I was vacationing in a small town in Mexico. I came across a priest who was making a speech at the town square, surrounded by younger crowd. I came closer and I heard him explaining about the yearly pilgrimage: three consecutive days of walking, each day in a circular route, where we would come back for an examination in which we would write an essay. I was ecstatic to take part in it, and when I came back I wrote a very inspired essay.

The next day, however, I hung out with the wrong crowd. They were the “cool” guys with the alternative girls, and they took a long time on the walk, mostly fooling around and complaining about the length. We came back into town quite late, and these people didn’t want to do the examination. I reached the church where it was taking place, but the front door was closed. I supposed the examination was over, and dejectedly worked my way through crowds to get back to my alternative friends.

On my way there I saw an exotic character dressed in drag upon a lectern, he was the host of a fancy restaurant and he told me that there was a side entrance to the church. Even though it was too late, I wanted to explain to the priest what had happened.

I went to the side entrance and I found most people still busy at their exam. The people in the examination had a very different energy: they were happy, involved, and friendly. But as I came in, the priest told them time was over, and they all begun exiting the building. I caught up with the priest and excused myself for being late. “Don’t worry” he said “you already have 10”. I was a bit disappointed because what mattered to me was the essay, not the grade.

They alternative guys joined the crowd. I saw a girl with tattoos whom I liked who was flirting with one of the cool guys. I had a moment of conflict: if I joined the “cool” people I could hook up with her. We walked together a couple of steps when we encountered a scene with two young men kissing. I looked around to see if anyone was disgusted, nobody was, not even myself. I looked closer at their faces and knew that the men were not actually gay, they were just fooling around. Then I was disgusted.