Left México City

And I left Mexico City – México. It’s funny to say like that because one of the things that I learned in México was that, in México City they call the city just as México – which makes sense from an internal perspective. And so, I left México.

In the airport I was surprised. I had much less information and observation that I thought I would have. To be more direct, the only thing that I have about the flu was a questionnaire asking about the symptoms of the flu and advising that, if you had all of those symptoms, you should postpone your trip and look for a doctor ... quite useful.

But the moments before were much harder. Being honest, I really thought that I wouldn’t leave the city when I was trying to. I was waiting for a confirmation from the flight company and since it meant that I needed to leave the country in a bit more than one day, my heart just didn’t want to believe. The confirmation came. I packed and started to say good bye to México.

From my – not so few – experiences while leaving a place to move for another, the hardest part is always packing. First, for obvious reasons: it’s boring, it takes a lot of time and you’re threatened by the constant feeling that you’re forgetting something important. But also, for not so obvious part, I realized that packing is the final confirmation that you’re leaving. It’s the turning point. From that moment on... you probably won’t get back on your decision. I never got.

To increase the hardness of the moment – obviously not on purpose – my roommate was hearing some sad songs from a presentation online. I was starting swallowing my tears. It was just the beginning of something that I would do a lot that day.

I had a lot to do in the short time due to the fast confirmation that I was leaving. I was happy for that. I had things to do – I had less time to think. My goodbye was hard and it was divided by the people. In the night before I said goodbye to some of the people that went to my home: for a bye-bye party: Pau, David, Joss, Juan Carlos and Ponny. I cried like a kid. I would do it a lot more in the next day.

Then, it was Jandris, Juan, Mari Jimena and Mariana. Crying, swallowing tears and saying the only three things that I could (mumbling) say: << Thank you – I will miss you – I am sorry... >> I was sorry. I was specially sorry because I could not see Aninha and Paula before leaving Mexico. I was sorry.

David – my new Venezuelan friend came with me to the airport and helped me during all the time. It was good because I had more time to be smiling than to be sad with him.

In the airport, something else called my attention. In every country that I visited this year, I bought post cards to keep my memories of the country. When I went to the store to buy some from México I was hit again by a hurting conclusion: I haven’t seen most of the things that were there on those post cards.

People talk to you. They say to you some phrases that you listen and you agree. You are surprised about how meaningful those sentences are. It doesn’t mean that you learned that. Life will teach you. That’s what happened to me...

“Don’t let to do tomorrow, what you can do today.” I was planning to go to get to know more about Mexico City with Paula. I was waiting for my vacations in the end of my term to travel. (...) I waited too much. (...)

I arrived in Brazil and despite of all of my expectations nobody asked me a single question about the flu. Almost no one was using masks. I was interviewed by 3 television channels – the reason why: I was wearing a mask.

The following days were slightly weird or hard for me. I arrived in Brazil coughing and it rapidly evolved to what took me to Brazil: flu. I came to my city and I woke up with a low fever, coughing, sneezing... fortunately the fever was low; I didn’t have much headache and pain in my body. Most likely, it wouldn’t be the swine flu. It didn’t meant lack of prevention.

The first decision was to do not let me to go to my cousin’s wedding. I stayed here for my grandma’s birthday and finished my weekend with my whole family wearing masks. It meant a lot for me...

- It meant that they were happy and really wanted me with them;
- It meant that I was in my country, but still isolated somehow;
- It meant missing my friends from México again. I was pretty much as I would be if I was there with them.

Tomorrow I start my actual new life. It’s so interesting to see how your life can change completely in 10 days. When I was young I set a principle for my life:

“I won’t make part of someone else life just for making part. I want to leave a (good) stamp of me on every single person that crosses my way.”

I hope I was successful doing that on México. Together with this hope, I bring stamps from my dear friends from México City.

Thank you. I miss you. I am sorry.

[we will meet soon ;) ].

Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) with the wonderful Mexican Flag. There, I've been.