A Feel of Mexico

The air, the smells, the food, entertainment, and the white sand along with the blue ocean waters in Cancun were just unforgettable. I must say I was pleasantly surprised at the culture, history, and beauty of this place. It stirred in me the Mexican heritage I thought I had long forgotten. There were a few places I visited that caused me to rethink how I view my heritage. My family were waiting to hear me say how proud I was of it…and while I couldn’t deny their obvious welcoming of people and desire to give their best to all….I couldn’t but think of that passage that says “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” ( Col 2:8.) How can I appreciate a culture that sometimes offends my Christian beliefs, without being a stumbling block to the unbeliever (in this case, my mother and siblings) watching my reactions? As I went site seeing and shared hours at the buffet lines, I couldn’t help but express my thankfulness to God for what he blessed us with, sometimes out loud, sometimes in my head.

While visiting this park called Xcaret, I was in awe of God’s creation while contemplating the breath taking views of the ocean. Everyone there was very proud of this place and after being there, I could see why. It had underground rivers, snorkeling sites, Mayan villages and all in a much conserved state (not an easy thing to do when this gets visited by thousands of people most everyday.) This ‘eco archaeological park’ was described to me as the equivalent of the “wall of china’…if you go to China you have to go see the wall, so if you come to Cancun you have to go to Xcaret. But this treasured site was not short of entertainment, it had a two hour show that truly was a “Celebration of Mexico”—it had me singing and dancing the songs and polka like dances I had grown up performing in school. It was educational and fun at the same time.

On another day I visited the Mayan ruins—Chichenitza. Here we hired a guy to give us a tour of the ruins, whom by the way spoke: Spanish, English, Italian, and little bit of Mayan…his trilingual skills really put me to shame. Anyway, much of what he said was in deed educational like how they Mayans through observation figured out the seasons of the year, months, and short of a day, how a year consisted of 364 days. Jorge (our guide) also mentioned how the Mayans have been found to have a lot in common with the Mongolian people and how Mongolians like Mayans have red birth marks on their lower back, sign that perhaps Mayans came from Mongolia….At this point, I knew my son Nathan had more of the look of a Mexican, but in case you’ve never changed his diaper, he has a mother size of a red birth mark right above his butt…Anyway, as I heard of the Mayan gods which were much like any other ancient culture, they worshiped man, the sun, the moon, and anything in between. I was once again reminded of our greater than life God of ours: He created the human race, but in our sin we traded God’s glory and worshiped created things rather than the Creator.

At the end of my vacation I didn’t walk away without hope, for here I am all because of God’s mercy bestow upon me and any of you claiming Christ as your Savior. Yes, I did reclaim my heritage, especially my language, and I saw it more clearly than ever before...My God given heritage could be used by God! My children should know Spanish and should want to get to know ‘my people’ for the sake of Christ. I came back reenergized and full of hope seeking for ways to pass down my heritage to my children--but with one great difference, Christ at the center of it.

(Written by Esme Randle, the ocassional writer of this blog...Jasmine says taskmaster of this blog...haha!!)