(...continued from "To Wine or not to...ya right" )
You never notice the towels in a hotel room until you are dripping wet and realize there are none. After finding our wa with recycling the plastic cups for our wine habit, I found myself stunned by the trickery of the maid and our towels. Some days we had none, others 3. I could see I needed to step up my game.
I digress. I last left you with my mother-in-law, Jane, heading out into the night to pick up her husband, Dick, from the airport in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Yes their names really are "Dick and Jane". After becoming lost and disoriented, she managed to find her way to my sister-in-law's house who saved the day and took care of them. Luckily there was no "see Dick and Jane run" experiences to attach to this event. We breathed a sigh of relief as we ended the informational call, knowing they were in good hands and we finished our wine. That was close, we almost had to set the wine down and do something!
The rest of our trip was uneventful as far as thrills and chills, but full of fun and adventure. We did tours of Day of the Dead museums, a soccer game and a night at the famous Feria (a huge fair that people come from all over Mexico to party at) where myself, my wine maker husband, Jesse, his wine making partner and brother, Chris, along with his wife, Liliana, learned that we could polish off 2 giant bottles of tequila like it was wine.
We also, in true wine obsessed fashion, visited a local winery. A beautiful place that left visions of a new and improved winery of our own dancing in our heads. The winery itself was impressive, the wines were not. I have had wines that I was impressed by from Mexico on other occasions, but this tasted more like snake pee. Not that I have tasted snake pee, but I stole that description from my 6 year old son who decided the frozen yogurt in Mexico tasted that way.
We visited the neighboring town of Guanajuato. A town that is so magical, it makes you want to leave everything behind and move there; buy a little stone cottage on the hillside. Maybe plant some vines and make a little wine. Wait, we already have that here in Dixon, New Mexico...which most people think is part of Mexico.
Our trip drew to a close and we reluctantly headed back home. We all piled into the car and in utter darkness started the the long drive back to the USA. It is important to point out that while the media had us convinced that driving through Mexico was a death sentence, it isn't. Mexico is just like the USA with it's problem areas and issues, but not a reason to axe the entire country. In fact, it is while we were in Mexico that we received news about the Boston Marathon bombing.
The shock of the Boston bombing reverberated around the room as I read aloud the news feed from my phone. Being that we are marathon runners and Jesse and Chris want to run the elite Boston Marathon, this attack seemed to really hit home. The stories of loved ones at the finish line, horribly wounded or lost, was deeply painful. I thought of my own son's beaming face as I ran across the finish line of my 1st marathon. I ached as I thought of the countless races my family has supported us in and how devastating it would be if anything happened to them. The senselessness of this attack was bombarding our country and we were sitting in the sun drinking margaritas. It didn't seem right.
In tribute to those runners in Boston, we didn't run while in Mexico. OK that isn't true, I didn't run because I was busy drinking wine and tequila all day, but I did THINK about some kind of a tribute being a cool thing to do.
I think it is important that in a time of senselessness, that we do not clutch onto fear, but remember to live our lives to the fullest, not tomorrow, but starting today, starting this minute. Fear can cripple you, keep you from true freedom. It certainly added a lot of needless stress to our journey through Mexico. I had to ask myself, "who would I be if I didn't fear the fact that I may not get a towel from the maid today? Is there any way to know for a fact that I will NOT get a towel from the maid today?" The answer is no, I don't know...that is why I started hiding mine in my suitcase.
-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.vivacwinery.com
