Generosity

So on February 11, 2022, my carefully planned Caribbean vacation to Isle Mujeres began.  The trip was a fundraiser for KAXE Radio out of Grand Rapids Minnesota. I flew from Bozeman, Montana, to Minneapolis, where I met up with my friend Mary.  Mary is the one who graciously invited me on this adventure.

She and I stayed in a really neat basement Air B&B, went to the Mall of America to explore, and ate dinner at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. https://www.margaritavillemallofamerica.com/

The next day we joined our fellow travelers at the airport, all retirees
living in Minnesota.  These folks heading out on the KAXE trip are all
associated with the oldest rural independently operated public radio station, in one way or another.  http://kaxe.org

Waiting for the flight to Cancun.

Saturday

On Saturday morning, we took the 3.5-hour flight to Cancun.  From
Cancun, we took a ferry across to the island, where we met up with the last two members of the tropical trip, Lissa and John, the hosts of the trip. https://www.islamujeresferry.com

Over the course of the next week, I hung out with some amazing people, saw world class sites, ate fabulous food, and worked on a great “not in Montana” tan!  I also picked the brains of people with a lot more experience in this world than I have; that alone was worth the trip!

On Saturday the 19th as we were en route to the airport, I made a careless mistake. I did not take my purse with me to the bathroom at Puerto Juarez, the Cancun port. I left it with all the luggage and my compatriots, not thinking about how small and easy to grab my purse was, relative to other luggage.

Of course, my purse contained my passport, credit cards, cash and pesos; every piece of paper or plastic that would prove who I am.  And my phone, with dozens of photos of the once-in-a-lifetime sites I’d visited.

Since the rest of the group had to move forward, Michael, who was
tasked with getting folks back to Minnesota, stepped up.  He called the Lissa and John, who said get her a ferry ticket and send her over.

That Generosity

Members of the party dug deep and gave me cash, pesos, love, support and sympathy as we parted ways. Them back to Minnesota and me back to Isla with my luggage and no provable identity.

The next few days were a blur of calls back home (on borrowed phones), furious cancelations of credit cards, password changes, everything I could think of.  Because it was the weekend, then a federal holiday I wasn’t able to obtain a replacement password until Wednesday, flight back to MSP on Thursday and I finally made it home on the 25th.

An extra five days, full of embarrassment, shame, mild-panic suppressed by John Grisham, mixed with more excellent food, too many alcoholic drinks, and late afternoon time in the sun, before I was finally able to resume the trip back home.

 

A Debt that Cannot be Repaid

I owe a lot to my compatriots, who doled out love, support, and lots of financial backing.  I was extremely lucky to be surrounded with people with generous spirits, who saved my proverbial bacon.

No matter how irritating I’m sure I was those last five days, John and Lissa did their best to get me back home.

The group asked me to pay their generosity forward, which I’ll continue to do, for a long, long time.