When Help Was Given It Was a Comforting Feeling

Day five: Today was truly an adventure. Chrissy and I decided to go out on our own. The purpose of the day was to compare the differences between the ...market, the l...., and the plaza de Cuernavaca. We had no idea what bus to take we only new which direction to travel in. So we made our way from the abbey to the main street to catch the bus. On our way we noticed that there was a small market set up in one of the streets. This was put on by locals of the area (I believe). It had a feel of a community yard sale. There were things for sale that were new and used, there were odds and ends and fresh fruit and food for sale.

The energy was friendly which was nice because we were the only ‘outsiders’ strolling through the street. We stopped at one booth to look at some music that was for sale and the man tending helped us choose some good tunes and steered us away from the music that wasn’t so good! I appreciated that. We didn’t spend much time there because we had a full day ahead of us and we were not sure how long it would take us to get to all the places we wanted to go, especially because we had no idea how to get to them. We walked to the bus stop and asked a woman what bus we should take, in Spanish of course, and after a few minutes of her talking to us it was quite clear that we didn’t understand what she was saying. But we managed to get our message across and she directed us to the bus we need to take.

Once on the bus Chrissy and I used the time to get out our Spanish/English dictionary and write down some key phrases that we were going to need to know how to say during the day. Things like where is – Donde esta, how do you get to – como se llega, is this the right way – vamos bein para, where are we – donde estamos, does this bus go to – esta autobus va a (which would have been good to know just a few minutes prior), and of course the all important question; where are the toilets – donde estan los servicios. The list goes on but you get the picture. You would think that from riding the bus as many times as we both have we would know that trying to write was not the best idea but we did our best. Chrissy looked up important things and I wrote them out, or at least tried to, but it ended up looking like I had written them with my left hand in the dark.

The bus we got on wasn’t the bus we normally took so I became a little nervous when I was recognizing the scenery around me but I had faith that no matter what happened, even if we got lost, it would be ok. Besides I had Chrissy with me so even if we did end up lost in Mexico it would be an adventure none the less and would make for a great story I’m sure. The woman at the bus stop must have told the bus driver where we wanted to go because we got our attention as we were hesitating to exit the bus. He motioned for us to get off and pointed straight ahead to let us know where we needed to go. I appreciated that very much; he most certainly did not have to do that. When we arrived at the zocolo we found an entrance to the market place and decided to go in. It wasn’t an entrance we had used before and we would soon find out why. We spent a very brief time in that area of the market before exiting the way we had come in, I won’t get into details but we affectionately renamed that part of the market plaza de porno.

We found another entrance that seemed much more PG for 11am in the morning and began our observation of what was going on. This particular market is like a labyrinth or a flea market on steroids if you can imagine that so there are a lot of things going on simultaneously all around. Lots to see, smell, and if you’re brave enough taste!

We found ourselves at an exit which leads to a street so we took it and turns out that the Lido was only a few short blocks away. We were stunned that our luck of stumbling across our second destination! We entered a gated door way and were greeted by a man sitting on the stepped ushering us in. Once inside I was a little shocked. The Lido Is known as the black market and went I was told about it my mind created a dark image of an underground market that was hush hush. To my surprise it was not that at all. It wasn’t hidden or underground actually it was quite the opposite in fact.

We left the Lido and headed to the zocolo for some lunch at a cafe we knew was nearby. Over lunch we talked about what we had seen and the differences between the two and got a map of the area so we could locate our third destination, plaza de Cuernavaca. Once we had mapped our route we decided that it would be nice to try to walk there. So we were off armed with our map, our enthusiasm and high hopes, our list of phrases and our hope that we would not get run over by a bus in our attempts to complete of days mission. The first person we stopped to ask for directions was very nice and pointed us in the right direction so that’s the way we headed. A Mexican woman driving who spoke English must have heard us ask the man because she drove up beside us stopping traffic behind her and asked us where we were going. We told her and she gave us more detailed directions and said it was quite far to walk, all the while the cab behind her way honking if frustration that she was holding up traffic. She did seem to mind, I appreciated her taking the time to make sure we were all right; she certainly didn’t have to do that. The walk was long but filled with laughter. Chrissy and I seem to work well as a team. The most challenging part was definitely crossing the streets and adapting to sidewalks that slowly disappeared into nothing leaving us, well, in most cases, on the side of a busy high way.
We managed to survive the walk and made it to Plaza de Cuernavaca without any major problems. When we stepped into the plaza the difference between what we had seen a few hours ago was instantly noticed; the lighter color of skin, people were dressed very well, children were playing not working, there were no stairs anywhere just elevators and escalators, no one seemed to notice us; we were not out of place because of our light skin, and no one spoke to us, no one approached us at all except one female security guard how told us that we could not take photographs. Please think a little further about why they do not want tourist to be taking pictures of a wealthy area such as a shopping mall.

All in all it was an amazing day of adventure. Not knowing how to get around in a place is hard but not knowing the language and not being understood in the language you speak intensifies the experience. It was scary but I’m glad that I did it. I stepped out of my comfort zone of having someone lead me and hope to step out even further as the day role on. I have a lot more to learn and hopefully a lot more uncomfortable moments to come where I can push the boundaries of my comfort zone further.
I must point out though that my day would not have turned out as well as it did without the guidance of those people who took the time to stop and help me along the way. They were able to recognize my struggle with the language barrier and offered to help in what every way they could, even if they didn’t know how to help me in English. I don’t know how many people I know, myself included at times, would offer help to someone who was speaking a language you didn’t understand. It almost seems useless. And I will admit at times it was but I appreciated the effort that each person took. To be the person of minority, to be the person that needed help, when help was given it was a comforting feeling. It was a felt like I was connecting with people and I wasn’t completely on my own.