a visit to the city

 

I am going on a road trip.

An unplanned road trip. But a road trip, nonetheless.

Omar told me this afternoon that he has an appointment at the University of Guadalajara in Ciudad Guzmán at 1:30 in the afternoon to pay the fee for his next admission examination, and to get the paperwork necessary for the test. Actually, he may have told me of the trip earlier, but I do not recall. That must be a universal plaint of parents.

This is our second road trip associated with signing up for examinations. You may recall our fun trip to Tepatitlán de Morelos driving adventures -- part 2 for a similar purpose. A five-hour drive turned into an all-day tutorial in repairing tires.

In the past, I would now be writing to you about how I am confounded by the idea of driving hours for a 10-minute appointment where money and documents pass hand, and to then ponder why such a transaction must be done in-person rather than on-line. Instead, I will do what I did on the trip to Tepatitlán de Morelos: I will stow my chauvinistic questioning and get on with what has to be done.

Mexico has taught me many things. One of them is if I just get on with what needs to be done, and stop kicking against the traces, things get done and I am the happier for it.

This trip is so spontaneous that I am not even certain whether Yoana, Omar's girlfriend, will be accompanying us. He has not told me if she is. But I will assume that she is because he spends all of his non-working hours with her.

I doubt this drive will be as fun-packed as the last one. But, who knows? Omar seems to believe that my road trips are filled with enough death-defying moments that he wanted us to leave two hours early. I suspect, he would have been happier if we had left two days earlier.

Maybe he will once again be prescient. He wanted us to leave early on the February trip. As it turned out, leaving early would not have mattered. But the two-day rule would have been wise.

So, I will report back to you as soon as I can. Even if it means posting from my telephone on the side of the road.