I was the furthest from living abroad. The day I jumped into Oaxaca, Mexico with 700,000 yen in savings and just my feelings

June 22, 2006, 20 years ago.
The flight that was supposed to take me from Narita Airport to Oaxaca via Dallas and Mexico City was already delayed by 5 hours before departure.

Hello, I am Saru, living in Oaxaca.

The other day,
I wrote about something like, "Is it really that right to go abroad while you're young?"

And,
I used some rather strong words, like "the bug of making travel your life."

So, what about you?

I'd like to write properly about that today.

I am someone who decided to move to Oaxaca and
bet my entire life on Oaxaca.

20 years have passed since that day.

My encounter with Mexico was unexpectedly

triggered by my ex-husband (hereinafter referred to as 'he'),

saying, "Let's go to Mexico (Cancun) for our honeymoon!"

At the time, I had just gotten married, was working as a temporary employee, and was living a pretty good life, going to the gym in my spare time.

His job was a bit unique.
It was a job where he had to satisfy customers with his conversational skills.

In a sense, it was also "all about the material."

Because of that,
I think he probably didn't want to go to the standard honeymoon destinations popular at the time (like Australia or Rome).

However, this suggestion of his would later
change my destiny significantly.

I wasn't interested in traveling abroad, so
I felt like, "Anywhere is fine."

Hmm. Cancun, Mexico, huh.

A resort with ruins, beautiful sea, not cold, and the land of tequila.
It seems bright and cheerful, a colorful country.

Amigo! Tequila! Amor!!
The Spanish words I knew raced through my mind.

Before visiting, I only had a vague, stereotypical image like that.

My first time in Mexico.
When I opened the lid,

Mexicans are so nice! What is this country?
It's the best! That's how I felt.

Apparently, it resonated with some channel of mine.
Sorry for getting spiritual. Lol

Until then, I had only traveled abroad twice (for company trips, etc.). All destinations were English-speaking.

For me, who still has an English complex and can't speak English, their Spanish felt very comfortable.

It's easy for Japanese people to hear and easy to pronounce.

Hola.
Gracias.
Amigo.
Adios.
Muy bien.

What surprised me most was:

Mexicans greeting me in Japanese.

I assume it was part of the hotel service, but... I didn't have the brainpower to think that deeply back then.

People from a country that seems the furthest from Japan
were using the language of my country.

For someone like me who didn't know the language and wasn't used to traveling abroad, hearing Japanese, even just simple words, gave me a sense of security.

For a Mexico beginner, there is no hospitality that hits harder than this.

I think that experience is why I now recognize Spanish and language as communication.

It doesn't have to be perfect!!
As long as it gets across, that's fine! If I can even make them smile a little, that's the best!

Even now, I speak Spanish with that stance quite a bit.

So, my Spanish
often gets lost, wondering where the grammar went. Lol

And, at the gorgeous hotel in Cancun (since it was a honeymoon),
I visited beautiful seas, ruins, and cenotes on optional tours.

Of course, I also ventured out to the Centro (city center) with a pounding heart.
From the super safe and clean hotel zone to an unknown world—
A little adventure (exaggerated)

At that time, I brought "Chikyu no Arukikata" (a Japanese guidebook).
I desperately wanted to buy "chicle," the raw gum material harvested from trees that I read about in the book, so I searched with bloodshot eyes, asking, "Where is chicle sold?"

I mean, there were so many wonderful handmade crafts and folk arts for souvenirs,

why did I want "raw gum material"?
It's a mystery to me now. Lol

Reading a column in the book, I, who wasn't used to traveling, was convinced that "If I go to the local area, I can buy it!"

I wonder if they sell it in the city?
(They don't sell it)
As I was wandering around,

I was caught by a stereotypical bright and lively Mexican man (hereinafter referred to as Jose) that everyone imagines.

Looking for something? I'll help you.

He's getting close all of a sudden.

I tell him I'm looking for chicle.

In my head, chicle = raw gum base.

In Jose's head, chicle = chewing gum.

Leave it to me! They sell it at a shop my friend runs! He said, and took me to a small street stall.

There, he showed me chewing gum.

That's not it.

I showed him a photo and explained.

Ah. They don't sell that.

Well, I guess it can't be helped. Just as I was about to say adios to Jose,

He said, 'Ah, how about a tip for guiding you here!'

Huh? You're asking for a tip? Lol

At this moment, a normal person might feel a bit annoyed.

But for me, I thought, 'Mexicans are so funny' regarding this Jose.

Yes, he wasn't a real villain.

He makes friends with foreign tourists through obvious kindness and a fun attitude.

And then begs for small change.

What is this? Is this a manga?
This is something you wouldn't encounter in Japan.

My sense of humor might be a bit off, but it became a good story for my travel memories.

From this experience, I started to think back then that 'kind Mexicans always involve a tip.' (I still think that's true for some people).

This honeymoon would later become the catalyst for
getting a divorce to live in Oaxaca, leading to where I am now.

My first trip to Mexico was truly fun.

Except for the issue with the unfamiliar tortillas and bean paste (frijoles).

Mexicans, tourist spots, folk crafts—everything was like the best brain drug for me.

Once is not enough!!!
I definitely want to come to Mexico again next year!

And so, the following year, I visited Cancun with my boyfriend
while giggling!

After that, I left my boyfriend, who had a job, in Japan. (Hey now)

I visited Mexico many times with friends.

The frequency was once every eight months on average.

I was spending way too much money.
I was a bit crazy.

As expected of the woman who later blew half her savings in Oaxaca on supporting her favorite pro-wrestler.

Furthermore, after my first trip to Mexico.
Three days after returning to work, I decided, "I'm going to study Spanish too!" and started learning Spanish with a Mexican female teacher at a place like a "Spanish schoolhouse" near my station.

Even though I was a Spanish beginner,
I had a specific preference for "studying Spanish."

Because I wanted to master Mexican Spanish, I gave the schoolhouse a super annoying condition: the teacher absolutely had to be Mexican!!

Starting from broken "travel Spanish."

I visited Mexico many times,

and the feeling that I wanted to live in Mexico someday grew larger and larger.

I don't really know, but if you're a normal, sensible person,

you're married, and even if you want to live in Mexico someday, it's just "someday."

It might even be in your old age.

But "someday" is just "someday."

Mexico has a slang term that symbolizes this.

It's "ahorita."
Although it originally means something close to "right now" or "I'll do it right away," before you know it, it becomes "I'll do it eventually," "later," or "someday."

Many Japanese people are pushed around in Mexico waiting for a "someday" that never comes.

But in Japan, too, there is a "someday" that never comes no matter how long you wait.

It's the kind of thing you thought you'd do, but before you know it, it has disappeared from your life.

However, in my brain,
It's a waste of travel expenses to go to Mexico so many times!
I might as well just "live in Mexico."

So, where should I live? What kind of work should I do?
Gradually, I ended up visiting Mexico many times for the purpose of finding a place to move to.

Actually, he also said, "I want to live in Mexico someday."

I took that dream-like talk seriously, thinking that if the preparation and timing were right, we could move to Mexico together, and I shifted to a plan to make it a reality.

Of course, looking back now, it was my
"solo mental relocation plan."

In reality, the difference in our enthusiasm became clear, with him saying, "Why do we have to challenge something like a dream story now?"

In the end, I went to Oaxaca, and he stayed in Japan.

We had an amicable divorce.

Yeah, I get it.
When you think about married life and work,
that's what happens, right?

I think the people around me saw my choice to live in Mexico as just an "extension of lighthearted play."

Even though I was completely serious about it.

But even when people around me told me to think it over carefully,
the answer was already there: 'I want to live in Oaxaca right now!'

I couldn't wait several more years.

If I didn't build a foundation for my life in Mexico now, I felt that as I aged, my energy and physical strength would only decline.

I was in my 30s at that point.
That anxiety was greater.

If I was going to do something new in my life,
I truly believed it had to be now!

It was like I was having a 'college debut' of sorts.
While everyone was worried about me, I was sent off to Oaxaca.

What was even more worrying was that,
despite deciding 'I'm going to move to Oaxaca!'

my total assets were 700,000 yen.

It was far too precarious. Haha.

But that was all the money I could save.

I traveled to Oaxaca in 2005 and decided to move there in 2006.
I had used up most of my funds on that previous trip to Mexico.

At my temp job, I looked for work with lots of overtime.
I didn't care what it was as long as it paid.
Fortunately, I had enough skills to do DTP and design commercial flyers.

Most of the time, I was working at the printing company until past midnight.

That was how I scraped together those 700,000 yen.

Personally,
'I'll be fine for about a year in Oaxaca even without a job, right?'
'I'll build a foundation for work while I'm there. I'll need to get a visa too, right?'

I was just thinking about things that were convenient for me. Haha.

I mean, is this person okay?
The place I wanted to live was Oaxaca, a regional city with no foreign companies at all.

I had friends there, but no one to help me find work.

I planned to do the printing job I found on a local Oaxaca job board online.

But I didn't have a visa. What was I going to do? Haha.

I hadn't even decided on a place to live yet.

And as a safety net,
I had shrewdly purchased a one-year open ticket, thinking, 'If it doesn't work out, I can always go back to Japan.'

I believe that while being particular is important, isn't it also important in life to be flexible and adapt to the situation?

If things don't work out, you can change direction as many times as you need.
There is no 'correct' answer to your own life.
I believe that by accumulating experiences, the place you eventually drift to becomes the answer to your life.That's what I think.

A friend who had ties to overseas said to me as a farewell gift,

'You, who were the furthest from overseas,
are the first to jump out into the world.'she said.

It felt a bit strange, and
even after 20 years, I still remember her words.

That's right, I came to Mexico after having lived the so-called 'standard life' that society talks about.
Except for having children...
Actually, there were parts of my married life in Tokyo where I couldn't find any meaning.

In all seriousness, I bet everything on Oaxaca, a place I decided I wanted to live in more than Japan, for the rest of my life.

What tried to dampen my enthusiasm was my 'family home.'

In a small, rural village where everyone knew each other.
There was an atmosphere of, 'I can't tell people around here that you got divorced.'

Furthermore,
I was told, 'You can get divorced if you want, but stay in Japan.'

Well, if that's the case, there's no point in getting divorced.
(Hey, come on)

I was able to follow my own will with this divorce, but
going to Oaxaca meant leaving behind family, friends,
the married life I had been close to, and my work colleagues—everything in Japan.

I was in a position like a 'reckless desperado.'

I couldn't give up on what I wanted to do.
But there were people who would be inconvenienced by that.

Hmm. But, well, isn't it unavoidable?

If I try and fail, I can give up cleanly.

If I had been persuaded by those around me at that time and 'given up on going to Oaxaca,'

I would probably still be complaining about it now, 'blaming someone else' for not going to Oaxaca every time something happened.

I didn't want to live the rest of my life blaming others for things I didn't do.

That was the answer.

Honestly, I did feel guilty.
I always had the feeling that I had dragged the people around me into my own selfishness.

But that later became the existence of 'the precious things I carried with me to come to Oaxaca.'

The feelings of the people I must never forget.

No matter what happened in Oaxaca, it became a part of me that encouraged myself, saying, 'I'll give it a shot and do whatever it takes!'

So, I think I was a late starter when it came to living abroad.

At the very least, I was past the timing when people say, 'Go while you're young.'

But to be honest,
I think it worked out because it was at that timing.

If I had come when I was younger...

I probably would have ended up saying, "Mexico is impossible, lol."

The infrastructure is unstable,
the language barrier is real,
and things rarely go as planned.

I don't think my younger self would have been in a state to enjoy that.

After all, I was just chasing trends and consumption.

Why did I end up in Oaxaca?

Geographically, Oaxaca is tucked away in the south, far from Mexico City and popular tourist spots, making it a difficult place to visit during the 10-day vacations I had as a temporary employee.

So, actually, on my first visit to Oaxaca,
I told my boyfriend, "This is my last trip to Mexico! I want to study Spanish in Oaxaca," and insisted on staying there for about three months.
I kind of tricked him into it.

It turned into a bit of a deceptive story.
Until I decided I wanted to live in Oaxaca, I really had made up my mind that this would be my final trip to Mexico.

In the end, Oaxaca had everything I was looking for!
Even though I had visited several other places in Mexico, there was no place as perfect for me as this.

Warm people.
Delicious food.
A comfortable climate.
Rich traditional culture.
Many festivals.
Beautiful handicrafts.
And, it's a representative tourist destination in Mexico.

Back then, Oaxaca wasn't famous for the Day of the Dead like it is now.
It wasn't getting attention as a cute city either.

On the contrary, that was the point:"Couldn't I connect this to my own work by focusing on Oaxaca tourism and handicrafts for the Japanese market?"that was it.

I found what I wanted to do in a place I loved.
It was a field that not many people in Japan were involved in yet.
The plan to get my work on track started along with my move.

And, the reason I was so drawn to Mexico.

At the time, Japan was economically wealthy.
Everyone chased the same trends, consumed disposable goods from 100-yen shops, and threw everything away once it was no longer usable.

That was the norm.

I was moved by the Mexican way of life, where people cherish things and fix what is broken to use it again.

Mexicans are so dexterous that many will just make something if they don't have it. It was shocking!

Also, everyone had the same fashion and hairstyles. Japanese people chasing trends.

Mexicans wear what they like without caring about what others think.
It's a culture where you aren't mocked for dressing differently from everyone else.
In Japan, you might be pointed at for being "out of style," but that doesn't exist there.

I was sick of Japan, where you're told you're "weird" if you don't do the same thing as everyone else.

Being able to live without caring about the eyes of others is, in a sense, spiritual freedom.

In Japan, 5,000 to 7,000 yen disappears in a single karaoke session or drinking party.
I mean, couldn't I live for a week in Oaxaca with 7,000 yen?

Having stayed in Oaxaca for three months at that time, the things I thought were so convenient and wealthy suddenly started to look like a waste.

And, with all the infrastructure and transportation systems perfectly in place,

in a safe Japan where life is easy, I felt like I was spending more time complaining and grumbling about trivial things.

This is probably...
I reached the conclusion that my life in Japan was just empty.

When you live life with too much free time... you end up doing nothing good. (This is my personal opinion, so I acknowledge there may be dissenting views.)

How far could I make it in Oaxaca on my own strength and 700,000 yen in funds?
As the final challenge of my life, I dove into Oaxaca.

It was the start of my second life (or wait, is it my third, since I'm married?)

It's an adventure! It's a challenge!!

Even this part feels like I've read too many manga and am acting like a complicated adult. Haha.

In the end, I don't think 'when to go' or 'when to start something new' is about age.

Please don't misunderstand, I didn't come to Oaxaca because I hated Japan.
I came because I wanted to live in Oaxaca more than in Japan.

Even now, if I were to move from Oaxaca to another city in Mexico, I think I would return to 'Japan'.

Well, my flight from Narita was delayed.

It was delayed again at the Dallas airport, where the 2006 World Cup was being broadcast, and I was genuinely anxious about what I would do if I couldn't make it to Oaxaca.

But at that moment, I made a wish.

'If I can arrive in Oaxaca on the same day, everything will surely go well from here on out.'

June 22, 2006, at 10:30 PM.
I safely saw the shining
'OAXACA' sign at the Oaxaca airport.

I did it! I thought, everything will surely go well from here on out!

Little did I know that shortly after arriving, I would be caught up in the Oaxaca teachers' union riots.

▼ The story of how I got a work visa in Oaxaca afterward.

▼ The links introduced in the article are here.

▼ Work section

▼ The story of being caught in the Oaxaca riots

▼ Self-introduction