After a supremely early morning— the later of our two buses left Florida at 6:00 am— we have finally made it to Mexico. The world around us has exploded into bright reds and yellows and greens, and tiny snippets of Spanish are beginning to come out.
Flying into Mexico, I was struck by how green and mountainous it all was. Tiny pieces of towns appeared below us, linked by winding roads that skimmed along the tops of the hills. Even from above, it was easy to imagine a travel advertisement filmed below us, a tiny picture of a world simultaneously so close and far from our own.
As we began to approach Mexico City, the land below us changed from vibrant green to a kind of gold color. Cacti emerged, carefully planted in ramrod straight lines, and the shapes of neighborhoods became clearer. No longer were there simply clusters of buildings scattered in the crook of a hillside, but instead clearly defined clumps of homes and buildings, carefully arranged into defined sections.
We landed, clumped together and made our way past customs, where we were met by Silvia, our tour guide. After giving us time to use restrooms, fill up water bottles, and exchange money into pesos, we got on the bus. It was a long ride, and minutes began to seep more and more into the last as we got out of the metropolitan district and the landscape began to blur into one seamless parade of green grass and occasional trucks. We entertained ourselves by telling stories, becoming louder and giddier as the time wore on.
We paused at a rest stop to eat food. The outside of the building was a vibrant rust color, and inside Mexican travelers entertained themselves by playing foosball, as young children toddled around. We ate simple food— quesadillas, beans, rice, chicken— ordered in Spanish from the non-anglophone staff. After that, back to the bus for three more hours. The sun was setting in our eyes so we pulled the shades and turned into ourselves to chat and laugh.
We arrived in Guanajuato late, taking a cobblestone street down the hill to our hotel. The building is appropriately named Mision Guanajuato, and is reminiscent of the missions of the old American Southwest. It’s a bit of a labyrinth to get around, but there are quotes painted in red on the stucco walls, and there’s a kind of old mysticism to the place.
The night finished with a fancy reception dinner provided for us, that seemed to attempt to combine both the American and the Mexican— the pasta had a slight flavor of chili in it, and there was flan at the desert table. We went back to our rooms, and the night finished as some of the Glee Club sang a rousing rendition of Besame Mucho, a famous bolero that we will be performing in our concerts.
And with that, the day ended, as quiet conversations in each room began to fizzle out. It’s an early morning tomorrow, but if even the travel days can manage to be this special, I look forward to what the rest of tour has to offer.
Laura Robertson ‘23
Photos courtesy of Theo Trevisan ‘21, Natalie Stein ‘21, and Zoe Kahana ‘21