Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Those Loving Mexicans

I really do feel there are some Mexicans who are not just loving but kind, caring, helpful, and salt-of-the-Earth people. But, I would say this regarding just about any culture on the planet. The Mexican nationals in our little protestant church here in Guanajuato I would trust with my life.

However, and there's always a "however," on the other hand I feel there are some Mexicans that hold anti-American sentiments. I reported on this years ago in my blogging and article writing and earned the title to which I am still the exclusive record holder:

THE MOST HATED GRINGO IN THE WHOLE WORLD!


I used to interview Mexicans in Guanajuato, and other cities, and was able to extract from them some pretty strong feelings about Gringolandians. The Gringos don't believe it. They call me a liar.

So, here's a guest post from a lady writing about the Ajijic and Chapala area and their deteriorating Gringolandia...

Since I don't post here usually, and only pop in to read every couple of weeks
I wanted to let you all know about friends who are moving away from Chapala.

We have had two sets of couple friends who have returned NoB because they
didn't enjoy Mexico. One set said they just no longer, after 2 years, felt welcome in their primarily Mexican neighborhood in CHapala and didn't want to move toward Ajijic and they were discouraged from moving to Jocotepec, or any of the other primarily Mexican villages to the east and west. We were surprised to hear
this, but they were very "into" being quasi-Mexican, so they were hurt by the
attitude change they had been feeling from their neighbors.

Then lo-and-behold a couple months later another single friend mentioned she
was moving from Chapala back to Ajijic because she no longer felt welcome in
Chapala. She is ignored in eateries and stores, spoken rudely to on the Malecon
and is cheated regularly at the market.

And then a couple, who had lived in Ajijic for 18 months and moved to CHapala
because they liked the atmosphere there better and have been there 3 years
called me just 3 weeks ago asking if I would alert them to any houses from San
Antonio to La Cristina as they were moving back from Chapala. When we went out to dinner they said that their beautiful downtown Chapala 2 story house with
pool and fab garden that they willing paid $1000 US per month, had become a
jail of sorts because they no longer were welcomed in their neighborhood as they
previously had been. That where they had shopped for the last 3 years and at
the main market they were slowly paying more for food and had realized they
were now victims of a "gringo tax" whereas they had not been before and that young shop persons who had been chatty and willing to talk in Spanish at their level now virtually sped thru anything and when asked to speak slower the young
people were rude and wouldn't make the effort.

What does this all mean. Well, this couple has been talking with other expats
in Chapala and they have come to the conclusion that the citizens of Chapala
have seen their town grow and improve and there is a movement afoot to make it
uncomfortable for expats so that Chapala does not become Ajijic with its
unaffordable housing and high living prices for its locals.

This is also the case in Jocotepec, but that has always been that way.

Mexican friends tell us that many men who left the area to work in the US are
returning and they are angry for lots of reasons and they are relating stories
about the US and they are telling family and friends that the expats don't
deserve to live better in Mexico than they could in the US because that means
that Mexicans can't live in their towns and villages. They would be right.

It had to happen, and whether its as prevalent as these people seem to think it
is, it still is obviously making Chapala uncomfortable for some expats, enough so that they are leaving or moving out.


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