3/26/18-4/2/18 in Monterrey, Mexico

This was my first international flight kinda got things started for me. In retrospect, this is not how I ever would have expected this travel thing to snowball. At that time, my brother and his partner were living in Monterrey. My parents, aged 81 and 69 at the time, agreed that we would meet in Monterrey for a week. I was shocked that they were willing to travel down there with me as they had heard all of the stories about kidnappings and murders in Mexico. There was a comfort level they felt with my brother and his partner. They knew the landscape and how not to put us into any danger. We had a good time.

Let’s start with the first thing I didn’t expect: AirBnB has changed everything. The 5 of us shared a 3 bedroom, 3 bath, 2200 foot 6th floor condo in the nicest area of the city. San Pedro Garza Garcia was a wonderful and safe area. The total cost was $1050 for 7 nights. Here is the listing if you are curious: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/19908286

This was not really a tourist vacation, but a rare chance to have our entire family together. This is something that became rather difficult and rare after I moved to the Portland area in 2001, and my brother moved to Texas and Monterrey in 2010. Easter Sunday is really important to my mom, so it was really pleasant spending time together as a family. My brother and I have not provided the grandchildren my parents really, really hope for, so this is as good as it gets.

We did not do much exploring while in Monterrey, but spending time with each other. We did hit a couple of museums. My favorite was Museo del Obispado. I looked it up on the website before we went there and holy cow! The rifles used to execute Maxmilian I of Mexico (a native Austrian who ruled there for about 3 years). The deposition of Maxmiian I of Mexico is pretty irrelevant to most Mexicans; however, we Americans made up a holiday for Latin Americans based on the day he was deposed. We call it Cinco de Mayo. 25 years ago I first asked one of my Mexican co-workers to explain Cinco de Mayo to me. I just remember his response: “Our Independence Day is in September. I am not sure what we are celebrating on May 5th.”

My strongest memories from our trip to Monterrey was the food, the nature, and the greatest grocery stores I have ever been in. Let us start with the food. I have been eating “street tacos” for years. I had no idea what a proper street taco tastes like. It was magical, but it ruined my impression of the street tacos I have been buying for years. They are not even close. My favorite is barbacoa. Delicious, but don’t ask what part of the animal it comes from. It was great. My brother or his partner would go to get food for all of us. Dinner for 5 was around $20 and we were full. I was quite proud of my parents in their daring dinner choices.

We had one big dinner out of the house at El Rey del Cabrito. Having been there will come up in later stories. Cabrito is milk fed baby goat. (I feel like I keep pushing the line on what I am willing to eat. It gets more questionable in a later post.) When you go there they have the front window full of baby goats on roasting sticks in the window. I take great pride in my parents that they were willing to give it a go. We did a giant meat platter so they mostly chose the beef steaks thrown on the table, but both of them were at least willing to try the Cabrito. A few months later I attended a wedding in Guadalajara (we will get back to this) and all of the Mexicans I interacted with were super impressed that I  had been to El Ray del Cabrito. I had been to the Mecca of food. 

My brother and  his partner took us on a road trip through one of the national parks with a waterfall just outside of Monterrey. That was enjoyable, but a bunch of walking. Mom was smart  She stayed in the car with the A/C on. I wish I had done the same. The timing was not great, but I think my sink produces more water than the waterfall did on our trip to the park.

Now, here comes the fun stuff. My brother’s partners\’s father and my dad made an awkward connection. My dad went on a voluntary trip with Ed Guzowski (my great uncle), or Guzzy as we called him, on a trip to Mexico, including Monterrey, in 1958. They had been there when the population was 50,000 and now it is closer to 4,000,000. Because of this experience 60 years ago, my dad made a connection with my brother’s partner’s dad. However, there was a huge language division. It was great for me because they kept grilling up meat for me and leaving me alone because I was useless in the given situation. My brother and his partner became default translators between the two dads. I know my brother was frustrated because he and his partner became defaulter translators. The family gets together every week, but they usually don’t start the cooking until 9pm. They made special arrangements for us to rest and be gone by 9pm. We have different expectations and are just old.

Now, let’s get to H.E.B. in Monterrey. I can speak for myself, mom, and dad. Those were the greatest grocery stores I have ever been to and my family agrees. Every Texas grocery store is an H.E.B.; however none of them compare to the ones in Monterrey. Combine a Costco with a Fred Meyer, then double the width of the aisles. This is H.E.B. in Monterrey.

 Now we get to the difficult part. Ham on Easter Sunday is a big thing for my my mom. This was our first chance to get together for Easter in nearly 20 years, and it was a challenge. My mom’s idea for what a good quality ham consists of and what they offer in Mexico are not on the same page. Mom ended up with the ham she didn’t want, but it was still ham on Easter. We have kinda made it a thing that we get together on Easter. Now that I know, I can plan ahead. If they want to join me in Dubai, great! But we are not getting a ham.

My final unexpected conversation or experience was at the Monterrey airport. My parents and I were leaving within a few hours of each other. I wanted to make sure everything went well for them. I was pretty useless. When they first arrived in Mexico, they had the airport attendants drive them from the gate to customs. My dad is a very generous tipper, so when we showed up at the airport, it was as if the same guys who delivered them to me when they arrived were there waiting for them. They were checked in almost instantly and had a ride to the gate. My first flight was to Los Angeles, and they were flying to Detroit. They were leaving about an hour before me, so I sat with them in their gate area. Next to them was a Canadian woman who was flying back home after having surgery in Mexico. The level of disdain this woman had for the Canadian health care system was impressive. The only real importance of this story is that my dad and I are exact opposites on the political front and this woman was driving home my argument against universal health care. My dad is rather set in his ways, so I don’t think it moved him a litter closer to the right as I would have hoped. 

I’ll finish with a little anecdote on how our family has dealt with politics and how EVERY family should do the same. My brother, father, and I all read the Wall Street Journal on a daily basis and are truly engaged. 1996 was the first presidential election where all of us were eligible to vote. I voted for Dole, mom voted for Perot, dad voted for Clinton, and I think my brother voted for Nader. We have been talking politics for the last 25 years, but it has never gotten mean or disrespectful. I hear stories about losing friends and family over political disagreements and am astonished that anyone would allow that to happen in their lives.

Happy travels. Next stop: Guadalajara.