Traveling with a Snake, a Watch, an Explorer and with a nice Plane Maid.

As my homecomming was.

I remain ineligible for participation in this contest as I am born and raised in Mexico, in a region called El Bajío and yet, here I am, participating because I wanted to share a story most beloved to me told by my grandfather, Agustin Arredondo. 

When I was told that story if I'm not mistaken, I was about seven years old, meaning that was fourteen years ago; my grandfather, as usual, was being completely ignored by my uncles and cousins and parents because they thought he was being delirious already due to his constant sharing of stories from his youth. They were, some, indeed made up and fake, but they were fun and entretaining as well as very didactic and here I am to tell you about it just as he told me. 

It rounded about ninteen seventy two, before your mom was born. I had to travel to Africa because of an old friend of mine who needed someone to acompany him since his wife couldn't as she was pregnant as well, kind of odd how my girl and his became so close friends afterwards I gotta say... Anyway, we went together to Africa and headed for a tour around the jungle, but we didn't wanted to travel around in a jeep like most folks, where'd the REAL African experience would be if we did? 

As we went on the plane around quarter past ten in the morning according to my watch, a golden rolex my father had given me which needed no batery, just turn the crank a little and you'll have it working in no time for the ages.  My friend and I started talking about how politicians were quite insultingly stupid on every period, how tough they were making it for private and small interprises and shops and before we knew it, we were ready for take off. Only to realize that there was about ten to fifteen people in it; we ordered a little food and water and the plane maid was very kind when she delievered, and beautiful as well. She was african, with a deep bushy hair tied in a tall ponytail and her skin was so smooth, you'd think she was a doll. Not only was she nice, but her service was great; at one point, the flight got so long we started chatting with her about her family and homeland, she was Nigerian, but her family moved on to France becase of her father's work; much like my great great great great grandfather; turns out we were from the same family tree so I met my sixteenth cousin in that plane; very heartwarming in a way since I became family of a complete stranger. 

When we arrived to our destination we decided to go on for the african experience; the explorer and guide agreed to do so under the warning that some animals may target us, as most of them were wild and weren't acostumed to the human interaction; rather in a playful way or a more bufet style, we were to be careful. 

As we explored the dense african jungle, the guide kept feeding us with interesting and fascinating facts which, unfortunately, I cannot remember. As we traveled I was so lost in the heart of nature between the animals, the plants and my goodness all themosquitoes eating my blood off; and even that didn't bothered me. 

After out two days tour passed, we returned home and in all that time I had not realized something, my golden rolex was gone. I was having so much to learn and so much to see I hadn't realized it had dropped somewhere in the jungle. I resigned to the loss of my watch as I couldn't be able to go back, let alone find it; family heirloom or not, I wasn't going to leave my wallet with a thousands of dollars worth of debt just to get it. 

Your mother's birth came along, around ninteen seventy three and it was a joyful day; we threw a party for her and most of her family came; while late, my sixteenth cousing did too, around half past ten in the night, when the party was over... Yeah, your grandmother made quite the fuss so don't let her hear that part. 

Anyway; as it turns out, it wasn't an icecream social; she came around with a gift. That's right ladies and gentlemen! She came in with my golden rolex! I was impressed as to how it ended in her hands so she told me what the explorer told her. 

He was touring again the path we had follow as he was one to actually know what was followed at first. In his travels, he ran into a coral snake's nest and instead of killing it, he decied to pacify it, took it off it's nest for a moment because he saw a small shimmer comming from it; the watch had fallen into the nest and when he picked it up it was at the exact time and date. How you wonder? Well whenever the snake would pass in and out, it would turn the crank with its belly thus keeping it up to date. 

When the explorer looked at the watch he looked at the inscription that was saying "A.A. From A.A.". He immediately knew as he had seen it in my hand months back. He tracked own the flight and the airline and when he did he jumped the watch with the plane maid in shift, which so happened to be my cousin and when she arrived int Mexico she tracked me down by the plane ticket I had used in the flight for my seat and that is the story from when I lost and retrieved the Rolex that I left her as a memento of family she now knew she had in a foreign land. That plane maid made a new family in a single flight working in South West Airlines.