I'm going to start by telling you a story that has in some ways become a myth.

I'm not sure if it's perfectly accurate at this point, but I will tell you as it lives inside my soul.

My mom likes to travel in a very specific way.

It generally means having a stable base camp and a few trusted locals.

And so whenever we would touch down somewhere,

traveling as a young kid in 10, 11, 12, something in that range, I believe, she would always

make friends with a taxi driver or some local get their number and we would basically

hire this person to hang out with us while we were there.

This story starts in Exstapa, Mexico, specifically club med.

But I'll start by when we landed and met our taxi driver, Seltzo.

The first thing anyone notices when being driven in Seltzzo's taxi was his thumb.

He held the steering wheel in a way where it protruded and you could see his very long thumbnail. And I remember as a kid asking him,

why do you have a long thumbnail? And he said, because I like it. And not giving us an ounce more.

And the way he said it very clearly indicating indicating that's all you're going to get about

this mysterious long thumbnail. But he drove us and as my mom does, she won him over like she

pretty much does with everybody. And we now had a number to call Seltzo for just about anything

one could possibly need, which might include taking your preteen son out on a

authentic Mexican adventure, or at least a local Mexican idea of what a preteen American's

authentic Mexican adventure should entail. And so that's what happens. Seltzio picked me up.

I was so excited. I had no idea what to expect. This is obviously a story that doesn't work in

2022. Like can you imagine going to another company getting a taxi driver? I mean, maybe it didn't work

when it happened. I don't know, but it didn't seem out of place at the time. Met a taxi driver. I mean, maybe it didn't work when it happened. I don't know,

...