Tattoo #9 – Mexico: Quetzalcoatl, Knowledge, and a New Chapter

There was a long pause between Tattoo #8 and Tattoo #9.
Almost two years.

The last one was inked in September 2019 in Portugal. The next wouldn’t come until June 2021.
And a lot happened in between.

Earthquakes & the End of a Plan

Right after finishing my bachelor’s degree in late 2019 (graduated in May 2020), I had a plan. Move to Puerto Rico, re-immerse myself in Caribbean life, and reset.

But life had other plans.

Within just three days of arriving in Puerto Rico, two earthquakes struck. Both of them, while I was sleeping. And I didn’t wake up to shaking. No, no, no, much worse. I woke up to the sound of my concrete roof cracking, and I mean a huge crack. If the earthquakes were just a bit stronger, I would have been buried under the Airbnb I was staying in. Now I understand how a few people die here and there from these types of disasters.
Let me tell you something, earthquakes in real life aren’t like the movies.
They’re not dramatic.
They’re terrifying.

With the help of a few good friends, I took it as a cosmic sign that Puerto Rico wasn’t where I was meant to be. I left. I joked that God didn’t want me dating Puerto Rican women, and honestly? That exit probably saved my life.

Then Came COVID

I moved back to Florida.
And then… the world shut down.

Like everyone else, COVID changed everything. I’ll skip the details because we all lived through it, but just know it slowed me down from getting more tattoos, forced me inward, and gave me time to reflect on what I wanted from life. I used that time to finish my master’s degree remotely.

And then… came the old feeling.

Boredom, Again

I’ve said it before:
I went to college for two reasons. To learn, and to fight boredom #retirement problems.

Now that I was done and proud of what I’d accomplished (honors graduate, degrees stacked). I was staring down at an old enemy again.
That inner voice asking, “Now what?”

Should I pursue a doctorate?
Start something totally new?

At the time, the tattoos were just for me. But I knew I needed something. Something bold. Something free.

So I made a choice: take a “gap year” and start traveling again.

Enter: Cindy

This next trip wouldn’t be with Irelys. It would be with Cindy, my new girlfriend. A new chapter.

We landed in Mexico City, and it was my first time there. We spent the first few days exploring, eating, and taking it all in. The city was alive with culture and history.

Then we headed to Playa del Carmen on the Yucatán Peninsula. Our base to explore Cancun, Tulum, and Cozumel. It was paradise. And after a stressful final semester, it was exactly what I needed.
Cindy and I? We vibed. The kind of vibe that tells you: this might work.

But before the coast came the ink.

The Roots of the Tattoo

There’s a lot to say about Mexico. It’s one of the most misunderstood, underappreciated, and richest cultures in the world.

What struck me most was this realization:
Mexico, like many colonized nations, speaks the language of its conquerors.

Think about that.
The people who built empires here now speak the language of the empire that came after.

I didn’t want my tattoo to reflect the Mexico of today. I wanted it to reflect the true Mexico — the pre-Columbian one.
Mexico before the conquest.

I dove into research. I hit museums. I explored archaeological sites. I learned.

And one name kept coming up:
Quetzalcoatl.

Why Quetzalcoatl?

Known as the Feathered Serpent, Quetzalcoatl was a god associated with knowledge, agriculture, language, and civilization.
He was credited with bringing the tools of advancement that made Mesoamerican culture thrive.

Before Cortez ever stepped foot on this land, this region was flourishing. Their religious practices may raise questions today, but there’s no denying their genius. Their cities. Their calendar. Their language. Their culture.

As someone who had just finished a master’s degree, the symbolism felt perfect.

This tattoo would honor knowledge and the pursuit of it.
It would be my message to the people of Mexico and to myself:

Don’t forget who you are.
Your culture didn’t start with Spanish.
Your greatness runs deeper than the conquest.

Final Thoughts

In the U.S., people talk a lot about Mexico.
Usually without knowing it.
Usually without ever seeing it.

If you think badly about Mexicans or Mexico, you probably haven’t felt the energy of Mexico City. You haven’t seen the fire dancers. The murals. The people. The spirit.

Tattoo #9 is a reminder that what came before still lives in us.
That knowledge is sacred.
That culture survives.

And that even after pandemics, earthquakes, and personal reinvention…
We keep moving forward.