where we stopped to use the public telephone to call Alison.  He didn't get much sleep that night so the next day armed with signs translated by Alison to have the bag returned we headed out.  Luckily we were able to find the Virgin de Guadalupe church and after spending some time wandering around the neighbourhood looking in the garbage for the documents we dedicied to take the advice of a helpful gentleman and return to Tepoztlan until he did some investigating to find Tim's belongings and call us.  He was confident beyond a doubt that if the bag was left it would be returned.  We were getting ready to leave, anyone who has seen us saddle up our bikes knows this is not a quick process, Tim was resetting the GPS and I was taking a photo.  Then a woman came out and asked in Spanish if we lost a azul mochila, blue bag, after lifting his jaw from the ground in surprise Tim managed to communicate that indeed it was his bag.  The woman returned the bag and insisted that a reward was not necessary as it was his bag and should be returned to him.  We were touched by the humble honesty of this family and the neighbor.  We all hear strories of the hazards of Mexico but in a world of violence, is it fair to paint such a nasty picture?  We have discovered that there are good people everywhere and that most Mexicans are going out of their way to make sure we are safe and have a wonderful experinece exploring this country.   

This is Gabby, we met him in Toronto three years ago.  He heard the motorcycles circling the neighbourhood and peeked his head out of the gate to welcome us.  He knew we were on the road and took a chance to look out the gated wall to rescue us from the hot dusty road.  We were very weary and so happy to see his smiling face and to recive a warm welcome.  Please remember Gabby lives in Mexico.

This blog could not be complete until I thank Alison, Jarmo and their son, Noah,  for the hospitality and generosity shown this week.  They introduced us to many friends and wonders of Tepotzlan.  We are leaving tomorrow rested and well fed from our stay here and only wish they were staying until May so we could see them on the return trip. We know there are many new roads to discover between here and Panama.  We will treasure our memories of the moments we shared on the roof top terrace welcoming friends ,dancing in the kitchen, traversing city traffic to find an outdoor concert, hiking mountain sides searching for pyrmiads and birds and quiet moments enjoying the peace and quiet of this haven.  We are left with the challenge of  beating Noah at the game of "Last Word".