What´s power got to do with it?

by Lisa Maddex (Canada)

A leap into the unknown Mexico

I did not want to stay at the Hacienda that had no power. I wanted to stay at the eco-friendly villa with a fruit orchard and a pond. My partner was the real one being stubborn, and I was becoming slightly miffed. “You just want to save us a couple of bucks”, I grumbled at him. “That's the only reason you have to not stay at the eco-friendly villa with a fruit orchard and a pond”. For weeks I had been absorbing myself with deliciously sweet fantasies drinking the celebrated coffee from San Sebastian del Oeste in the Sierra Madre mountains from our quaint patio overlooking the spiky fields of thousands of agave plants, the lime and papaya trees settled among thick heavenly-like mist, and myself frolicking in tandem with the enchantment surrounding them. And of course that pond. He didn't budge. Instead, he mocked my sense of adventure. I retaliated by proving that I did indeed have that sense, and I booked the Hacienda with no power, and no pond. Our journey to the Hacienda would start in the Bay of Banderas and take us 2 hours east up into the mountains. We followed windy pothole filled roads through flat, dusty ranch lands with herds of cattle and their cowboys, roadside stands selling coconut water and quiote, a Quinceanera photoshoot, and cliffs that plunged straight down into ravines. We were also witness to the transformation of the Sierra Madre´s foundation. The rock was no longer burnt red in colour, dry and crumbly, but had become dew-misted gray stone that was splashed with luscious green jungles that began to kiss the side of the car. Around one of the many bends encountered, a steep and leafy gorge presented itself and what appeared to me to be an architectural anomaly, el Puente Progreso, known as Crystal Bridge. This absolutely immense concrete arch connected two mountain plateaus with engineering glory. I had to get out of the car to revel in the partnership between impossible nature and made-possible construction. Utilizing the sidewalk, I marched to the middle of the bridge deck despite my goosebumps. I was so high and the foliage was so dense. I could not see the bottom. My eyes accompanied a black bird on their afternoon flight. I floated into daydream, joining them through the jagged canyon that echoed with the buzz of crickets, and moved onto the mountain tops where we soared between the peaks for a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. The structure's anchor was riddled with graffiti, but I couldn't help but be inspired by the relationship between bravery and foolishness of those who maneuver around such an object to use black paint to spray colourful words. One misstep and you would become part of the mosaic of pebbles and sticks that I imagined to be at the bottom. Driving slowly down the Hacienda´s vegetated covered driveway, it was hard to miss the tiny pops of orange flowerheads riddled among the green. I rolled down my window to feel the air; it had become cool and fresh. I drew the crisp atmosphere into my body and relished in it. I started to laugh as I welcomed the escape from the back, boob, and butt sweat that I had collected since moving to the bay during its hottest and most humid months. Passing under a stone archway, I stepped out of the car to a cobblestone courtyard amongst buildings from a time I was unfamiliar with. Golden wildflowers, soft moss, and ancient ferns had taken over the grounds, and the colour of cherry mahogany wood that accentuated the arched porches of the now vintage-white buildings, looked as though it had just rained, when it had not. There was a blend of whimsical yet antique magic that drifted from the decrepit structure of columns, to an entrance of a little museum that had remienents of the shadows from the Hacienda´s colonialist silver-mining past, and continued to travel towards the perimeter where I found lime trees that hung over a small creek that also provided shade for a caramel-speckled dog. I grabbed a basket full of candles placed out for us on the porch. I didn't care if there was a pond.