You're How Old?!?! - Meeting Rodrigo

I’m sitting by the window ledge at Whalers on the Point Guest House, overlooking calm waters and mountains and reading the book, Three Cups of Tea.

There’s this really cute guy sitting nearby and also reading, except he’s glancing at me frequently and smiling.  I must stress, he’s incredibly cute.  Anyway, I glance over at him and he catches my eye and then starts to make conversation. He slowly inches his way closer to me and before you know it, his chair is right next to my chair and both of us have put our books down.  

I honestly don’t remember too much about the content of our conversation in the first half hour, but what I do remember is when Rodrigo made a comment about deciding what school to go to.  That’s when I felt a cold chill run through me.  I said to him, “Rodrigo, how old are you?”.  (Note: I was 28, turning 29 at the time)  He looked me in the eye and without hesitation said, “19.”  Damn.

I swear he didn’t look or talk like he was 19.  Maybe 25 or 26, but definitely not a decade younger than me!  You might think that immediately at that point, I would have shut him down and picked up my book to continue reading.. but I didn’t.  Rodrigo had an endearing quality about him that I couldn’t ignore.  So instead of continuing to flirt with him, I decided to just chat with him - and listen to his story.

Rodrigo is Mexican.  His mother recently got re-married to a Canadian and he and his 3 other siblings moved to BC less than a year ago.  He shared with me that his family is pretty poor and he can’t afford to go to college or university.  Also, his step-father is controlling and his mother listens to everything he says, as though she no longer has a voice.  Rodrigo recently left home.  He is in Tofino by himself, trying to sort out his life and figure out his next move.  He would like to become an engineer one day.  I tried to encourage him to not give up on that dream. I told him about government assistance programs that can help him pay for school, I told him which Canadian universities had the best engineering programs and I listened to him share his experiences and goals. We continued to chat for over 2 hours. Not one bit of flirting happened during that time. But what did happen was even better.

I was able to mentor and inspire a young person to take control of his life and do something great with it, and in turn, I was also inspired by his depth and perseverance. If I was with a group of friends, I wouldn’t have had that conversation with Rodrigo.  These are the kinds of amazing experiences you have when you travel solo.