I was in my home and native land for two months this summer and I have to tell you, it’s both good and bad to be back in Mexico. Yep, I’m just a walking emotional conflict. If you are new to the expat game, I’m here to tell you to buckle up.
First, we never intended to spend two months in Canada this year. It’s hard to be away from our Vallarta home that long for a variety of reasons:
- We have dogs who are our very own children, and we think about them constantly when we’re gone, sure they suffer deeply in our absence.
- We don’t like imposing on people, but we have to because we can’t afford long-term hotel life.
- The peso rallied for a bit last year, but let’s face facts – our hard-earned pesos are not doing too well, even against the Canadian loonie.
But we didn’t have much choice – our son graduated high school in June on one side of the country, and Gilberto’s daughter got married in August on the other side. We were definitely destined to spend summer in Canada.
And that’s ok, because there are some really nice things about Canada in summer, such as that it’s not Puerto Vallarta in summer. I know, you are all going to tell me that you love the beach when it’s 31 degrees Celsius (feels like 43), and the RAIN is just WONDERFUL. Yes. I’ve heard that. But summer in Canada means sunny, breezy days, some rain, and very rarely temperatures that feel like 43. You don’t break out in a sweat just from existing.
On the other hand, after twenty-four years in Mexico, going back to my homeland always fills me with a certain discomfort. It’s not something I can really describe very well and you may not understand if you haven’t moved from your birth country and spent time in another country long-term. It’s this sense of displacement like you don’t quite understand the language, but it reminds you of something you used to know.
I got lost on almost familiar roads and honked at for forgetting my signal light. I said “gracias” to serving people (which I thought wasn’t embarrassing, but my kids didn’t agree). I took a sweater everywhere because the stores and offices are absolutely frosty (and honestly, it’s not THAT warm outside). I wore pants to the beach while everyone else wore bathing suits (don’t even ask me to go in the water).
But I will say that the discomfort was worth it, because of the exciting, milestone family experiences we were there for. A graduation and a wedding are emotional events, so we were riding high during our visit and in the days immediately following our trip. Coming back to daily life wasn’t easy after dedicating every moment to putting on a beautiful wedding.
And now we are back in the PV tropics, sweating out the toxins. Our dogs were actually just fine without us, and we still have a couple of pesos left. As uncomfortable as it can be to experience a bit of culture shock, I’m glad we went. And now we just have to wait for November so I can put my sweater on again.
