Packing up

We enjoyed our last few days with the Ocampo family.  Arden really liked making his tent on the roof top and hanging out. His man cave.

I was getting excited to go home, but also sad to leave.  I think I knew what Arden was feeling.  

Being silly with their hats

Our last hurrah, was that Monday, we went swimming at the place we went to at the beginning of our summer adventure.  This time, we drove in Chinito's car.  Margarita and I went back to the ceramic market for some last minute shopping.  On Tuesday, we packed and let the kids play/fight one last time.  Around Chinito's lunch time, he drove us to the bus station and we hugged the family and said our farewells.
 I was sad to leave my good friend Margarita and I was also sad to be leaving Mexico.  I liked Mexico, but now it felt like it was a part of me...like I could live there, even if I was constantly reminded by others I wasn't Mexican...I wouldn't mind.  I grew to love the people even more.  The Ocampos were the perfect hosts.  I hope one day to return the favor, if they can come over to the States and visit. Perhaps, one day we will live in Mexico, who knows.

We got on the bus that took us to the airport and from there we took the shuttle that drove us to our hotel.  Its funny, how people in Mexico can work at a place and not know about things around them.  This happened to us several times.  Once we arrived to our terminal from the Cuernavaca bus, we thought we'd ask where to get our shuttle bus/van to the hotel.  We asked so many people who worked there.  We knew we were not too far away from where we should be.  Finally, after about an hour of walking around and asking, we were directed to the right place...the shuttle was called and we were on our way to the hotel.

Our last meal in Mexico wasn't tacos or something very Mexican.  Instead, we had burgers, the size of my head and fries.  We did find those delicious burgers at the mercado across the street from our hotel.  So I guess it was very Mexican...they had jalapenos (which we ordered without) and pineapples.  The following morning we were up bright and early...like 4AM.  The kids slept with their regular clothes and off we were...back to the airport and then on our way to the US.  When we were in Phoenix for our lay over, I felt annoyed at listening to so much English.  It bothered my ears.  It also felt weird to see so many people who were not short and brown.  I'd hate to say it, but there were too many white people.
Once Newel picked us up from the airport in UT, everything around us looked bland and boring.  The houses were painted in boring colors and the streets were too organized. I felt like a fish out of water.  I didn't realize how much we had acclimated to Mexico, until we got back and everything around us felt and looked odd.  In a few days, we were back to 'normal,' but we were missing Mexico.