A Mash-Up
Letter #86: From Philadelphia to Playa del Carmen, Mexico & Oaxaca, Mexico to an Antigua, Guatemala flashback
10/24/24
I get the same giddy feeling every time someone drops me off at the airport for one of these long haul trips. I check in, drop my bag at the counter, slip my AirPods into my ears, and blissfully drift away. The room goes quiet, the noise cancellation feature in my headphones blocking everyone out around me.
It’s the start of my alone time—long stretches of time for reflection, and time to nest in my precious solitude. I turn on whatever music strikes my mood at the moment—leaving Philly it was Hil’s and mine collaborative Zen Shrooms playlist—made up of songs funky and melodic and unexpected—and allow myself to drown out the surroundings for the next few hours.
I’ve thoroughly been enjoying how much time I’ve spent reconnecting with my parents back in Wisconsin for the summer, and staying with my east coast friends for the past couple weeks, but my psyche seems to operate best when I know I have the promise of a solo trip on the other side of my time spent with loved ones.
This time I’ll be heading to Mexico for two months.
Hil dropped me off at the airport and we gave a big squeeze goodbye as she left me at the departures entrance. Another epic buddy visit in the books for the two of us and her husband, Andrei. We went grocery shopping, cooked dinner together with Sasha and Katlin (italian meatballs, anyone?!), went apple-picking, and conducted our own stereo-typical fall tarot card reading.
I bought my first piece of furniture in over two years at a Pennsylvanian antique mall, for what I have affectionately dubbed my “manifestation home”—a home I do not yet have but that I am daydreaming of constantly (you have to start somewhere right?!)—and we ate our final meal at my favorite Philly establishment, another place we have lovingly dubbed the Vietnamese business park—a strip mall of all these amazing Vietnamese restaurants, grocery stores, salons, shops, you name it. The dining there is authentic, just as I remember it in Vietnam, and it is my favorite place to eat in Philadelphia (so far). The prices are reasonable, and the ambience is next to none. It’s perfect.
And now I write this as I wait for a dish of a pad thai with tofu at a restaurant in Playa del Carmen (am I eating all the wrong foods in all the right places?!). But don’t worry, I had some amazing tacos at El Fogón on la Avenida 30 just the night before, it’s just that the craving for Asian food has yet to escape me. I’m on day 2 in Playa del Carmen, with about three weeks or so to go.
I’ll have an early night and another round of Emily in Paris (guilty pleasure or actually very good series? Indulge me) before bed. I miss this anonymity, this time of not answering to anyone, and doing whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it. It’s reminiscent of the life I lived in NYC.
I have loved my busy social calendar with all the people I love in my life, and yet I feel an ache for needing the time alone. And so the indulgence in this time feels so rich, so special, that even something as simple as going to bed early to watch Netflix on my laptop is not wasted on me.
11/23/24
I just got to Bar Ilegal, ordered the Cucumber Slap, an amazingly balanced mezcal drink that I read others raving about on Google Maps. Just enough sweet for me, not too strong. There will be live music (rock—praise be), but it doesn’t start until 10pm and it’s only 8pm now. I’m not sure I can stay up that late, but it’s nice to be at a bar. It’s something I don’t do very often at night when I’m traveling alone
What’s funny is there were also references to the bar Cafe No Sé in Antigua, Guatemala when I was reading the reviews in Google Maps. And when I told the bartender this bar reminded me of another bar in Antiqua called El Ilegal, he said “sí, tenemos un bar en Antigua, Cafe No Sé”, and again, in my broken Spanish I tried to explain that no, there is another bar in Antigua called El Ilegal that has a very similar vibe. I asked if the bar I was in in Oaxaca, Bar Ilegal, was owned by Ilegal Mezcal, and he said, yes! Also Cafe No Sé in Antigua.
All of a sudden I had a flashback to sitting at Perico’s bar in Antigua, El Ilegal, on a Sunday in September, 2021. Perico was lamenting about being the last of two Guatemalan owned bars in Antigua—the rest of the bars are now all owned by foreigners. And Cafe No Sé, of all places, and the owners of Ilegal Mezcal had arrived well after Perico had owned his bar, El Ilegal, and been hounding him to give up the name of his bar—but he refused, and rightfully so.
What a wild realization to have this story come full circle for me 3 years later. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was being a traitor by now spending money in the bar of the owners that had made his life such hell. I loved becoming a quick friend of Perico at his bar. He made fun of me immediately, his sense of humor cynical and dark, and I clapped back immediately, proceeding to hang out there for an entire day, returning again two days later before I had to head out. I made friends with the all of the regulars and dogs that came through the door that Sunday.
I loved my time in Antigua—the sunny weather, the rough cobblestone streets and sidewalks that were completely unforgiving to heels or platform shoes, the brightly colored facades of homes, hiding behind their front doors the breathtaking gardens in their inner courtyards. But it was mostly because of that random Sunday at El Ilegal, the grunge rock pouring out of Perico’s speakers (he even had Tool playing), and the oddly familiar sensation that I had been there before or that I might end up there again.
I shot Perico a message on Instagram asking him if I was, in fact, on enemy territory in Oaxaca. And when I found out that Bar Ilegal in Oaxaca WAS the same company vying to take over his name in Antigua, I kindly paid my bill, thanked the bartender for the delicious drink, and headed back to my AirBnB.
Hey! Would you like to connect over creativity, self-growth, and problem-solving? Please book a time on my Calendly for us to chat! I can’t wait to see you. XOXO.
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Beautiful seeing the world through your eyes❣️