May 2022: Encontrar, Festejar, Mirar

Encontrar (to find/discover)

“If you have been to Marfa or places like it, you may have experienced Mañana. Mañana cannot generally be found in cities with more than one stoplight. Mañana doesn't care about email or normal hours of operation. Mañana recognizes that we can’t all have everything we want at any given moment, like peaches in January or cell phone reception in West Texas. Mañana is the anticipation that it might happen today, and it might just as likely not, and really either way it’s not that big of a deal. The key to Mañana lies somewhere in the unspecified future. It holds the great promise of hope.”

Excerpt from El Cosmico’s “Mañanifesto.”

This month our family went on a road trip adventure through West Texas. On our 10-day excursion through Marfa, El Paso, Juarez, Las Cruces, and Big Bend, we encountered many forms of “Mañana.” We chuckled at Mañana when perusing the cute boutique shops in Marfa - some closed despite their Google store hours, and others with ‘Be Back Later, Maybe’ signs taped to their door. Mañana was less amusing when navigating from destination to destination without cell reception. Our Big Bend AirBnB hosts were well-versed in Mañana, advising us to print out their directions “turn left at the mailbox, turn right at the broken windmill…and don’t trust your GPS.”

When we only allotted one day to hike in Big Bend National Park, and an overnight rainstorm flooded a portion of the road preventing us from reaching our chosen hike, Mañana’s “it might happen today, and it might just as likely not” almost trapped us. With no option to return the next day, we parked our car on the side of the road and walked through the knee deep water safely carrying our toddlers on our backs. Momentarily escaping the traps of Mañana was all worth the extraordinary experience of the Santa Elena Canyon.

Festejar (to celebrate)

My husband and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary in Marfa. We started the day with a morning tour of Donald Judd’s 15 untitled works in concrete at the Chinati Foundation, and finished it with a fancy dinner at Cochineal. The whole day with our toddlers in tow. I love my kids’ ability to simultaneously show both intrigue and apathy towards art. It’s humbling to experience a world renowned artist through their eyes. The exhibit surpassed my expectations and I am grateful I had the chance to visit. Cochineal was so accommodating to our family, making special off-menu pasta and M&M cookies for the kids. Year seven was a less romantic anniversary but a beautiful day marking this phase in our life - discovering a new place with good art, good food, and full of blessings.

Mirar (to look at/watch)