The night of nights.

by Violeta Ardeni Castillo Camacho (Mexico)

I didn't expect to find Mexico

“Traveling- it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller” -Ibn Battuta When they forced us to leave the place, we were met by a crazy change of weather: inside was the warmest atmosphere ever, and outside the cold raindrops was sliding down my cheeks. I bought a slice of pizza at the corner of the boulevard Kukulcan, eating while explaining to foreigners what the word "bajón" means in the Mexican culture. Their reactions blew my mind and I was having so much fun even knowing that my mom was going to confront me later "it's better to ask for forgiveness than for permission". We walked to take the red bus, streets were empty, everyone was still at the party, I could hear all the good music that I was missing out on. The sweet rain didn't interfere with our plan: go to beach. Finally the bus arrived. The sign saying "caution with crocodiles" was making me feel that one could bite me at any moment. The bus was full of people of different nationalities. During the short trip until to our stop, Amaury made me a photo shoot, of which I know someday I could tell a story. I could barely set a foot on the floor, my soles was on fire so I took my shoes off, I ran without them and had to cross deserts and mountains to reach the house and then the toilet; it was still raining at 2:58 AM. “Come on”, I said, “our parents are already sleeping we have to see the sunrise, the first one of 2020, let's go for a walk through the beach”, I told to my brother. Our relationship used to be the worst, but that night we saw how much we actually appreciate each other; left our differences apart, grabbed some snacks and left the house, bringing only a camera hanging around my neck, a lighter and a cigar in my left hand. After another photo shoot next to the pool, the water was softly touched by the wind and the stars were shining, we went downstairs to see the sea with the deepest blue color being conquered by the moon admiring itself in the waves. I felt the white sand so soft under my feet, now they could finally rest. I was recording a video for Instagram when my brother told me –“so, I love you Arde, you know that right?”. It left me speechless…-“I love you too” answered in my head. We burst into laughter because of the crazy stuff we’ve done couple of hours ago, while walking and trying to avoid the sargasso. I played a song, we sang and danced -but the cigar showed us with its last threads of smoke that it was time to go home. At 4:04 am we returned; the empty beach told me exactly what to do with my future. We didn't sleep that night; we were too busy dreaming. A long bench protecting the pool site sheltered us before sunrise while eating Ruffles and drinking Coca-Cola. I always impress myself with thoughts that I have when I'm alone or in silence, I recap the entire trip "bonne année" said to us the newest friends we made earlier, a French family, the son and his wife speaks English and luckily so do I. My phone asks to drop some lines, write some things down, so I did it: “my hair has the smell of cigarettes, my breath tastes to alcohol… listen to waves and sea everything is fine” wrote. Cancun gave me the night of my life; night which changed my mind entirely. Even fell in love for a couple of hours, the love is only for those who are willing to take risks. That night I was the luckiest girl. At length he gray clouds covering up the entire sky let us saw a tiny orange part peeking out.