19.

Right now: Back in Houston airport awaiting our flight home. We have a seven hour layover.

My trip to Mexico in three words: airportis, plazas, and courtyards.

Airports, plazas, and courtyards all act as hubs. Hubs for comings and goings; waiting beside, near, and around each other; and they provide opportunity for random conversation and social interaction.

At Houston airport, through commiseration with cancelled flights and weather-related uncertainty, we were able to make solid connections and get to know a little more about the city we were visiting, even splitting a cab with a lovely young woman who moved to Guanajuato from St. Paul, Minnesota.

Houston is the place where we catch our connecting flight. It became a place of connection in more ways than we expected.

Once in Mexico, if we weren’t wandering, we were hopping from cafe to cafe on the perimeter of a plaza, or we would sit on steps in the middle of the action, reconnecting with a friend. While at various plazas, friends of our friend would say hello. Children would chase each other around fountains. Families lounging. Couples intertwined. And then we would watch the sky change colour while the town came to life in lights

Our friends’s casita had a courtyard. One afternoon, the household and us guests congregated outside and lay on various blankets and yoga mats to just hang out – drinking cervezas, alternating between Spanish and English lessons while listening to Argentinian music.

These places, points of convergence, provide a resting stop. A place to unload your baggage. A spot to connect, disconnect, and reconnect. It is a point to pass through – whether to linger or keep moving is not always up to you.

Right now, I am waiting. I am finished with airports, plazas, and courtyards and ready to go home. I am grateful for it all but my focus is now on my ultimate resting stop – home – where the most important connections take place.