A Surprise in the Yucatan
This spring I found myself stranded in Mexico. I know--all sorts of connotations there. But this was one of those "can't make this stuff up" experiences, one that actually resulted in good things once I focused on finding them. This blog is one of those results, and hopefully also one of those good things.
I live in Italy, in a town called Sesto Fiorentino, a suburb of Florence. I retired here nearly five years ago. Each year I like to spend a couple of months in the Western Hemisphere, usually Central America, where I can conveniently visit family in the States or have them take a vacation to visit me. This year I almost didn't make the trip. I'd only recently returned from a 14-month world cruise circumnavigating the globe, and I was still getting settled back into Italia. But I still wanted to see family, too.
Costa Rica has been my go-to, but this year someone suggested Merida, Yucatan. I decided to try it. I wasn't sorry, because I loved the place--so different from every other city I've visited in Mexico over the years. I don't like touristy environs; I'm very much an off-the-beaten-path kind of traveler. Merida is a Mayan culture mecca--the monuments, museums and history, and all the tourist haunts, are certainly fascinating and available. But, from my Airbnb on the northwest side of town, I found authentic, tranquil barrios that suited my taste perfectly, and not a tourist in sight.
Merida is also recognized as one of the safest cities in North America. And, with a convenient airport to make my annual visit north, I felt like I'd found my new yearly escape. The only downside was the stifling heat, which gets pretty much unbearable in April and lasts two or three months. I hate heat and humidity, so I was pretty sure the symptoms that started right around the same time were related. They weren't.
Thankfully, a good doctor referral and a battery of tests (all for about $150, by the way) diagnosed the problem. It was serious, and it meant I would not be able to travel for a while. My first reaction was to accentuate the negative. I wanted to go home! There was a delicious penne all'arrabbiata and my favorite Chianti calling my name!
The Good Stuff
I pulled it together and focused on finding the good stuff. My Airbnb host accommodated my every need; I could still write; and, I wasn't dead. What came next made my head explode.
I've contributed to several magazines over the years, currently the expat publication Dispatches Europe; and, I've self-published several books, nonfiction and semi-autobiographical. I've toyed with the idea of writing fiction forever, but never could make it happen. Suddenly, trapped in Merida with nothing else to do, it happened. A novel began to flow. Who knew??
At this writing, as I learn the ropes of getting published (not self-publishing this time), and as I begin this new blogging journey (haven't had a blog in many years), I'm feeling pretty thankful. I wanted that gratitude, and that focus on accentuating the positive, to be the opening salvo for this blog. I hope many will join me here. I'll be talking about locations around the world, and the writing journey of a retired, solo traveling, Black American expat in Italy--and hopefully, one day in the not-too-distant future, my new murder mystery. Like I said, you can't make this stuff up.
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