Guanajuato, Mexico - Again, NO AGUA!

The water is off again. The last time it was off, the end of June 2009, it was off for almost three days with the water company promising it would be on at the end of those three days.

This brings up an issue of Mexican culture. Mexicans tend to tell you anything they think you want to hear. Rarely, if ever, will they tell you they don't know something. Nor do you get the truth most of the time.

A good example is when tourists make hotel reservations. The American tourists routinely report in travel forums that they called the hotel, spoke with someone claiming to speak English, and was assured the room would be ready and the tourist would be welcomed with open arms upon arrival.

Well, upon arrival no one at said hotel has ever heard of them, from them, and there is "No Room at the Inn..."

The offended and Royally Pissed off American tourist will swear someone told them "uh-huh" at each and every junction of the hotel reservation process but there was no room or open arms waiting for them.

And, the American would be right -- They would have been told yes, yes, yes, yes we got it, and yet nothing!

It is absolutely comical to read through the travel and expat forums and see just how void Americans are regarding Mexico. To put it into the words of a Mexican pal who conducts tours for Americans, "They expect each and every thing to be just like the States."

Just the other day my wife, who is a destination expert for one of the online travel sites, received a private message from someone moving to Guanajuato and was asked how she could find housing. Now, get this, she is arriving in September and has not a clue how to find a house or apartment. She is actually closing down her life in America and moving to a place where finding a place to call her own is as foreign to her as can be.

Just what are people thinking?

Are they even thinking?

Just what will she tell the cab driver when she gets to Guanajuato from the airport in Silao? Drop me off at .......... ?

And the icing on the cake is that she doesn't speak enough words in Spanish to order a meal much less find an apartment.

I truly do not get this at all and furthermore never will.

My wife tells her, and the multitude like her, to check out San Miguel de Allende where she doesn't need to speak a word of Spanish.

Oh my, have I digressed?

So, the water is off, we are told we will have it on this afternoon, it is now afternoon! It is 4:50pm and counting.

Were we told the same ole Mexican Song and Dance by the lady at the water company?

¡Por Supesto Que Sí!

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A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel: A Guanajuato Travelogue