Dad in Mexico

A few weeks ago I had my second (and it looks like my last) visitor come to spend some time with me in Mexico: my dad!! We had a great time! For me, it was a melding of two worlds. I love to spend time chatting and just hanging out with my dad, and by now you should know I absolutely love Mexico--the people, food, culture, history, sights, etc. Before this trip my dad had little experience with Mexican life (beyond some visits to border areas). I had a great time talking with him about Mexico, and watching him respond to new experiences.

Toward the end of our trip I thought it would be cool if my pops were to post an entry on my blog about his stay. He's been really busy with work stuff, but agreed to do it anyway. Thanks dad!!

Here is what he sent me just a few hours ago:

Some of you know in April Bryant and I spent 5 days together in Mexico. While it was wonderful to have Bryant’s undivided attention for that time – and of course be in his “home turf” – I have to tell you that it was strange to have to depend on my son to get around. It seems it wasn’t many years ago the roles were reversed. This was the foundation of what turned out to be 5 days of learning new levels of humility, appreciating a different culture, and gaining additional patience.

No matter where we were, Bryant showed his finely developed skill of making new friends. It didn’t matter if they were street people or “white collar” professionals, Bryant could have them chatting as if they were best of acquaintances in minutes. To be honest, part of this was because of the general graciousness that seemed to be inherent in the diverse socio-economic groups of Mexican people we met (maybe he set this all up to impress me – I wonder how much it cost him!?!?!?). This is where the patience came in. A mono-lingual gringo can only take so much gibbering in a foreign language. Of course I tried to follow along – but they kept using more than the 25-30 Spanish words I know. How rude of them! Actually the rude one was me. After spending hours (and even days) of hearing nothing but Spanish, an occasional “thank-you” or “excuse me” would slip out of my mouth (much to Bryant’s chagrin) – showing how I had a hard time changing to their culture instead of assuming (inadvertently of course) they should change to mine.

Here’s a pic of Bryant making great conversation with an “Aztec dancer” we just met at zócalo square.


While I was impatiently wondering why 15 minutes wasn’t long enough to finish a conversation with a stranger, I was able to tour all of ancient Aztec “Mexico City”. As you may know, this city was originally built on a lake. I think this scale model represents a drought year!


Sometimes, however, these lengthy conversations with strangers yielded some very valuable information – like the time Bryant asked directions from 2 separate individuals to a Pacific coastal town that we needed to get to take advantage of some hotel reservations at what our travel book described as a bit of “remote paradise”. Both of these strangers reported the same thing – since we were traveling at night, the only highway that was a direct route to our destination was littered with bad guys who carried guns and liked to rob people. After a short discussion Bryant and I decided that our remote destination wasn’t really that important.

Soooo anyway after a lot of driving and spending all afternoon in Taxco (that was another great experience), we ended up after a wrong turn in downtown Acapulco in the midst of a ton of traffic. Since I was tired I wasn’t much of a co-pilot. Not having a map of downtown Acapulco didn’t help either. Bryant in his ever optimistic attitude helped to ease the frustration we had driving around in what appeared to be circles in this famous “intimate” resort town of 700,000 people. Once again as I looked past my perceived levels of discomfort, there was much to observe in this fascinating diverse culture. Learning to seize the moment (i.e., “here I am in deep Mexico surrounded by a strange yet charming people that look and act so very different than what I am used to”) brought a feeling of being fortunate to witness such things.

Finally we get back on the highway and continue to find plenty of traffic (probably because they pay less for gas than we do). After another hour or so, we pull off and asked someone at a roadside hammock “super store” (I’ve never seen so many hammocks) a good place to get a hotel room. Conveniently, we are next to a left turn that if we traveled “a ½ hour or so” we should find some “hotels”. Its almost 10:00 at night so we say “whatever” and head down the left turn. Now mind you we have spent nearly 14 hours on mostly 2 lane highways (we were too cheap to take the toll roads). WE WERE TIRED! After what felt to be a very long ½ hour the road ends and we are forced to turn left again (we had to because of the ocean). Where were the hotels? The one sign to a hotel yielded a closed building. We drove a little further to a “restaurant”.

(imagine finding this in the dark)

Surprisingly, they were still opened and were willing to cook up some delicious food. For those of you who love Mexican food, there is nothing like the real thing. We asked them to recommend a good place to stay. We were told to contact the owner of the “hotel” behind us. Bryant woke him up and 2 of his 3 rooms were available. We took one. He wanted payment in advance. I think he didn’t trust us. We got 2 double beds and a private bath for $35. After checking into our very clean room, we decided to explore the loud thunder-like booms that we heard coming from the ocean. In the moonlight, they appeared to be 100 foot waves. Not really, but you know what I mean. We found hammocks (surprise!)

The next morning the somewhat suspicious hotel owner became a fabulous host. When we asked him if we could have some coconut milk, he harvested one right then, whacked its head off and served it up with ice and a straw. He then refused to take any payment!

After that he offered to give us a tour of the area in his car. All for no charge – he just wanted to be a courteous host! After driving a short distance he showed us this beautiful fresh water lagoon (it was walking distance really) used for all water sports including water and jet skiing.


He told us it was snake and crocodile free. We didn’t swim in this gorgeous lagoon, but we did in the Pacific Ocean. It felt like bath water (in April no less). In fact it felt warmer than that same ocean ever felt in California in the middle of summer. The waves were big.


While this is only one of many most memorable experiences Bryant and I had, it was one of our favorites. All the people we met in this hidden Mexican resort area were very gracious. Our host told us it is rare that Americans come there. He said most of his guests are Mexican. No 4 or 5 star hotels there – just wonderful locals who show a genuine interest in serving their guests.


These 5 days turned out to be some of the most enjoyable days of my life. While discovering paradise with Bryant was fun, it was the new appreciation of a culture and people that has left the most lasting impression.

Love to all, Bart Jensen