Getting Lost in Mexico (in my 15th summer)
I've told this story many times over the years and to many different people. But I've never actually taken the time to write it down. Well...now's that time! So first some backstory... Where I went to elementary and secondary school, everyone knew that if you took three years of Spanish in middle and/or high school, you would be eligible to participate in "The Mexico Trip" (what I would today call a "Short-term Travel Study"). It was basically 10 or 12 days in Mexico, starting in Mexico City, having a short homestay in Guadalajara, and then a few final days in Mazatlán. This was a program that had been set up and run since the 1970s and into the late 1990s. And it was always run by the Spanish teacher(s) -- not an EF Tour or other tour guide-led type of program. The Spanish teacher was the tour leader. I had two older siblings that participated in one in the late 1970s and, although I was a baby when they did, I was determined to take advantage of the ...