|
|
|
Guanajuato It Is Time For Us To Leave
’ve been trying, of late, realities coursing through its
to put into words just what existence. Maybe it has always
I’ve learned about living been this way. I do not know.
in Mexico for the past four years There are two classes of people
that is significant enough to here and rarely do the two meet.
share with my readers. There is
so much. Some things I’ve grown There is the class with money,
to love: the fine restaurants and education, and world experience.
the slower pace of life here. Those in this group seem to have
Some things I’ve come to bemoan: a keen sense of there being more
caring for the environment to life than just Mexico. They
doesn’t seem to be high on the have traveled, studied abroad,
list of things to worry about in obtained university degrees, and
this country. are far more sophisticated than
the other group’s members.
Some things have been city
specific. We moved to Guanajuato The second group consists of
four years ago and have not lived those who may or may not have
anywhere else. Just recently, graduated from what we in the
we’ve seen the handwriting on the States would call high school.
wall and have decided it is time They are laborers. They work hard
to seek out other pastures to or not at all. You see a lot of
expand our expatriation unemployed men in the cantinas
experience. So, I guess it comes and on the streets with bottles
down to “what have we learned of liquor in their hands. It
about Mexico by living in seems their women are the workers
Guanajuato?” That sums it up in a who bring home the bacon, take
nutshell. care of the kids, and try to keep
their men out of trouble. They
Guanajuato has two worlds or two don’t always succeed.
eat, and didn’t say hello or
These two groups, or classes, do good-bye to one another. There
not mix. You would not see was no social interaction at all.
someone of education and means This is a perfect example of the
shopping at the small Mom-and-Pop two worlds that exist here in
shops in Guanajuato. Those with Mexico’s heartland and, I
the means drive their very suspect, all over Mexico.
expensive American-made SUV’s to
the Mega Superstore. You would American expats also comprise two
never, or at least rarely, see separate worlds in Guanajuato.
the other class shopping at Mega.
Never would you see the two You have the American expats who
classes at the same social tend to congregate in enclaves.
function. They socialize with others of
means, they shop only at the
American expats tend to forget places where Mexicans of means
this fact of Mexican life—class shop, and you would rarely, if
structure. ever, see them walking the
barrios of Guanajuato as my wife
We were at a dinner in the and I do daily. They live a
country given by some Americans. bubbled existence. Two barrios in
The Americans invited people from which these bubbles exist are San
both classes. Their handyman’s Javier and Marfil.
family attended as did their
maid’s family. There were also Then, there are the American
men and women with state expats who live in Mexican
government jobs who were neighborhoods. They’ve bothered
obviously of means. The two to undertake the monumental
groups never talked, they sat in struggle to learn Spanish. They
separate corners of the patio to shop in the small neighborhood
stores. They have mostly Mexican Mexican friends are those who do
friends, mainly from the working not, even if they wanted to,
class. These Mexicans have to associate with the guy who sells
struggle to get by, but what they bags of dirt from the backs of
lack financially, they more than his burros.
make up with lots of soul and
heart. These American expats have We stop the guy with the burros
assimilated into the Mexican when we see him and ask how the
culture. wife and kids are. Those are the
people we’ve grown to love in
The expats living in the enclaves Guanajuato.
also claim to have “Mexican
friends.” However, upon careful No pretension. No make-believe
examination, you learn their expatriatism.
“lots and lots of Mexican
friends” are those of the We chose to live in the real
educated class who are bilingual. world of expatriation.
These American expats rarely
learn enough Spanish to put Now it’s time to see what other
together a cogent sentence. Their regions of Mexico are all about.
About the Author:
1) THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT LIVING IN MEXICO--All You Need To Know About Living in Mexico 2) GUANAJUATO, MEXICO - Your Expat Guide
Read more articles by: Douglas Bower
Article Source: www.iSnare.com |
|
