New beginnings

I’ve never had a blackout before but there’s a first time for everything, I suppose. It’s the only possible explanation for me waking up in this shabby looking hotel room with this agonizing headache. Gazing at the noisy ceiling fan, I wonder where the hell I am.

I realise my phone is sitting on the bedside table. No battery. The floor is littered with empty beer bottles.

On the opposite wall the Virgin of Guadalupe stares at me sympathetically from within her frame. As if by divine intervention, a series of images unravel before me; the airplane, the taxi, the shots, the dancing, the champagne, the wedding… My wedding! I make it to the bathroom before I throw up.

I need some fresh air.

Buenos días! – calls out a man behind the desk in the run-down reception area.

I nod and walk up to a stand announcing pyramid tours and snorkelling trips. I pick up a wrinkled brochure. Teotihuacan it is, then.