Call and response
On MexConnect.com, there was a link to the akwardly named (and anonymous) blog,
Reasons not to live in Mexico permanently (for those thinking about moving to Mexico). Apparently, rather than send an e-mail to his friends, he set out his half-dozen reasons for not living in Mexico (the Mexicans don´t treat animals the way he thinks they should, they make too much noise, don’t drive the way he thinks theyshould, drink more than he thinks they should, enjoy sex more than he thinks they should and don`t do business the way he thinks they should).
Which led me to think I should respond.
Why I live in Mexico:
1) Treatment of humans. This situation is changing for the worse, with the imposition of the U.S. backed “war on drugs”, but for the most part, “Respect for the rights of others,” is more than a dusty phrase from history. From the euphemistic name for penitentiaries (“Centers for Social Readaption”) to workers’ cooperative savings institutions like the tandas, the Mexicans treat their fellow man (and woman) as fully functional human beings, worthy of respect and expecting them to uphold the honor and dignity of their fellow persons.
2) A joyful Noise. Mexico is, without question, a noisy country, though less so than many. People accept the rights of their neighbors to enjoy their lives, and unlike the United States, do no consider it an assault that others are happy, singing or playing cards late a night.
3) Being a pedestrian. One does not need an automobile, and the commercial culture is built on a human scale. When a foreign (U.S.) builder developed a housing subdivision outside Mexico City a few years ago, the lack of commercial and social activities nearly destroyed the development. Go into any colonia anywhere in Mexico, and you find not only private businesses, but a church and schools. This is planning for the human, not the car.
4) Sexual honesty. One needs to mention that the Mexican constitution guarantees equality before the law regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Sexism and homophobia certainly exist, but as a social contract, it’s much further than the United States can muster. One’s sexuality is largely one’s own affair (“the rights of others,” again) and — given the lip service paid to “fidelity” in the United States — land of serial monogamy — at least no one is pretending. In the United States we pretend porn is not one of the nation’s largest industries. In Mexico, you can buy porn in front of the Palacio Nacional at any newsstand, and no one says boo about it.
5) Driving. On my way down to Mazatlan from west Texas, my old Volvo started to die. Outside Ojinaga, a guy named Chito stopped in his “held together with baling wire and spit” Toyota pickup… couldn’t figure out the problem, went home, got his brother’s big truck, came back, towed me into Ojinaga, then took me to a motel… and the next morning came to get me, took me to his mom’s house for breakfast, then to his cousin Martin’s who had made a part out of an old Ford truck to get the car running again… for about 30 USD. The Volvo has since “disappeared” — by my choice — and I travel by bus. Something neither shameful nor unusual in this country, nor the hellish experience it is in the United States when one must leave the driving to someone else.
6) Reliability. I can rely on walking into a shop, market, restaurant and not being shot by a crazed junkie. I can walk down almost any street in Mexico, day or night, and — if this 50+ year old middle-class guy sees a bunch of teenage boys hanging out — has no need to cross the street. I can rely on a polite and respectful “buenos noches, Senor”, not a whap up the side of the head. I can rely on alternatives being found for inconveniences. I can rely — if I remember my manners — on people remembering their, and treating me with respect and dignity.
mexfiles.net 
YAY
At first I was offended by Robert B’s assessment of the Mexican cultural traits he depicted. Then I realized that his description was fair and honest – it was his response that I disagreed with. Yes Mexico can be hard to love, but it is loveable – and that love is rewarded. Robert B is looking at a people through a prism of his own prejudices and preferences. He’s not wrong, but he shouldn’t judge. If he can’t appreciate the culture and the people, he should get the hell out and move to Montana. Then he’d really have something to complain about.
Hey, hey, hey… ease on up off of Montana. This Montana boy fell in love with Mexico after 5 minutes in DF (bautismo por fuego, no?) and thinks he has found the best of both worlds in a Mont / Mex axis. For true suck-itude, however, try life in Texas. Best thing the US ever did for Mexico was take this crap-hole off their hands.
I read the reasons why this person does not want to live in Mexico and they seem pretty lame, to say the least….no mention of narcos, corruption, litter, general dirtiness, lying for example
Here are my ten reasons to fall in love with Mexico:
A quote from Little Gidding, TS Eliot :
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
I could write a “10 reasons for walking further south and finding comething even better than Mexico” but it would be trite and a case of ‘how long is a piece of string’.
If you move away from the place where you were born/grew up and treat the experience as extended tourism, you learn nothing. The place where you stand at any given time is objective and treats all the same way, only the ignorance (or non-ignorance) of the viewer affects the experience.
can’t spell ‘something’
Bravo, Richard.
The pets example is crap too. Other than the strays that are everywhere, I’ve seen no marked difference in American and Mexican treatment of animals. Like anywhere, you have some people who care a lot about animals, and some who don’t care at all. But it’s not like a disregard for animal suffering is inculcated in Mexicans.
I could give quite a few reasons why the guy should go home.
Cultures and individual people are much like the “blue plate special,” you get what you get. If you don’t like it, find something (someone) you do. When moving on some folks feel the need to vilify that which they leave behind. It says more about the person leaving than it does about that which is left. (And RJD, Texas does have some good food if you like BBQ’ed brisket.)
Hmm… I read the reasons too…
I don’t agree with everything he says (like the last reason, for example, is crap), and I’m not sure why he wrote the article, but a lot of what he said is true. I’m a bit of an “animal-nut” myself, and I have seen a marked difference in the way Mexicans and Canadians (I’m from Canada) treat animals. I have seen much less compassion towards dogs and cats here than back home.
I’m 25 and I agree that there is a heck of a lot more promiscuity here than in Canada. Maybe the retired folks don’t really get into the nitty-gritty of Mex-culture, so they don’t see it.
Anyway, yeah, just my two cents…
The Mex Files is great btw!!!!
Cheers,
Betty
Mexico is great if you are loaded and live in a guarded and closed neighborhood on a hilltop, you have an excellent car, and diplomatic immunity. It helps as well if you have a sexy 20’s something girlfriend, who was a virgin when you met her. Otherwise, get go to Cancun, get a t-shirt, come back to the USA, brag to your friends about all the hot chicks you met (saw) and use the broken Spanish you picked-up in the convenience stores with someone who looks Mexican so everyone will know it’s true…that you were really there.
Gee, I live on a barely adequate Mexican income, in a middle-class neighborhood on a through street and — while I rent the upper floor — no hilltop. No twenty year old girl friend, nor diplomatic passport… just an ordinary Mexican work permit. And I feel fine.
It’s because you aren’t me, Rich. You are used to squaller.
No, I´m not you, and I’m not the world’s best housekeeper, and Yaqui my half-Xoloquincthtli, half-Tazmanian Devil Dog is still likely to chew stuff up, but I live far from “squalor”.