Solo Traveling is not for me

M has returned to Seattle for a memorial service this week, so I have been traveling alone in Mexico. I have had two separate 3 night stops to try out “Solo Traveling”. I did a few work trips alone during my career, but that doesn’t really count because I am busy with work things and work people. I haven’t really traveled alone since my study abroad Europe travels in college. I was a bit lonely then, but I was with friends quite a bit and it was easy to meet people in youth hostels when I wasn’t. Now, I am really traveling all alone. There are a lot of solo traveling nomads out there and many claim to be really happy. I know I would get better at finding friends and meetups if I did this longer, but for these 6 days, it is a bit lonely. Part of that issue is that I have landed in Mexico City on October 31st, just in time for Dia De Los Muertos. It has been an interesting experience, but it really isn’t a solo activity. I ate street food alone, visited museums alone, walked the decorated streets alone, and watched the parade alone. Lots of people everywhere, but I didn’t talk to many people at all. My first stop was a return visit to Mexico City’s Anthropology museum. We are going to spend a lot of time in the next couple months visiting archeology sites and I wanted to study up on what we are going to see.

I have been to Mexico City before and have seen a lot of the big sites. These 3 days were going to be checking out the vibe of the festival. Everyone seemed to be in such a good mood and it was fun checking out the decorations, the ofrendas (death memorial altars), and all the costumes. I saw so many Catrinas (real people and paper mache). There were happy kids and people everywhere!!!

Halloween is not a 1 day event in Mexico. There had been parades the previous week leading up to October 31. There was trick or treating and people out in costume on the 31st but also on November 1st. The big event downtown was the final parade on November 2nd. I saw hundreds of skeletons, Catrinas, and other costumes that started in Chapultepec park and ended at the main Zocalo.

Mexico City can be a tough city to visit. The metro can be overpacked and it isn’t very user friendly for visitors. It is a large city so I am always on edge looking for pickpockets or other dangers. The amount of people in the city for the parade made me even more on edge. It was tough not having M next to me to help me be on guard. It just seems safer when there are 2 of us. It is strange that I had a hard time enjoying myself during the festivities when so many other people were having such a fun time. If M was there, we probably would have had our faces painted and tried to get more in the spirit of the holiday. It was a fun experience though, and I hope we get the chance to see it again as a couple. My next stop was a quick flight for 3 nights in Villahermosa, Tabasco. A much quieter destination.

It is HOT in Tabasco!!! Over 90 degrees every day and high humidity. This is winter in Southeast Mexico and it is supposed to be a bit cooler. Not right now. Also, not much to see here so I spent a lot of time in my way too big Airbnb that had Air Conditioning. It was a 2 bedroom that we had chose because of its awesome location to the pedestrian zone downtown but it was way to big for 2 people and I am still traveling without M. I did a lot of walking around in the morning looking for new birds and then retreated to the AC when it got too hot out for that. It is a very comfortable little downtown to wander around in all by myself. There were people around but it seemed a lot safer to hang out in alone. I tried a lot of street food and ate a lot of it on the benches in the town square. There was a nice river walkway loop where I found a couple of new birds for me. There was also a tower on the river that I climbed to see the whole town.

We had planned to come to Villahermosa only because it has the closest airport to Palenque, Chiapas- our next stop. But, after some investigation, we discovered that this area is home to one of the oldest civilizations in this hemisphere and we should spend some time checking it out. The Olmecs were here from 1200 to 400 BC and are generally considered to be the forerunner for other Mesoamerican cultures. There isn’t really old buildings that you can explore but there are a lot of sculptures that have be found. They are known for the big stone heads like the 2 I saw in the Mexico City museum. The La Venta site in Villahermosa has 4 more of them as well as a lot of other impressive altars and statues. They are displayed in a jungle like park that also has a sad little zoo included in the ticket price. I spent a morning wandering around the park checking out the sculptures and the zoo animals while getting bitten by mosquitos. I also had my binoculars to spot the many crocs in the nearby lake and some of the tropical birds in the park.

I did check out the local baroque cathedral as well as the small history museum, but mostly I just did a lot of walking around the pedestrian only streets of this town. Solo traveling means you can do whatever you want… but I usually do whatever I want anyway when I am with my wife. I didn’t really see much advantage in that. I did get up earlier and eat a lot more street food than M likes to do, but everything just seemed a little off the last few days. Traveling as a couple means you share a lot of the travel tasks. M researches restaurants, grocery stores, keeps our passports, and is always in charge of holding on to the Airbnb keys. She even edits my blogposts. This week I had to do everything. I always felt like I was forgetting something that M usually does. Besides that, I just missed being able to talk to someone. I like us sharing the weird and funny things we see in new places. It is awkward just staring at my phone while eating dinner by myself. It just seems better than to share new experiences with a partner. Maybe solo traveling can give you more freedom, but I don’t think it is for me. I jokingly told our friends that this was going to be a “trial separation”. I’m glad to stay it didn’t work out. I am really looking forward to meeting M at the airport tomorrow and starting to explore a new Mexican town together. Next stop- Palenque, Chiapas