December 7, 2002

"Saying Goodbye to Mexico"

After an intense week of finals, papers and presentations, I’ve finally got a spare moment to reflect on our stay here in Mexico. Tomorrow at this time, we will find ourselves sitting at home surrounded by our family and friends. While I’m looking forward to seeing everyone, I will most certainly miss many things about Merida.

First and foremost, I will miss my host family and the gecko that lived on my wall, who ate all the nasty mosquitoes and made cute little sounds.

When I asked Phyllis Bellver what she would miss, she answered, “The sounds. The raucous bird noises that wake me up in the morning, the chirp chirp of the little geckos running around inside and outside my house, the thrashing in the bushes of the iguanas in the backyard, the revving of the little VW Beetles as they compete for parking space in front of my house, the penny whistle of the guy who sharpens knives from his bike, the man shouting "elotes, elotes!" from the street, the creak creak of the windmill in the backyard, the chop chop chop of knives on breadboards every morning as my neighbor and her maids prepare lunch, the carrying on of cats and dogs at all hours, the occasional contributions from local roosters and goats, the strong wind in the palm trees signaling rain. At first, all startling, now comforting, noises that identify my home here, noises that I’ll miss forever.”