Mexico 2025 # Kate Ocean & US (Patreon)

A year ago, Kate Prekrasna came to visit us in Mexico.

We spent some time in Mexico City and then went back home to Cabo, where we mostly did exactly what these photographs show - rested, ate a lot, went to the beach, photographed each other, talked, and simply spent time together.

And somehow an entire year has already passed without me even noticing.

I think I only recently finished sharing all the shoots we did together while she was staying with us in Cabo. Maybe I still have one little film series hiding somewhere, but otherwise, I think you've already seen almost everything we created during that time.

Looking at these pictures now made me think about something else, though.

When you live far away from home, especially somewhere where you don't really have your own circle of people yet, visits from someone close become incredibly valuable. I think one of the hardest parts of emigration for me has never really been the distance itself. It's the absence of my people inside my everyday life.

I'm actually very used to traveling somewhere to see the people I love. Sometimes I travel not because I'm desperate to see another country, but simply because I want to hug someone. Sit with them. Eat together. Talk about stupid things. Spend a few days in the same physical space.

Of course I love seeing something new too. But sometimes, surrounded by everything new, what I want most is something familiar.

Mexico was like that for me.

There was so much that was new, beautiful and interesting, but there were also so many things I couldn't find there that felt familiar to me. Food, places, routines, people, my usual circle, the little pieces of everyday life that make you feel like you belong somewhere.

And because of that, I was constantly pulled somewhere else.

I notice the same thing happening to me now in America. I'm still building that familiar world around myself here, so part of me constantly wants to go somewhere - usually somewhere where people I love already exist.

But something interesting happens when those people come to me instead. I suddenly start liking the place where I live more.

When Kate came to Mexico, Mexico didn't change. The food didn't suddenly become more familiar. I didn't suddenly have more things to do. Cabo didn't magically turn into the perfect place for me. But I felt different inside it. I stopped feeling like I was somewhere at the edge of the world. And I think that's what visits from people you love do when you live abroad. They remind you that the world is actually quite small. That living far away from someone doesn't automatically mean losing them from your life. That distance doesn't necessarily mean you won't see each other, hug each other, spend mornings together, go to the beach, eat dinner, or make new memories. And somehow, when your people enter this strange new world you've been building for yourself, the world becomes a little less strange too.

I think places are simply much easier to love when there are people you love inside them.

If I had moved to Mexico together with Gary, my parents, my friends, everyone I love - I'm sure I still would've found plenty of things to complain about.))) But everything unfamiliar would have been much easier to accept. Because I would've had my people.

So thank you, Kate, for coming all the way to my little edge of the world and making it feel much closer to home for a while. ❤️