Why we shouldn't have read all those Cormack McCarthy novels...

Ray and I have been reading McCarthy novels lately, and the author may have inadvertently given us the wrong impression of Mexico. I know this based on Ray’s reaction to the trip I’m taking with Mom. We’re leaving tomorrow for Merida, Mexico, in the Yucatan, to spend a week with my oldest brother and sister-in-law, who live there.

Ray thinks one or more of the following will happen: (1) I’ll end up a mule for the drug cartels (‘cause pudgy redhaired pasty-white women blend in so well); (2) I’ll contract swine flu (which the media now say originated in Asia, not Mexico…gosh we’re awfully sorry about your ruined Mexican tourist industry); (3) I’ll be kidnapped by horse-thieving banditos and forced into topless servitude in a remote desert cantina (the McCarthy effect).

What will really happen is we’ll spend our mornings having coffee on the back patio or touring, and our afternoons reading by the pool. My brother thinks I may be intimidated by Merida’s hot weather, humidity, and mosquitoes, but he’s never lived in South Dakota. Bring it, I say. It can’t possibly be worse than picking and canning wild prairie plums in late July, and we do that for FUN around here.

After a few days in Merida, we’ll head for Tulum, where we’ll lie around on the beach, reading and listening to the Caribbean tide wash in (you should be hearing Enya in your head about now). The resort website says they serve fresh fruit on the beach every morning. It sounds pretty rough, but I’m willing to take one for the team.

Lest you think it’ll all be surf & sand, I’ll probably also get to experience the Mexican healthcare system when I’m rushed to the ER with severe sunburn. I’m taking SPF gazillion “for babies” with me, since some of my lily-white skin has never seen the light of day, but a recent NPR story suggested those SPF numbers are only accurate if you paste the stuff ¼” thick on every centimeter of exposed skin. Proper sunscreen application may depend on whether or not they serve rum on the beach, too.

I’m planning to blog at least once from Mexico, also depending on the sunburn & rum. Don’t read any McCarthy while I’m gone, and take care of each other till I get home…