the plain truth about living in mexico by douglas bower ... - south of the border dish at grill restaurants

My wife and I are starting our fourth year as American expats in Guanajuato, Mexico.
Sometimes, it seems that just yesterday, we sold everything we had in Overland Park, Kansas, and only moved here with suitcases, that's all.
Sometimes we never seem to start but stay here all the time.
However, I think we will always be foreigners no matter how long we stay.
No matter how many locals we know, no matter how many dinners and parties we are invited to, we are always strangers.
We will always be Americans from the Midwest.
I came to Mexico without expectation.
I know and understand intellectually that Mexicans, although very cute, are as easy to make mistakes as I am.
And they must be.
I'm not looking forward to heaven.
I know I will find a lot of problems.
Mexico and her people have no Utopia south of the US border.
But, I must admit, I hope that culturally, Mexico can get some kind of respite from the reasons that originally drove my wife and I out of the United States.
There must be something that can be freed from the collapse of American culture, which makes us so disgusted.
Just must have. There was.
Mexico did bring us a surprise. it still attracts us today.
When we do the facts
Travel to guanawato to see if this is where we are and we immediately notice that there is no anger in the public.
We have not found such a common situation in the United States that American citizens believe that "relaxation" is a socially appropriate act whenever the spirit drives them, showing how violent and mean they are.
(I can hardly tell you that the only public anger you will see is American tourists.
They don't seem to have the urge to perform on the streets of Guanajuato.
No Mexicans screaming in the grocery store, no couples fighting in the mall, no fights on the street, swearing (I deliberately learned all the naughty words in Spanish, they were not heard to be publicly used here!
), Or in the US make you want to know when the knife and gun will come out and when the blood will flow out.
It was so refreshing and soul-purifying that I once again learned to fear the news stories I read on the Internet about what happened almost every day in America.
I have become numb, but now I am sensitive to these terrorist incidents.
Another way to comfort the mind is to see how the family here does not break.
Until the fourth and fifth cousins removed, the family is part of the well
The existence of this society
Some of them live in family compounds, generations, in peace, harmony, love and respect.
I envy this.
To a large extent, we have received the greatest degree of respect.
Some people make us feel like we are their long term.
The lost US cousins have finally returned to where we belong.
We are invited to their homes (which is not a small privilege if you know Mexican culture) and are sometimes invited to their lives.
Almost without exception, Mexicans respect the greengos.
Given how we have treated Mexicans in history and are still doing so far, they show more respect than we deserve in greengos.
However, some are passive --
Positive relationship with the foreigner community.
Some people guess where this came from.
But, as a tourist, you don't usually see something subtle and barely noticeable.
You have to live here, look carefully at the behavior and see how many snakes are in heaven.
One day, walking home on a narrow and harrowing sidewalk in Guanajuato, a Mexican woman stopped us and gave us a lecture politely.
She said that because we are greengos, we should walk outside the sidewalk closest to the street, so Mexicans can walk inside and not have to be in danger because of car traffic.
Those who were shocked by greengus were at least polite about it.
Thank you very much.
There is a restaurant here, and the restaurant upstairs refuses to serve one of my retired district attorney friends.
The manager told him that because he was a foreigner, he had to eat downstairs near the kitchen.
He told my friend that only Mexican guests were served upstairs.
Of course, the manager told him this very politely.
When I cover stories like this, I usually get a lot of reader reviews related to the bitterness.
"I certainly have never seen this happen anywhere in Mexico, and I have been in Puerto Vallarta for a full two weeks.
I even got an email.
Mail from Mexicans, not from central Mexico, and they were angry at what I wrote.
Interestingly, the vast majority of Mexicans will not be rude to you in millions of years.
They will smile and, frankly, they will patiently endure gringos from the United States (more than they should ).
But they will bear it.
When you become fluent enough language to sit with a local who trusts you and tell you something you will never read, efforts to assimilate culture will become better travel guides or any book about Mexican culture (usually written by Americans ).
He tells you how he grew up, what he learned from an early age, etc.
Still, when I reported what I learned from these encounters, I ended up getting an inbox full of angry emails
Emails from people who think they know better-
Those who live in artificial foreigners
An enclave bubble isolated from Mexican culture.
But in my less perfect Mexican paradise, I keep learning so I can write more articles.
It keeps me busy.