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Guanajuato: The New
San Miguel
Since moving to Mexico, I have been struggling with
something I never, in my wildest imaginings, thought
would be an issue in living in Mexico. No, it was not
the language, the culture, the food, the people, or all
things Mexican. Don’t get me wrong. I have had to adjust
to Mexico. Everybody does. But, what gave me, gives me,
and will probably continue to give me fits is something
that might surprise you:
Other gringos!
In
my first book, The Plain Truth About Living in ...
guananjato,san miguel de
allende,gringos,expatriation,mexico,
Since moving
to Mexico, I have been struggling with something I
never, in my wildest imaginings, thought would be an
issue in living in Mexico. No, it was not the language,
the culture, the food, the people, or all things
Mexican. Don’t get me wrong. I have had to adjust to
Mexico. Everybody does. But, what gave me, gives me, and
will probably continue to give me fits is something that
might surprise you:
Other gringos!
In my
first book, The Plain Truth About Living in Mexico, I
touched on this subject. I have written about this
subject in various print and online publications. I
write about it from time to time in my column with The
American Chronicle. I feel bringing it up again is the
proverbial “beating a dead horse” since I’ve written
about it so often.
But, good God Miss Molly, I
just cannot believe my eyes and ears when I have to deal
with the American expat community at large as well as
with the one in Guanajuato where my wife and I live.
Furthermore, I can scarcely hold back what has happened
in the city of Guanajuato proper. I’ve been predicting
this for the past four years in my writing.
A
little background: When we moved to the central Mexican
town of Guanajuato, in the state of Guanajuato, there
were maybe 150-200 gringos living in the city we chose
as our expatriation home. This was lovely. In the midst
of about 175,000 Mexicans, the gringos would be
swallowed up and would make what happened in San Miguel
de Allende impossible.
San Miguel de Allende is
an artsy-fartsy town about an hour away from us.
Gringos, mostly rich American ones, have bought the
town. They are now the owners of a central Mexican town.
You go there as a tourist and think, “Oh my God, what
wonderful architecture and quaint little streets.” Then
the light of day shines on you when you see American
gringos, in their full profanity-laden Texan drawl,
cursing out some Mexican vendor or chasing a beggar (I
witnessed this) for daring to ask her for a peso.
How a genuine central Mexican town changed hands
from the Mexican’s into the gringo’s is another story.
Frankly, it is a long and tragic one. I outline the
history in an up-and-coming manuscript entitled, An
American Expat in Mexico’s Heartland: Essays The Good,
The Bad, The Ugly. Watch for it in a bookstore near you.
Anyway, if you don’t want to wait for my book to see
what happened to San Miguel de Allende to change it, you
can find outright by coming to the city in which I live.
Right now, as my trembling fingers type these words, and
as I wipe the tears from my eyes (and I mean this…this
is no joke), my adopted Mexican town of Guanajuato is
transforming into an Americanized and Gentrified Gringo
Enclave. The plans are set. The wheels have been set
into motion. The gringos have some cultural officials in
the town in the palms of their hands, and the next San
Miguel de Allende is here. Meet Guanajuato--the New San
Miguel!
In case you are not in the “Oh, let’s all
move to Mexico Expatriation Movement” loop, here is what
it is all about:
For one reason or another,
Americans are leaving the old Red, White, and Blue to
the tune of about 300,000 people a year. Most end up
moving to Mexico. Some move here because they see the
handwriting on the wall that they will not be able to
afford to retire in the States. I get that. Point
granted. The modern 21st century American is moving to
Mexico for financial reasons. Life has become too hard
in America, financially. And, it is cheaper to live here
if you try to live as much as possible as a Mexican and
not an American. Want to live like a rich American in
Mexico? It will cost you through the nose.
But,
when Americans move here, for the most part they never
cut the strings to America. They come here wanting to
live as they did in America. When they find there’s this
funny-sounding language called Spanish being spoken,
they flip their ever-loving expatriate wigs. In
addition, they suddenly find that Mexico is indeed a
strange, and sometimes unforgiving, place with all
manner of things one has to adjust to. There are not
American brands available everywhere (unfortunately
that’s changing). There is not always phone service or
home Internet service available. And, you have to order
your drinking water from some kid in the alley screaming
“Water!” at eight in the morning.
Life in Mexico,
it turns out, is not like moving to south Florida.
So, the American expat sets about making it like
south Florida or any other American retirement
community. They want a Disneyland of make-believe
America and they will get it with their money.
What you have are thousands of American expats who try,
with their money and their lawyers, to set about
changing the little Mexican towns, into which Mexico has
graciously allowed them to come, into Little Americas. I
actually had a woman tell me that “she and her lawyers
always win” when she tries to get something here in
Mexico changed into something more American.
And,
this is phraseology the American expats use: They’ve
told me, to my face and via e-mail, they don’t like
such-and-such in Mexico so they will change it to
conform more to their American tastes.
If
American Tastes is what they wanted, why didn’t they
stay in America where they could taste America all day
and night? Why did they come here?
I’m not only
beating the dead horse, I’ve resurrected it.
The
bee in my bonnet all these years we’ve lived here is
just why do they move here if they are:
1. Never
going to learn Spanish.
2. Never going to assimilate
the culture.
3. Going to force the city into having
American holiday celebrations.
4. Going to force the
Mexican locals into accepting American ethics of sexual,
philosophical ideology (Think this strange? Check out
Puerto Vallarta or San Miguel de Allende’s “Gay Pride
Parades.”)
5. Never going to cut the apron strings to
America by having free international calling, American
holidays celebrated, the importation of American’s
pathological ideologies.
What is happening (has
happened) in Guanajuato, right underneath our American
noses, is that Americans (and mind you it is mostly
Americans about whom I am talking) have set about
creating:
1. An American Enclave or Sector of
residential housing.
2. An American (note I do not
say English-speaking) library.
3. Now, they have the
full support of the local cultural director to create a
little America complete with the celebration of American
holidays and concerts for Americans. I am sure Gay Pride
Parades are just around the corner once the word gets
out.
Essentially, they come with those American
dollars and get what they want. Americans are getting
what they want in Guanajuato and my poor Mexican friends
do not know what a Pandora’s Box is being opened. Soon
the culture will become English-speaking and one will be
hard-pressed, as in San Miguel de Allende, to find
someone speaking Spanish—American Colonization here we
come!
Naively, stupidly, innocently, ignorantly,
and whatever other “ly” word you can imagine, I believed
Americans would not hypocritically come into another
country and not practice what they preached about
immigration in America.
You know exactly what I
mean. Americans scream from the highest rooftops and
politicians win or lose elections on the issue that
Mexicans who come to America should become bilingual and
assimilate into the culture. Surely, you’ve heard that
battle cry of the anti-Mexican movement in America.
Yet, when Americans move to Mexico, and I am talking
about the MAJORITY, they never learn the language.
Language acquisition is the first step to assimilating
into the culture.
I am telling you the God’s
honest truth—Mexicans in Guanajuato have an anti-gringo
sentiment against those who move here and do not learn
Spanish. They are not expecting perfect Spanish. They
are not expecting Spanish scholarship. They are
expecting the attempt. When you make the attempt, the
Mexicans do help you and you end up winning their
hearts.
But, amazingly, there are gringos here in
Guanajuato who cannot, and I am not exaggerating, string
enough words of Spanish together to successfully
complete the most basic of life tasks in this town. They
have to hire someone to speak the language for them.
What gringos in Guanajuato are doing will
irrevocably, irreparably, and indescribably alter the
town. They will, by instituting American holidays,
American cultural centers, American this and American
that, change the culture as surely as the Americans have
changed San Miguel de Allende forever.
I’ve read
so many times on one of the most infamous American
conservative news shows that shall remain unnamed (it
shared the same name as Mexico’s former President Fox),
when Mexicans move to America, they should, at the
minimum:
1. Learn English
2. Assimilate into
the American culture by learning some of America’s
history and adopt her customs.
3. Fly the American
and not the Mexican flag and pledge allegiance to the
United States of America.
Well folks, when
Americans move to Mexico, the vast, vast majority moves
into or create American enclaves. These are bubble
existences. They are sheltered from the trenches. They
would not be able to hold a conversation with the
“average Joe Mexican” if their life depended on it.
The other day, I got into a tiff with one of these
fake expats who told me “All my friends are Mexican…”
All her friends are bilingual, rich Mexicans who live
the lifestyle of the upper class Mexican—one in which
this woman shares. This woman denied vehemently there is
any anti-gringo sentiment in this town.
How could
she possibly know when she cannot ask, in Spanish, those
who hold that sentiment?
She runs in circles that
no common Mexican man or woman in real Mexico would ever
travel. And, if she ever lowered herself to get out of
that gas-guzzling American car she drives to the Mega
Superstore, and if she bothered to mix with real people,
she would soon discover another Guanajuato.
But,
oh I forgot, she wouldn’t be able to find out a thing
even if she came to the trenches since she cannot speak
a word of Spanish.
There you have the conundrum.
There you have what keeps me up at night.
There you have what is sending my wife and I searching
for another town in which to live—one in which no gringo
would dare tread.
Is there such a place?
Guanajuato: Too
Many False Expectations
A friend of mine told me about a
conversation she had with a person she knows in one of
the Mexican Prime Living Locations on the west coast of
Mexico. This area, one to which many Americans flock,
had become too expensive for her to continue living
there. When my friend asked her where she might want to
move, Guanajuato was her first choice. But, she
lamented; she couldn't live in Guanajuato because she
doesn't speak Spanish.
Three years ago, while
sitting in one of Guana...
Mexican,Mexico,Guanajuato,San Miguel de
Allende,Spanish,Learning Spanish
A friend of mine
told me about a conversation she had with a person she
knows in one of the Mexican Prime Living Locations on
the west coast of Mexico. This area, one to which many
Americans flock, had become too expensive for her to
continue living there. When my friend asked her where
she might want to move, Guanajuato was her first choice.
But, she lamented; she couldn't live in Guanajuato
because she doesn't speak Spanish.
Three years
ago, while sitting in one of Guanajuato's plazas and
doing nothing much but watching the tourists, a lady
from San Miguel de Allende approached us and asked if we
lived in Guanajuato. After exchanging pleasantries, she
said she was in town looking for cheaper accommodations
since the cost of living in San Miguel had become
unaffordable for her. Then, almost in tears, she said
she would have to retreat back to the States since she
could not speak Spanish. She concluded she could not
live in anywhere in Mexico other than the exorbitantly
priced Gringolandias where she didn't have to speak
Spanish.
Four days ago while strolling home from
El Centro, we met an American couple from yet another
Mexican west coast town that were visiting Guanajuato.
They were looking for a cheaper place to live in Mexico
because the area where they live has become too
expensive for them to keep living comfortably. They were
in Guanajuato checking out the lay of the expatriation
land. While my wife spoke to the woman, the husband took
me aside and spoke to me in hushed tones as if he were
revealing national security secrets. He asked furtively,
"I suppose we will have to learn Spanish?"
That
evening, I was doing some reading on the Mex-Connect
forums when I came across an interesting entry. This
lady expressed her indignation that while she was in
Guanajuato visiting for a week or two, no one would
speak English to her. She was, as many Americans seem to
be, convinced the locals could speak English but were
only pretending not to. She acted as if these Mexicans
knew this woman was coming and decided to make a pact in
order to torture her by speaking only in their native
tongue?
She said, now pay attention to this,
"They should speak English."
I would love to tell
you this is an isolated nutty woman but I've heard it in
person and online too many times for it to be so.
If you really want to see what Americans who do
manage to make it to The Mexican Highlands think about
the city of Guanajuato, you should read the travel
forums. There seems to be a consensus among them that
Guanajuatenses are all actually bilingual in English but
in some deviously planned plot, all agree never to speak
to Americans in English. One lady stood outside a
sidewalk restaurant in El Jardin and shouted the "I know
you speak English and are pretending you don't" mantra
in front of God and all his witnesses—Mexicans and
Gringos alike!
The truth is that when we first
moved here, we found precious few who spoke English. We
set about learning Spanish with a vengeance. Frankly, we
couldn't have cared less then nor do we care now if we
ever encounter another English speaker. When we
encountered trouble, we figured out how to handle it in
Spanish. Our reasoning was that Mexicans decided long
ago that Spanish was going to be the language they spoke
and they have been very happy with the decision ever
since.
Of the many reasons I write what I do on
expat and Mexico issues (I am most certainly an equal
opportunity critic) is for the following reason. The
people who make their way to Guanajuato, mostly
Americans who come with ridiculous and outrageous
expectations, go back to the U.S. as self-proclaimed
experts on Mexican culture. They spend the rest of their
lives mean-mouthing the city to all their friends,
family, and neighbors.
Would you not agree that
those who return to the States and then write the
following should not be allowed outside America's
borders?
"I had to walk an entire block to my
hotel and carry my own bags."
"Of all the nerve!
I had to walk up some stairs to my room because there
was no elevator!"
"I know they all speak English
in this hotel and are pretending they don't."
"I
screamed (in English, of course, since I don't speak
Spanish) at that Mexican kid writing graffiti on the
wall. He acted like he didn't understand me. I know he
was faking."
These go on and on.
So, how
do you get through to these people who are flooding into
Guanajuato? You tell the truth.
I tell the truth
in my articles so those who do end up coming will not be
the types with silly and unrealistic demands. They will
be the type who return to America and tell their
reasonable friends they had a good time in Guanajuato in
spite of the bumps and bruises one is bound to encounter
in another culture.
Can you imagine a hoity-toity
American coming to Guanajuato and trying to make his or
her way through the Pastita barrio to visit the Olga
Costa Museum and encountering the not-too-unusual
practice of some Mexicans who abandon the issue of their
hyper-fertile female dogs alongside a trash dumpster?
Dumping puppies at the trash bin will send most
Americans I know into a tailspin of apocalyptic
proportions. They will not describe Guanajuato kindly in
any venue. It's best they know what to expect before
they get here.
The Spanish issue is almost an
unfathomable one. And, it is sad.
Many could
expatriate to Guanajuato if they mastered Spanish. They
could live far more cheaply if they could live, shop,
and function in a Spanish-speaking neighborhood. Most
Americans have absolutely no idea how to begin the
process. They resort to taking classes.
One
person wrote me and said I had almost convinced him not
to come to Guanajuato to study Spanish. That isn't the
point at all. Study Spanish in America by using any
number of the home study courses before enrolling in a
class at home or abroad. The classroom will teach you a
lot of things about the language but impart little to no
spoken fluency.
Someone wrote and said they had
studied Spanish for nearly 20 years but still cannot
speak the language.
I rest my case.
Guanajuato:
Unexplained Mysteries
If you read guidebooks or travel articles
about México, you will read that Mexicans are
wonderfully accommodating, friendly, warm, and generous
to strangers. You will be given the impression these
people are the “Salt of the Earth” and maybe even
virtually Saints. You will be told things like,
“Mexicans are helpful to a fault” and “they will be so
patient with you trying to learn Spanish.” While this
might be true, I have, of late, begun to doubt the
multitude of clichés that...
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in guanajuato,retirement in mexico,mexican
If you
read guidebooks or travel articles about México, you
will read that Mexicans are wonderfully accommodating,
friendly, warm, and generous to strangers. You will be
given the impression these people are the “Salt of the
Earth” and maybe even virtually Saints. You will be told
things like, “Mexicans are helpful to a fault” and “they
will be so patient with you trying to learn Spanish.”
While this might be true, I have, of late, begun to
doubt the multitude of clichés that pour forth from all
the guidebook and article sources about Mexico.
About 18 months into our expatriation experiment, my
wife and I began to wonder what was going on in the
heartland of Mexico. The clichés we had read in our
pre-expat research were, frankly, beginning to fall
apart. The longer we lived here, the more we were
beginning to see things that the guidebooks gushed about
Mexican’s congeniality weren’t necessarily true.
Something wasn’t adding up.
Guanajuato is about
as much in the middle of the country as it gets. It is
truly the heartland of Mexico. Here life is
uber-provincial. The dictionary defines provincial as,
“a person of local or restricted interests or outlook; a
person lacking urban polish or refinement.” I began
hearing this uber-provincial stuff more and more as the
years went by. I heard this from not only American,
German, and Canadian expatriates but also from Mexicans
who grew up in other parts of Mexico and who, for one
reason or another, ended up in Guanajuato.
Certain things begin to happen to us that caused us to
begin asking questions. After all, we were still very
fresh and green expats who didn’t know much. But we
began to ask about this or that once things started
happening.
I guess it was the first time I was
knocked into the street by a Mexican and subsequently
hit by a bus that caused me to wonder what was going on.
The second time was really what got me to wondering. I
was pushed off the sidewalk not once but twice into the
path of an oncoming bus and was struck. Not once did
anyone stop to see if I was all right. The pushers never
bothered to utter one word to me. My wife has also been
pushed and shoved off sidewalks. I have a 70-year-old
American gringa pal who was pushed into the path of a
taxi and was nailed.
One just has to ask what is
happening in Guanajuato, Mexico.
I wish I could
tell you.
What I began to see long ago was that
the Guanajuatenses on the street are practically running
to get somewhere but never arrive on time for anything.
Although all of Latin American (and Italy) is famous for
how they regard time differently than the rest of the
world, this has slowly been changing in the more
metropolitan areas of Mexico. More and more, Mexicans
are beginning to forsake their traditional understanding
of what it means to be on time for anything. Not so in
Guanajuato. It is just as traditional here as it has
been for centuries. Some say the heartland of Mexico is
“stuck in the past.”
But, what you have are
Guanajuatenses running at the speed of light and, I can
assure you, to get nowhere fast. They are absolutely not
trying to get somewhere on time. It is a cultural
affectation here in Guanajuato. They will never, ever
arrive on time for anything. This is a total mystery in
and of itself. Why are they running? They never arrive
on time for anything so what’s the rush?
So, you
may logically ask, why are they running down the
sidewalk knocking gringos into the gutter? I wish I
could tell you, but I can’t.
I have asked
Mexicans because I have the facility in the language to
do so. Most of those I have questioned are not from
Guanajuato originally. They are here for a job,
marriage, or whatever, and have been transplanted from
other regions of Mexico.
To my amazement, these
Guanajuato transplants have told me that they view the
people of Guanajuato as some of the rudest, most ill
educated, and most ill reared Mexicans in the country. I
have gotten emails from Mexicans and as well as been
told in face-to-face interviews that they regard
Guanajuatenses Mexicans as anti-social. This is amazing.
These are Mexicans from other regions talking about
their fellow Mexicans. It very much reminds me of those
from the Midwest and western parts of America talking
about New York.
Now, I have to take the word of
those who tell me this since the only place I’ve ever
lived in this country is Guanajuato. But, I am beginning
to take their word to heart and believe what they say,
hook, line, and sinker. Our experience bears out what
our Extra-Guanajuatenses have told us.
Once, I
got an email from a Mexican lady in Puerto Vallarta. She
had read some of my articles and columns but poo-poo’ed
me as a crazy gringo. Then, she and another Mexican
girlfriend came traveling through Guanajuato. She said
she couldn’t wait to email me and tell me how many times
she was shoved off the sidewalk and pushed away from the
cashier’s counter in stores.
Just this morning,
my wife was in line to buy some very delicious tamales.
She placed her order and paid the guy. Before the seller
could get out of his mouth, “One moment while I get your
food” a Mexican lady, one of our congenial, warm, and
kind Guanajuatenses, elbowed my wife out of line and cut
in front of her. The seller had to be someone from some
other part of Mexico because he noticed what happened
and told this woman to get in line.
A month ago,
some college student who thought it was appropriate to
lay hands on me and shove me a good one shoved me out of
the way in a pharmacy! I wish I could tell you that
these are all isolated incidents but I would be lying.
The guy pushed me as though I was a piece of furniture
that was in his way.
The mystery is how Mexicans
are supposed to be such kind, generous, and
accommodating people to foreigners while in Guanajuato,
you are just liable to be pushed into the path of an
oncoming bus going at the speed of light. How…how…how is
this so?
The other day, we were exiting the post
office when we saw one Mexican do something to another
Mexican. This kid, in his early twenties, walked by a
lady who had set her heavy bolsa (a large shopping bag)
on the sidewalk while waiting for a cab. This young man
kicked the bolsa into the street. It seemed
unintentional. He looked briefly and then walked off.
The lady took off after him. While she was trying to
corral him, a bus came by and squashed her bolsa and all
its contents to smithereens.
My wife once had to
catch an elderly lady who was shoved off a 12-inch-high
sidewalk by two girls who seemed not to care a wit that
they almost killed one of their fellow countrywomen.
Something else that goes on in stores all over the
city—another mystery--is something that would get
Guanajuatenses killed in America. When you go to meat
counter or any place with a counter, Guanajuatenses will
shove you out of the way to bark their orders to the
hired help, even though the employee was already waiting
on you. Don’t miss the picture here. There you are.
You’ve just given your order to the butcher for a kilo
of hotdogs when some Señora puts her hands on you (or
elbows you) and knocks you into the middle of next week
so she can be at the front of the line.
This goes
on all the time, without fail, day and night—and there’s
nothing you can do about it!
NOTHING!
Why they do it I cannot tell you. We have asked and are
told that the people of Guanajuato are “malcriados” and
“maleducadas” …this means ill-raised and badly-educated.
I think the mystery is how did they earn the warm
and inviting reputation that you read in all the
guidebooks? They certainly could not have meant the
heartland of Mexico, especially not Guanajuato!
Perhaps it’s the other regions about which the
guidebooks have been talking.
I do not know!