La Frontera.

Rick warned us it ain’t over till it’s over. This category 2 hurricane sluggishly took its time to gain force over the Pacific to then slam the Mexican shores near Lázaro Cardenas, on October 25th. Fortunately, without causing too much harm and a safe 430 nautical miles away from our hurricane hole in La Cruz. 

In the meantime, we’ve been educating ourselves on the Mexican Día de Muertos. 

Where we come from, we don’t have the habit of decorating the graves of our beloved departed ones with clay & sugar skulls on All Souls’ Day. And neither do we invite them back to our earthly table. In Mexico, they certainly do.

Mexico’s ongoing fascination with skulls & bones dates back to pre-Hispanic times. Long before The Squid Game became a global sensation, those who lost the ball game also lost their head. Massive skull collections – called tzompantlí- can still be admired at temple complexes and in museums.

Nowadays, skulls and bones are still an important part of life and during Día de Muertos they are all over the place. A National shoe brand even held a Photo Skull Contest with nice prizes to win. And we are not talking morbid Halloween haunting scenes. The pics are not meant to be scary, but creative, attractive, and therefore entirely Mexican. 

In some places, people take it to the next level by unearthing and cleaning the bones of their beloved dead ones so that they are in mint condition for the occasion and remain so for many more Días de Muertos to come.

And then there is of course La Catrina, the female skeleton dressed up in early 20th century Parisian gear. She started out as a political satire on Mexican high society but quickly became everybody’s darling. With her bright marigold eyes buried deep into her skull she even beats Frida Kalho in popularity. 

Traditionally, when the deceased cross the border that separates the dead from the living, exuberant celebrations take place. This year however, Puerto Vallarta and the entire state of Jalisco prohibited all public festivities and even graveyards had limited access. People were urged to build their altar for their dead loved ones strictly in the privacy of their homes. No singing and fond remembering on the graves and no celebration of life during the street parades. Pinche Covid!

Mexico never ceases to amaze us. So, to continue our Mexican expedition, we had to leave and cross another kind of border. In order to be officially allowed in again for another 180 days of mystery & wonder. And guess what. The USA is opening to Europeans right now and San Diego in Southern California is only a 3-hour flight away. What a fortunate coincidence. Easy peazy we thought. Let’s go on a city trip!

But the opening of borders is scheduled for November 8th. Oops! Our ticket out is for November 3rd. Until the very last moment we nervously kept listening for our names to be called. In a peak moment of paranoia My Captain was convinced that we were being summoned to the check in counter. 

But we weren’t. The Covid ban on Europeans didn’t apply to us. Simply because we were flying in from Mexico where we have been living for the last couple of months.  As “Mexicanized” Europeans with a negative Covid test, nobody stood in our way. Whereas true Mexicans must go to their state’s capital and pay 200 USD to initiate a US Visa request. Which then more often than not gets stamped “denied”. Again, we feel embarrassingly white beneath our tropical tan. 

Here in San Diego, we are now enjoying the gringo way of life for a couple of glorious days. After having recuperated from our initial shock, that is. Suddenly, our dollars don’t stretch that far anymore. Only now do we fully understand why so many Americans choose to retire across the border, down Mexico way. Also, exploring a city like San Diego without a car can be rather challenging, were it not for the efficient Lyft drivers. Our rides with Fehmi from Jordan, Juan Carlos from Colombia, and Sherry and Apryl, born and raised in the US have been very pleasant indeed.
And the fact that we were able to get hold of a badly needed new CCU( course computer unit, aka the “brain” of the auto pilot system. The old one has completely lost its bearings and is rather braindead) for O2, did call for extra celebrations.

But now, the call of the Sea of Cortez is getting louder and louder again.

By the time we return to O2, hurricane season will have petered out. New adventures are beckoning on the horizon. And this time, we will be having them in good company.