Domestic flights in Mexico tend to be spectacularly boring affairs. The airports are always packed, which is a great sign of an expanding and confident middle class. I have written about that fascinating economic indicator before. The weather is usually good in both the departure and arrival cities, so the flights tend to be on time. The planes are usually newer, so there tends to be very few maintenance issues. The flights are relatively short, so they are pretty easy to manage. The flight attendants are usually young and pleasant. And the flights are almost always packed — lots of kids, three-generation families, and in spite of the short flight time, almost everyone buys food from the flight attendants.
A recent flight from León’s BJX to Los Cabos SJD on Volaris ticked all of the boxes of a typical Mexican flight. My wife and I settled into our tiny legroom seats 2A and 2B, with an elderly gentleman already seated in 2C. “I’ll take the middle seat on this one,” I told her. As the flight took off and I was reading MND articles on my phone, the man — Luis from seat 2C — started asking me questions. Where was I from? Where did I live now? Did I like Mexico and Mexicans? I realized I likely would not get much reading done, and so I put my phone down and we started chatting.
Within a few minutes, he said, “I would like to invite you and your wife to have a tequila with me.” I told him that it was not necessary, that I really don’t drink much, and that it was a short flight. “But I would like you to join me in a celebration,” he said. “Tomorrow is my 90th birthday.”
Of course I had to take him up on that. He asked the nearest flight attendant for 3 tequilas en las rocas and we were promptly served. The couple in front of us, not wanting to be left out of the celebration, joined in and ordered tequilas for themselves as well.
Luis further elaborated on his birthday plans. He said he had never been to Los Cabos before, but it was always a dream of his to go there. On this flight, 10 family members were all flying with him to help realize his Cabo dream. He told me that a nephew, currently living in San Diego, California, was flying down to join them. He said that when his nephew found out about the planned trip, he said “I don’t want to miss that party,” and promptly bought a ticket. Luis was clearly touched by the gesture.
Within moments, he began to tell me about his wife. “We were married for 63 years and three months ago she passed away,” he said. “We had 8 children together.” When I proposed a toast to that, he said, “You should always kiss your wife when you do a toast with her.” I kissed my wife’s forehead. “Eso!” he said, smiling.
Luis shared that at his wedding, in the moment they were pronounced man and wife, the crowd started chanting, “Beso! Beso! Beso,” so he kissed his wife on her forehead. “There was no reason to put on a show in front of everyone”, he said with a smile.
He turned to his son-in-law across the aisle and asked if he had a picture of him and his wife on his phone. Of course, he did, and passed the phone over to us. It was of Luis and his wife elegantly dressed up for their 60th wedding anniversary. I asked him what the secret was to such a long and happy marriage. His immediate response: “We danced a lot. We loved to dance … especially to son music.” Having almost the entire family living so close was a big part of it as well, he said. He told me that the picture of their 50th wedding anniversary was even better.
As the plane began to descend and we handed our now empty glasses to the flight attendant, Luis took out a pen and asked me what our names were. I spelled out each of our names and he carefully wrote them directly onto his left hand. “I don’t want to forget you guys,” he said. It was an extremely touching moment. Tears literally started welling up in my eyes.
He asked me if he could ask me one more question, a personal one, to which I responded, “of course.” Luis leaned over and asked, “What faith are you? Are you Catholic?” The question made me smile, as it was one I was asked all of the time 30 years ago when I studied in Guadalajara. No one ever really asks it any more. I told him I was, and that even though my wife is from India, we had a Catholic priest preside over our wedding. “That’s good,” he said. “Faith is important.”
My wife has written about how she thinks the reason so many Mexicans are happy is because they tend to prioritize the 4 F’s: food, family, faith and fun. And in a short 90 minutes of flight time with Luis, that was on full display (with the “food” in this case being tequila!). As the flight landed, Luis, laughing, said “Whoa, that tequila made me a little dizzy as we were descending,” which made everyone around him laugh.
As the flight began taxiing towards the terminal Luis wanted to get up, saying his hip was stiff. The flight attendant came over to him, started saying that he needed to sit down as we were not yet parked at the gate, and then said with a smile, “Actually, it’s ok, no problem sir, you can stay standing.” Luis was anxious and ready to go — it was time to get out and start enjoying his big birthday celebration.
Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for nearly 30 years.
