I GOT LOST IN MEXICO Part 2 - KEEP GOING Newsletter
Brook Slagle • 2023-12-25
yo! brook here.
Happy holidays & merry Christmas to all who celebrate!
This is part 2 of my "I got lost in Mexico" story. If you haven't read part 1, you can read it here.
I found my bus line. I stood there for a few minutes, waiting for the bus to arrive.
And then I found JESUS.
He took the shape of a mid-twenties white woman with a Peace Corp backpack.
She was my savior.
I struck up a conversation and got the low-down.
We ended up being on the same bus, and we chatted for a little while about her experience in Mexico, and she gave me some tips.
We got off at the same station, but that would be the last time I would see her. As we got off, I took a wrong turn before entering the station’s building and ended up walking around the bus parking lot in circles until finding the exit 💀.
I used a map from the guidebook to find my way to a hostel they recommended in the same guidebook.
Culture shock was hitting me like a train now.
Everything was in a different language, and I couldn’t understand any of it.
My body and mind were overly stimulated.
I was super hot, confused, nearly lost in a different country, and I couldn’t speak the language.
This was the most humbling day of my life.
After figuring out the map on my phone and matching it to the surrounding streets, I ended up at a hostel and finally found a base camp that had Wi-Fi.
The following days were soaked with intensive learning, but I eventually got the hang of it. I started to learn my surrounding and I grew.
I faced an overwhelming amount of challenges within an incredibly short period of time.
Here is a list of some of the challenges I faced:
How to get cellular data on my phone (esims)
How to find an ATM that wouldn’t charge insane fees
How to order food
How to find places without Google Maps (it isn’t consistently updated for Mexico)
How to tip respectfully
How much cash to carry
Where the best hostels were, and how to get them for cheaper
Where the safe spots where, and the spots to avoid
Where to get the cheap, but incredible food that Mexico is known for
How to ask for the check (la cuenta baby)
But you know what…
I wouldn’t change a thing.
I would do it again. Furthermore, I would go through that pain and shock again.
It forced me to learn and grow so much.
It allowed me to function at a higher level, and absorb so much information in such a short period of time.
I continued to live and travel throughout Mexico for three months and by the end, I was amateur-pro at the digital-nomad-mexican lifestyle.
Not only that, but before I left, I had secured my first few clients for my business.
I had gotten leaner and fitter.
My Spanish was exponentially better (still trash NGL).
I was 10x the person… All because I didn’t go crazy with planning.
I understood the dangers and obvious things to avoid, so I wouldn’t get murdered, of course. I wasn’t rashly stupid.
But I did force myself to figure out difficult things at the moment. And I am better off for it.
I recommend you do something similar.
Do something as small as trying a new restaurant without looking at their website or the Google Maps reviews first. This is a truly frightening task for the modern, overly cautious person (speaking from experience).
As always…
KEEP GOING
B.S.
p.s. have you done something like this? let me know, I would love to hear your travel stories!