Ana arrived back to CDMX in time to go to her visa appointment the following day. It did not go well. She went with a lawyer to Toluca a city an hour outside CDMX. This city was one of the last places in the country that were still processing this Covid-related (and quite frankly redundant) visa application – so at 4am that is where we drove, so we could get our place in the already forming queue at 5am! After waiting for 5 hours, my application was turned down; the conversion of Morris into Morray, totally threw the immigration office. The reason we were eligible for this visa was because we had entered Mexico in 2022, but it was my single counterpart that entered in 2022 not the newly merged and married Morray. Name changing is not done in Mexico, so they could not understand it, we would have to return another time with further documents. Lets just hope they don’t abandon this visa programme before we return.
Also to continue the unlucky bout, Ana took ‘Alma’ to Kavak garage, only to be told that our issues with the car could not be fixed under the guarantee – we’ve since been told that we should not have bought a car in Mercury Retrograde (if you know what this means, you probably would also agree). Oh well. After a lot of unnecessary stress, wasted time and anger towards Kavak, we got the car fixed later on in the month with a local mechanic, at half the price – lets hope the fix is good….
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After a week away in London, Pippa flew back to CDMX at 3am on a Friday. Unfortunately she came back to Mexico with really bad skin, feeling rotten. We spent a quiet weekend staying with our friend Guadalupe in her lovely house in Coyoacán. It was that Sunday that Pippa, praying for a miracle to help her with her skin (a chronic issue that has been going on for 8 years now), received an out-of-the-blue voice message from a shamanic Mexican friend, Socrates, who we met on our last trip here. He too has suffered from bouts of chronic skin issues and recently had a severe episode (which really made him think about taking his own life), when he was introduced to a local doctor/healer in a small town of
Atalongo, outside Teotihuacán. He said he was a ‘miracle worker’.
The next day was Monday 8th April, there was a total solar eclipse passing over Mexico around 11.45am and alongside it much hype about cosmic energies and forces. A solar eclipse, marks new beginnings, and opportunities for renewal with big changes in your life, as you pass through the portal…. We were excited. Guadalupe invited a small group of people to her home to share the experience – we gathered pools of water to use the reflection to look at the sun (turns out still hurts your eyes!). Luckily one person brought the correct lens to view it through and it was spectacular. The peak time of the solar eclipse lasted about 30-40minutes, we all participated in a group meditation during it and then emerged to a much cooler garden with the blocked suns’ rays transforming and filtering the ambience.
We then had to flee the solar eclipse gathering to go to meet our friend Socrates and his new healing doctor in Teotihuacán, which is about an hour north east of Mexico City. The doctor’s surgery hours are 4-6pm in the afternoon and you have to queue with all the locals and wait your turn outside his house. We were one of the first and so soon the slightly apprehensive and anxious Pippa was being observed by Dr Sergio in his Madonna-laden garage-clinic. The first thing he did was outreach his arms to touch Pippa and point out the hairs on his arms, which were all standing up on end – ‘too much negative energy, too much’ – was his comment. He then proceeded to inspect her skin all over with a small torch and touch parts of extreme inflammation and dryness. He showed us a flipbook of photos, before and afters of patients he has treated, from other TSW sufferers, to burn victims to spider-bitten pray, all very initially gruesome and then miraculously clear! He then proceeded to give Pippa all sorts of lotions and potions that he had mixed up, alongside some pharmaceutical drugs (antibiotics, antihistamines, unregulated immunity drugs etc.) and a bunch of vitamins and gave very precise instructions for each item. Then faith, have faith, pray to whomever/whatever you believe in and also trust in him, any doubts about anything contact him, whatever time. Then he requested to see her every three days, if she commits to him, he will commit to her healing. OK, so that is why three days later we found ourselves moving to Teotihuacán for an unknown amount of time, ready to commit to this sacred place amongst the pyramids and to him as our guide for Pippa’s healing journey.
We spent three weeks in Teotihuacan – we laid low, learning Spanish each day, sticking to a healthy diet and up-kept the doctors ever-changing instructions and remedies. We also hung out with our wise friend Socrates, discussing life, healing and Mexico whilst playing with his new puppy and sampling his delicious coffee in his at-home café.
During this period Pippa’s father passed away – this was expected and Pippa had said her goodbye when she had gone to London – his passing added another layer to this healing and reflective period. Pippa was processing a lot, physically and mentally, but it was working – her skin was improving, each day was miraculous. She stopped itching (which meant we both slept through the night), she stopped shedding dry skin, her inflammation all over her body reduced, her skin became baby soft and supple, she could sweat again, she could bounce out of bed, she could have a shower without being in pain, she could think beyond her skin – she could breathe again.
In our last week in Teotihuacán we went back to the immigration office in Toluca with our lawyer and another applicant of hers, to attempt to get our visas. This time we were prepared, we had translations of our deed polls, we had official apostille stamps from the UK government, and we had our ‘story’ ready for them. A few white lies were needed to get this visa, but after 12 hours of scrutiny, power-games with the officers and a lot of subservient waiting, we emerged (just) with 4 year temporary residence visas! We are legal!!! Incredible, and we would never have dreamed that within 2 months of being here we would have Mexican visas granted to us, I guess we are in the right place.
We decided to return to CDMX for four nights to celebrate Pippa’s health and to spend some much needed time with friends and to make the most of the fun city. We were anxious and intrigued to see how the city’s pollution (which is very bad) would affect Pippa’s skin, as normally it is very crippling for her BUT NO, her healed skin is tougher than that now! Pippa radiated all weekend and friends thought she had a face-lift or something, as years have fallen off her – it really has been a miracle and we are thankful to Dr Sergio, Socrates and Mexico for being an ever-healing place for us.
This is the start of a new chapter.
We are off to go walking in the lush mountains of Hidalgo now.