LIFE IN MEXICO: Never Dull

Situation: We live in a gigantic house. The upstairs we rent. We have a full bathroom, three rooms, our own electric meter (so we do not pay more than we use), access to the kitchen, phone, laundry facilities, all of which are downstairs.
The family is totals four. Two adults and two sons. Olimpia's parents, sister, brother (his wife and three girls) live next door. It is a family compound popular here in Mexico.
Problem: This week, one evening, everyone was gone from our house. Her parents were home next door. Someone called her aged father and demanded money for ransom of their adult son who works as a computer geek in Leon. The kidnappers knew not only the names of the family, and I mean ALL OF THEM, they also knew Cindi and my name and even told Oli's father Cindi's and my routine of walking to the bus stop each Monday and described us perfectly down to the clothes we wore when we went out last Monday.
Also, Carlitos (16 years old), one of the kids in our home, was in the Plaza at the end of our street playing with his cousin and the caller told Mr. Sergoviano ( Olimpia's father) where they were and what they were wearing. So, he (they?) had to be watching us -- ALL OF US.
This sort of thing has been common in the past. I haven't heard of it or read an account of it in a while. But, it does happen here.

The adult son who works in Leon was not kidnapped as claimed by the caller.
One of the huge problems is that locals fear rather than trust the police. Some will claim that the cops could be in on the plot. To "Protect and to Serve" is in this country a myth according to some Mexicans.
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Mexican Television

I have this very unique friend who shall go unnamed since Gringos have the habit of attacking anyone who bursts their Gringolandian Bubble. So, to protect my friend I will not name him.

Anyway, he has lived in Mexico for more than 50 years. He is a 77-year-old American who moved To Mexico when not many Americans were doing so. Gringolandians didn't exist. Only genuine expats and my pal most certainly qualifies as a real expatriate.

He is, for all practical purposes, a Mexican in an American wrapper. We got his college education in Mexico City and developed his Spanish fluency. He went on to work in Mexican television in Mexico City and Guadalajara. He knows Mexico and this culture better than a lot of Mexicans I know.

I met up with him recently for coffee and laughs and finally remembered to ask him why Mexican television is run like no one knows what to do. I've written of this in this blog before.

Mexican television is an adventure. They will cut to a commercial in mid-dialog, play 35 advertisements, then will often come back in the middle of another television program all together. What I mean, and in all sincerity, is that you could be watching Dr. House, cut to ten minutes of meaningless ads, then come back to the middle of CSI: NY.

So, I asked my friend just why this happens. His reply is sure to make Gringolandians seethe:

NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT PROGRAMMING.

These were the words my friend uttered which is why my wife I have assumed for the last seven years we've lived here.

He went on to elaborate that they, the ones responsible to cut at the appropriate place in the program you're watching, will sleep in the control room, leave for an extended bathroom break, be on the phone, when suddenly, out of the blue, it occurs to them they are suppose to run some commercials. Then, they have no sense of drama or scene and will just cut the program off in mid sentence or action. Then they will run commercials for ten minutes making it impossible for you to figure out what program you were watching much less where it left off.

Basically, my friend who worked in Mexican television for decades, said they have no sense of time, time means nothing to Mexicans, and it is reflected in how they run the control booth in a television station.

Living in Mexico: Lord of the Flies

I am reposting this article on the anniversary of the fire set outside our window on June 4, 2007, at 430am. This happened 12 hours after receiving a death threat via a anonymous email from Americans involved in the Gringolandia communities in Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende.

Remember reading The Lord of the Flies when you were in high school?

"Lord of the Flies is a thought-provoking novel authored by William Golding in 1954. The book describes in detail the horrific exploits of a band of young children who make a striking transition from civilized to barbaric. Lord of the Flies commands a pessimistic outlook that seems to show that man is inherently tied to society, and without it, we would likely return to savagery."[1]

I've been wracking my small and insignificant brain lately trying to come up with a way of describing the colonies American gringos start in the Mexican towns in which they congregate. Mind you, I am operating under a tremendous bias lately and if I seem a bit hyperbolic, you will have to forgive me. I am thinking that perhaps I've had one too many threats and the fire, my Lord the fire, was what really has set me on edge about the whole thing. Let me say this in case you haven't been following my online columns.

I have been writing almost exclusively about American expat issue since moving to Guanajuato. I've also been writing about expat issues and how the dynamics involved affect the Mexicans in the communities into which Americans settle. I became so interested in this when I began to learn, from Mexicans, that not all is well on the American expatriate -Mexican relationship front. When my Spanish got good enough, the little woman and I headed off to an area where some academics are now beginning to focus their research: San Miguel de Allende. I wrote about the expats and got the typical vitriol one would expect.

However, dealing with the expats there through email never took on a dark and hideous nature. It did in Guanajuato, the city in which my wife and I have lived for more than four years. I began noticing an amazing thing that I've yet to hear anyone write about: How does a local Mexican community regard a gringo presence in their town, in their midst, when their livelihood is dependent upon that gringo tourist and/or expat?

How do the members of a Mexican town react to a gringo presence when their livelihood, their bread and butter, is not contingent on how well they treat the foreigner tourist or expat? An interesting situation to consider, wouldn't you say?

What I noticed in San Miguel de Allende, while they may take the gringo's money, smile, and be polite to them, they are not overtly rude or arrogant toward the gringos. I think if you surveyed the Mexicans, you would find they don't consider the gringo population as their friends, but realize their ability to make a living is dependent upon their treatment of the gringo tourists and expats. And, there are certainly hordes of gringos with which the Mexicans must deal. They may not like it, but it is reality.

The Mexican act accordingly. In the city of Guanajuato, where my wife and I dwell, it is different. The livelihood of the vast majority of the Mexican population is not contingent upon the gringos. Gringo tourists or expats do not make or break Guanajuato. This town has been a traditional Mexican tourist town and not a town often visited by foreigners, at least until the past few years. How the gringos are regarded is different than in towns where the Mexicans' livelihood depends on the foreign presence in the form of tourists or expats.

My mere mortal observations have been that Mexicans in the city of Guanajuato treat the gringo expat in one or more of the following ways: A kind of indifference where they don't even particularly notice you but are not rude or abrasive. An attitude that you are not even there. Some will not respond when you address them in Spanish on the street. They act as though they didn't hear you or look right through you. There are some, and it seems to be getting worse, who are overtly rude. They act like they would love for you to go away so they will never have to see your gringo face again. Some will not wait on you in a store or restaurant unless you become insistent. Now to complicate this, I began noticing, as did my wife, that those Mexicans with whom we would interact socially would tell us they have noticed the same thing-same treatment-toward them.

These have been Mexicans from different regions of Mexico who now, for whatever reason, live in Guanajuato. They are mostly from El Norte, the Northern States. They tell us that the gringos are treated better in those regions. But the amazing thing is that these Norteños noticed the same treatment at the hands of these central Mexico Mexicans that we noticed. Is that not something worth writing about? Is that not something newsworthy? In other words, there is a kind of "cultural regionalism" within the different regions of Mexico.

Some, of course not all, Mexicans might even treat their fellow Mexicans from a different region with indifference or even rudeness. We talked to too many Mexicans from the northern states who told us this for it to be a coincidence. I wrote about this and the gringos in Guanajuato have taken exception to this to the point of threatening me with violence.

Emails, messages from some email service called "Will Self Destruct"[2], and at least one (so far) face-to-face encounter on the street where I was told, in so many words, my name was mud and was going to get muddier for writing about these things. I was told I'd better stop. One guy threatened to come to my house, accurately stating where I lived, with a group of men to teach me a lesson. And all for what I've been writing. Though I cannot make this statement with any certainty about all of the Mexican towns in which there exists a Gringo (mostly I am referring to Americans) Expat Community, the one in Guanajuato seem to on the verge of a perfect example of "making a striking transition from civilized to barbaric[3]."

At the very least, they are demonstrating: "a pessimistic outlook that seems to show that man is inherently tied to society, and without it, we would likely return to savagery."[4]

Look, disagree with me, fine! I do not care that everyone agrees with me. All I care is that I try to write a reasonably constructed argument. If I am found lacking, why in God's name will not one of the members of this wild and crazy bunch of Gringos in this town answer me in kind? Is it not better to try and offer a well-constructed, maybe even bordering on logical brilliance, counter argument than to send someone threatening emails that keeps him up at night wondering who wants to harm him and his wife? Maybe not. At least you would think not from how they've responded to my observations.

I mean, really, what a perfect example of showing how man is tied to the restraints of society in which there would be enforceable laws regarding the behavior of some of these gringos here in Guanajuato. What an excellent study this would make for academics to see how and to what these group of mostly Americans return to, morph into, without the constraints of a democracy governed by laws. They are not a bunch committed, it would seem, to a pastoral Jeffersonian democracy.

In Lord of the Flies, there are two characters that stand out to me in my quest to explore expat issues: Ralph and Jack.

Ralph is twelve years old with blond hair, and is the most charismatic of the group. He is described as being built "like a boxer," and is initially chosen as leader due to his many positive qualities. He maintains a conflict with Jack throughout the entire novel, attempting to keep order whereas Jack isn't concerned with it. Ralph and Piggy together represent the struggle for order and democracy.[5]

Jack is about Ralph's age, with a skinnier build and red hair. His freckled face is described as being "ugly without silliness." From the very beginning, he seems to harbor emotions of anger and savagery. At first, he is the leader of his choir group, who become hunters as the book progresses. Finally, his savage personality and ability to tell people what they want to hear allows him to overtake Ralph as chief.[6]

Both of these characters seem to explain the expat community in Guanajuato. Ralph, who represents democracy, seems to know that democratic rule is the only way to keep the order. For this to happen, the maintenance of order, the real Expat, the one truly committed to actual and real expatriation, does whatever it takes to be absorbed into the local Mexican community. He adopts and adapts to the culture through the portal of language.

This is how order is maintained in his life since he no longer lives in America. Jack, who represents all that is savage and anarchistic in man, seems to represent that group of American expats who, through a lack of linguistic ability, cannot possibly hope to maintain any sort of order in their lives, so are afloat upon a sea of anger and savagery. What else would you call the behavior of trying to suppress someone for expressing some simple and unassuming observations about his life in Mexico?

They don't offer a debate inspired by democracy in a marketplace of ideas, but rather, savagery in the form of profane threats and confrontations. And, is not the so-called expat community represented by the "Island" in Lord of the Flies? A microcosm representing the world.[7]That is exactly what the expat communities in Mexico are. They are a microscopic view of America gone amuck-a subculture is created-and anarchy reigns. It is a subculture without any rules.

[1] http://www.gerenser.com/lotf/

[2] http://www.willselfdestruct.com/secure/submit

[3] http://www.gerenser.com/lotf/

[4] Ibid

[5] Ibid

[6] Ibid

[7] Ibid

Guanajuato, Mex -- A Tale of Two Bunnies

Night had finally fallen. The air was still. The days have been hotter than I can recall for May and the darkness finally capped off the burning of a dreadfully hot day offering a small, sweet respite.

I had to go to the bathroom. I had the urge for hours but the awful heat, in non-air conditioned Mexico, prevented me from doing what I had to do: I had to do #2. Moving one's bowels is not so terrible of a subject to broach when one has Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS. I've learned to face it that it is something not only with which I have to live but to talk about it often finds fellow sufferers who end up being friends. Just think about it: A Fellowship of #2'ers.

But, I digress....

I settled on the porcelain throne in the downstairs bathroom of the house we were house sitting. I thought it cooler and more conducive to better evacuation (If you know what I mean.).

Suddenly, and without warning, when an unexpectedly smooth egress was upon me, I hear a screech and a high pitched squeal coming from upstairs.

The screech came from my wife.

The squeal came from Yani, one of the feline charges we were "watching."

The wife screamed for help. I hollered as loudly as I could, "What is wrong?"

She replied in an uncharacteristically articulate screech, "Yani has something in his mouth and it's wiggling." (Death throes, no doubt.)

I could do nothing at that moment. I did what I came to do.

I pooped.

When finally done I didn't even flush but pulled up my britches and ran out the bathroom door.

By that time, every one was in the downstairs bedroom to which the bathroom I was in was attached. The cast of characters were my wife, Nuit, the black female cat, and two poodles, Katie and Chole Marie. All were facing the walk-in closet were Yani the bunny killer was adding the finishing touches to his murderous campaign of bunnycide.

(As an aside: The dogs were staring at the whole affair and exchanging knowing glances with one another as though to say, "We knew cats were a murderous bunch.")

I opened the louvered doors to the closet and proceeded cautiously. I wanted to extricate what looked to me to be a quite dead bunny (barely able to hop age) from Yani's death grip. Rabbits carry, at the very least, tape worm and I wanted to be fully responsible in my pet watching duties in this house sitting gig.

But, there would no disburdening Yani of his catch. I did try stepping on his his tail, ever so lightly, hoping that would freak him out into dropping his prize but it didn't work. He went deeper into the closet where I could never hope reach him.

We sat on the bed listening to Yani crunching the skull of his little bunny meal. Then he walked calmly out of the closest, licking his bloodied, bunny-killer lips, and shot out the window into the back yard.

I gave pursuit.

I saw him whip up a tree and over a wall at the speed of light. Within seconds he was back in his yard with a second bunny in his homicidal maw. We closed the window to prevent him from going back into the bedroom with his kill. He jumped to the window sill and upon realizing his entrance to the bedroom was thwarted, he leaped into the garden whereupon I saw the bunny was still alive and tried escaping Yani's killing grasp.

But, each time the bunny would try to run (hop) Yani would leap upon it and toss it into the air. He jumped on the the poor, helpless creature, he flopped on it, he laid on it, he rolled on it, and did God only knows what else to it. I don't know what else he did because I went to bed.

When I reentered the house the wife was hovering over the bed with a wash cloth to clean up the bunny blood that was deposited on the sheets. Apparently, Yani began devouring the thing on the bed before crunching his way merrily through the house.

The smell of death eventually filled the bedroom making sleep difficult, no, impossible. We did what we've seen on a zillion CSI television shows reruns: We applied a generous glob of Vic's vapor rub under our noses.

Sleep came, eventually and fitfully, but it came.

When morning finally came, Yani came through the window and into the bedroom singing his little chirpy meow as though nothing was wrong. With not a thought as to his nighttime savagery, he went full of gaiety to the upstairs and into the kitchen and begged for his morning ration of canned cat food.

I asked him if he wanted a little bunny with that to which he only chirped.

Moral of this story: Unless you have a farm with crops to protect from rats, mice, and yes, rabbits, a modern cat does not need to go outside. Studies from the University of California at Davis's vet school has shown that cats live longer and healthier lives as indoor cats only. Their outdoor brethren live much shortert lives with predation-induced parasites being a major cause of a shortened life span.

Think about it,

Guanajuato, Mex - House Sitting Part 3

We were suppose to be home by now but the folks for whom we are house sitting ran into a snag in returning. We are still here.

We've finally hit a peace agreement with the animals that has allowed us to sleep soundly. Only the very obedient toy and miniature poodles are allowed in the bed and that is working nicely.

This house is about one and half blocks from where we live and has far more noise, is more polluted, and hotter. We've house sat before here but not at this time of year.

Something more noticeable in Guanajuato now is the dramatic change in climate. When we moved here 7 years ago the air was clean most of the time. Even then, however, authorities were discussing ways to limit car usage in GTO to prevent happening here what has happened to other cities in Mexico--car induced pollution. But, the plans, of course, never got off the drawing board.

The other day it was so hazy and frankly hard to get out and walk. I could not breathe. I talked with a fellow asthma suffer here who is from Mexico City. She commented how the haze that covered the city for what seemed weeks, is what she sees in Mexico City when she visits.

It is the same. It is the same car induced smog that is ruining Guanajuato.

We moved here for the simple reason we would not have to have a car. You can virtually walk anywhere in this town and if not, there are taxis and buses. But, the status symbol of car ownership is what captures the minds of Mexicans. They want to appear "modern" (whatever that is suppose to mean) so they buy cars. The bigger the auto the better.

A study done on Mexico City found that its citizens buy the cars to enhance their status in their communities. To take a cab or a bus is unthinkable. Only those of the lower class take public transportation.

I have that study on the desktop (somewhere) and will post it if I can find it.

As I am typing this the haze is covering the mountains.

Sometimes I think another planet is where we should live.

Guanajuato, Mex -- People Are Happy Here...Not All Of Them!

If you cruise the net for websites and blogs about living in Mexico you will find a horde of Gringolandians who will tell you that Mexicans are such a happy people making living here for the Gringolandian "Heaven On Earth." (They really use this phrase, literally.)

At least 50% of Mexicans are not happy. In fact, they are depressed. Not only that, Mexican teenage suicide has increased 2.5% this year alone. This is an increase of almost 3 times what it was in 2009. (Source: Dr. Enrique Campizano)

Dr. Enrique Campuzano says the problem isn't one factor alone but a combination of problems in Mexican society.

That goes without saying, in my opinion. However, I want to know why you do not read this fact that half of Mexico's one hundred million population is suffering from depression?

Should this not tell you how out-of-touch Gringolandians are in Mexico?

They are physically in the culture but not of the culture.

Think about it.

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Guanajuato, Mex -- Your Tax Dollars

This blog is cheerfully and merrily dedicated to all those Gringos who are on their way to live in Mexico. It is written with the motive that those who are coming here would really evaluate if this is what they want to do.

Let me share a story with you all. It is true. The names, dates, and other personal info has all be changed to protect the innocent.

If you are retiring here know that the American government does not trust direct deposit into Mexican banks. If you get Social Security and want it deposited into a Mexican bank, this can be done. But, here is how it works.

What SSA does is transfer it to the bank of the American Embassy in Mexico City. From there it is sent to your Mexican bank account. For example, your $1,200.00 US dollars is sent to the Embassy's bank where it is converted to Mexican pesos then transferred to your Mexican bank account.

Well, I can hear you pontificate, I have my Social Security deposited to my bank account in the States.

Well...I respond...the US Feds will eventually figure out that you do not really live in the States and will snatch your account right out from underneath you.

For real, I am not joking. Unless you live in the States, and they will verify this, you have to have a Mexican Bank account and will have your American bank account seized. You have to live FULL TIME in the States to maintain your American Bank account. If you put your daughter's address, or whoever, down as your place of residence, and someone's American phone number, they will check this out.

LET ME REITERATE: Unless you have a American address and phone number where you reside full time, they will close your account and seize your money.

So, if you cannot find a nefarious way around this, you will have to have a Mexican Bank account--you will have no choice.

Now, let's say you get your SSDI or SSI payment on the third of the month. According to the SSA Rules, when your payment date falls on a Saturday or Sunday, that is the third of the month falls on a weekend day, then you should be paid on the Friday before your payment date. Get that? If you get your check on the third and the third falls on a Sunday, then you'll be paid on the first which would be a Friday.

Got that?

Well...in Mexico this doesn't work that way.

If your payment date falls on the third of the month and the third is on a Saturday or Sunday, you will not get paid on the first which would be a Friday. You will get paid sometime that following week and when exactly is anyone's guess.

I mean this most sincerely. The Mexican nationals who work at the Social Security Office in the American Embassy do not get that the SSA office sends your payment on the first if your normal payment date falls on a weekend.

Now that I think of it, this applies to whatever dates: If you normally get your check on a certain date that falls on a weekend you should get your payment on the Friday before.

THESE ARE THE RULES ONLY THE MEXICANS RUNNING THE SHOW IN MEXICO CITY AT THE EMBASSY DO NOT KNOW OR UNDERSTAND THIS.

Did you hear my screeching alright?

Right now, even as I speak, there is couple who have no money for rent, no money for life sustaining medications, no money for food, no money for anything because the SSA Office in Mexico City is illegally holding this couple's money.

Here's what Mexican truly do not get by a true democracy. A government within a real democracy is that the government is WE THE PEOPLE. The Mexican nationals employed by the Embassy do not work for the Embassy or a group of politicians, or a governmental entity.

They work for WE THE PEOPLE and when on Embassy grounds, they are on American soil and therefore work for WE THE PEOPLE!

The man on SSDI, Social Security Disability, called the SSA Office. The Mexican national male laughed at him repeatedly and especially so when told of this man's illnesses and that without at least four of his medications he could die.

THE MEXICAN NATIONAL LAUGHED AT HIM!

So, that, among many things, is what you are up against if you plan on moving to Mexico.

Now...if you are asking yourself just how this applies to you if you never move to Mexico, let me elaborate.

If you are an American citizen and are reading this, know that a portion of your taxes, your hard earned income taken from your pay each week, goes to support not only the American Embassy, but the Social Security Office within the American Embassy that has Mexican nationals as their incompetent and unwilling-to-help your fellow Americans as employees. They are allowed to neglect their jobs for Religious Holidays causing your fellow Americans to suffer from lack of money to pay their bills and access health care.

If you want to express how you feel about how your taxes are being wasted with these SSA Mexican nationals click here to send an email:

Send SSA an Email -- Juarez
Send SSA an Email -- Guadalajara
Send SSA an Email -- MEXICO CITY (Hit this one if choosing just one)

Why not send your feelings to all three addresses to see if you get a response?

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Guanajuato, Mex -- It's Impossible

In a not-to-long-ago blog I mentioned the joys (not) of trying to watch Mexican television in Guanajuato. Unless you have cable or satellite, it is virtually impossible to watch TV without consistent problems.

The current problem is channel 12. This channel has been a problem for years and not just for us (I make inquiries). This channel, and none of the others, does pretty much what it wants when it wants. Actually I should be fairer in my judgment of the channel. It has to be the Mexicans who run the thing that do pretty much what they want when they want.

Remember, "preventative maintenance" is generally NOT a Mexican forte. I can easily imagine how the workers, those responsible for maintaining the channel's broadcasting integrity, may not show up for work, sleep on the job, wonders what job they are suppose to do (their uncle hired them), and/or are too busy engaging in any number of nefarious activities while on the job they are suppose to be performing. I mean this most sincerely, this is seems to be a way of life here.

Anyway...

Two years ago, channel 12 went off the air. It took the better part of the year to come back on. I made inquires. No one knew anything.

A year ago, for several months, the channel just "rolled." I made inquiries. No one knew anything.

(No one ever knows anything.)

A week to ten days ago, channel 12 began sending secret coded messages. What I mean is that the picture is visible but the sound, audio, cuts out with a predictable sequence each time. It sounds like Morse Code is being sent. It is as though every other syllable of a line of dialogue is blanked out. Then it runs normally for about a quarter of a minute and starts again.

This is, I am sure, meant to torture me but I have not been able to confirm this.

Also, I've yet to make inquires but will and will blog my investigation when I am able.

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ROCKET SPANISH

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Guanajuato, Mex. -- Buy It Sight Unseen

I have written about this before: Gringos who buy a house sight unseen or buy it on a whim knowing absolutely nothing about the culture. It happens more often than you might think. Here is a forum post from a lady living in Honduras. She writes of the very same thing. Unbelievably, it goes on there as well.

Most women would not buy a dress without seeing it, touching it, trying it on unless there was no other choice, and − this is a big one − unless there was a pretty good guarantee that they could get their money back if it didn't fit. For sure most men would never buy a car without first taking it for a test drive and kicking the tires. Lots of people won't even commit to buying a new flavor ice cream unless they can taste it firstto make sure that they like it!

Why, why,why, then will so many people quit their job, 'sell the farm', pack up and move to a foreign country without trying it out first? Or even worse, buy a property in a foreign country without ever seeing it or after only a week-long visit to the country, listening to promises about how all the locals are so nice and there will be water, electricity, security, roads, .... Some day. "As soon as enough lots are sold...."

Hah!

The truth is, for both foreign and local investors, that day doesn't always come. The money is spent and the contractor or the developer, and maybe the nice attorney to whom he probably introduced you to handle your purchase, have both moved on to fresh
territory. The Honduran courts rarely help foreigners to get their money back from a fraudulent deal and that probably is true for most Central American countries as well as Mexico.

The Honduran courts rarely help foreigners to get their money back from a fraudulent deal and that probably is true for most Central American countries as well as Mexico.

Those who quit their job, 'sold the farm', and moved only to find out after a few months or a couple of years that the life in a third-world country is not for them are the ones who are really suffering needless expenses.

You could be stuck trying to sell a property in a foreign country for months or years while meanwhile trying to figure out how and where you will live in another country since you no longer have a liquid nest egg.

Some locations in Honduras have most of the things you could want.

What will you do when rainy season or a hurricane or earthquake washes the road and bridge out and you can't get there? That quaint little colonial town may seem an ideal place to live.

What if you have health problems or have an accident? Believe it or not, there are many places where no doctor or hospital is available, or at least not one that you would want to go to.

You probably will not want to send your children to a Honduran public school and good private schools are hard or impossible to find in some areas.

You can and should find out about all of these things in advance of a permanent move.

Renting a house in the area where you think you want to live is cheap.

If things don't work out for whatever reason, all you have to do is pack up and leave.

Just remember, though, that people who didn't make it in their new country will rarely be blogging about it, nor will you likely find them talking about their experiences in internet discussion groups.

While reading everything you can about these topics is a very good first step, there is no substitute for trying it out yourself personally.

The way to find out if your expectations can be met is come for a long stay.

They will probably want a house just a little bigger and better appointed.

They will probably want a kitchen with more than 18 inches of counter space.

They will want internet service, a good sized TV, cable service, and their own car.

They may want to travel and go out to eat a little more often.

They may want to splurge every now and then on those expensive imported items that they miss from home.

They will probably not want a wood burning stove or to wash their clothes on a scrub board.

Maybe you'll even find the perfect dream house on the internet being sold by an honest person.

Guanajuato, Mex -- The Gringos!

Gringos really do ask question like what I am about to share. Here is how I would have answered the question the wife found on a forum:



QUESTION:

Thank you so much for all your help, do you go to Punta Mita often?
In regards to Walmart, would I be able to get food like home in regards
to meats, chicken, I am planing to cook most nights. I just don't know
what I should bring from home, or can I get most everything there.


ANSWER:

Food like home? Are you kidding? You have to take fishing boats out each morning to catch your day's supply of protein. Then you have to forage in the woods for grubs, herbs, and roots. And to fry the fish you have to find wild corn and process it for the oil.

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ROCKET SPANISH

Click On This to Reach The ROCKET SPANISH Website!

Learn Spanish Like A ROCKET With Rocket Spanish!...
Who Else Wants to Learn to Speak Spanish Confidently and Naturally In Less Than 8 Weeks??...AND take all the frustration, difficulty and headache out of YOUR practice time with this EXPLOSIVE interactive 'learn Spanish' package!

###

Resources

1. THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT LIVING IN MEXICO
2. A WALK THROUGH MEXICO'S CROWN JEWEL - A Guanajuato Travelogue
3. ROCKET SPANISH
4. LEARNING SPANISH LIKE CRAZY

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ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS

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Guanajuato, Mex -- Dirty Hands and Disease

When the swine flu hit Mexico, the authorities were a bit on the embarrassed side having to explain why so many infections and subsequent deaths were in Mexico. The disease eventually spread to the rest of the planet but Mexico seemed to be the epicenter.

Political correctness forbid publicizing why the infection spread so fast, far, and wide here: poor hygiene habits!

I have American friends who not only own eating and drinking establishments but who have to train their Mexican staff to wash their hands after using the toilet. This is almost too unreal to believe. But, more than one employee has had to be let go, fired, for failing to heed verbal warnings, read warning signs, and being yelled at for not washing up and then handling customer's food and drink. It is barbaric.

Their personal hygiene habits are never more plainly seen as when helping themselves to samples at the supermarket. With little plastic spoons and forks, toothpicks, napkins, and small plates sitting beside the deli samples or bakery cakes, in plain sight, they will elect to use their hands. They will pick up food with their filthy fingers just after wiping, picking, gouging, or generally touching almost every orifice of their bodies (Especially their noses...OMG...the nose!!)

I thought I would have to lean over and empty my stomach when I saw this little woman use her hands to grab a GLOB of cake from the bakery and begin stuffing it into her cake hole. I felt my stomach cramping, tightening up, that pre-vomit hot flushing feeling coming over my face....I was able to just close my eyes a pray for God's calming mercy.

These are the folks that after grazing on the Supermarket's plenty will trip off to their food kiosks in merriment and mirth and prepare your tortas (sandwiches) or tacos with the same hands that infected the Supermarket food samples. They will wash the fine dining ware after each cutomer in a vat of BLACK water that they keep adding clorox to making it smell like a toxic waste dump.

This...this...this is why the flu spread so fast in this country.

It is sickening. It certainly causes one to pause to see grown men and women, most notably the women, stick their hands into meat sample trays instead of using the toothpicks on the side of the tray.

It is barbaric!!

###

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ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS

Learn to Speak, Read & Write a New Language!

Synergy Spanish - How To Turn 138 Spanish Words Into Effective Spanish Communication.

Learn How To Speak Spanish - A 31-Day Course That Shows You How To Communicate In Spanish Using Thousands Of Spanish Words You Already Know.

Fsi Spanish Level 1, 2, 3, And 4 - Quickly And Easily Master Begginer To Advanced Spanish. Instant Download Just $97.

Spanish Language Speed Learning Course - Speak Spanish Confidently In 12 Days Or Less Is The Best Training Material For You, As You Will Be Held By The Hand Each Step.

Guanajauato, Mex -- I Love The Ducks

Guanajuato has ducks. I am not sure just how many ducks or patos. But, they have them and in abundance at the Presa de la Olla. In case you don't know to where I am referring, it is a body or water that we would call a reservoir. And at this Presa or reservoir is a flock of ducks of the white variety.

They are funky little things that do have some other species mixed in with them. You can see a pair of mallards every now and then and evidence that some of the mallards have been dinking around with the white ones producing mixed breeds.

Other than the bread crumbs the locals bring to feed them, I am not sure what they eat from the wild other than the green slime that collects in little alcoves. It looks like the Creature from the Green Lagoon will arise in a murderous rage out of this emerald muck complete with blood dripping fangs and this is what the ducks eat as far as I can tell. I do not think this is a good thing.

One of the caretakers of the Presa told me when I inquired that the ducks lay eggs but rarely, if ever, hatch. I have watched them, sometimes for hours, sit on their eggs and attend them tirelessly but never, at least not yet, seen any baby ducks. Mutations? They lay eggs but do not hatch. It has to be something that the eat, like green slime.

Anyway...the ducks are in danger.

In the March 12, 2010 of El Correo, a story appeared titled, "Endangered Ducks". Apparently, the Presa de la Olla is scheduled to be renovated and the ducks are in the way of progress.

"On Monday begin the rehabilitation of the Presa de la Olla and the administration has not said what will happen with the ducks that inhabit the reservoir." (Source)

So, the funky little duck's future is up in the air.

I will report more when I know more.

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Crimes and misdemeanors: Staying safe in San Miguel
Is SMA still safe, or falling prey to drug dealers and thugs?

By Anne Nicolai
August 11, 2009



Knowledge is power: Spanish-speaking residents are safer

Across the board, every official interviewed for this article agreed that one of the best ways for foreigners to provide for our personal safety is to learn the language of the country that we’re living in. They point out that Spanish speakers have an easier time getting to know their neighbors and the local police. Knowing the language also helps when calling for help or reporting a crime.

In fact, the author’s calls to the various emergency telephone numbers prove this point: on two different days, at two different times of day,...there were no English-speaking operators.


Click On This Link Reach The ROCKET SPANISH Website!

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San Miguel de Allende -- What Will it Take?

Check out NBC's Dateline Report on San Miguel de Allende Kidnappings--CLICK HERE

***

This will not make sense to you unless you've watched the NBC's Dateline story I have abouve with the link to the site.

As my wife and I sat stunned, after watching the news story, discussing the video she accurately predicted that the San Miguelian Gringos, a.k.a. Gringolandians would engage in online Gringolandian cover-up and denial over this story of a horrible kidnapping that happened in their sinless Nirvana.

As usual, none of them have engaged the facts, connected with the data, or, now get this, have even watched the account.

"This is just another chance for the U.S. media to knock Mexico."

"Why is this lady 'just now' telling the story?"

"She must be getting a book deal out of this."

"Her husband had to be involved in the drug trade somehow." (The husband was the one kidnapped for 225 days.)

Just as predictable as can be, these despicable San Miguel de Allende Gringolandians refuse to confront the fact that their little Gringolandian has snakes in their imagined garden eden.

Lest you think me too harsh: If you, you high-and-mighty Gringolandian, would bother to listen to the story, you would find out "Why is this lady 'just now' telling the story?"

This lady 'just now' telling the story because when it was happening the Mexican authorities did not want her to talk the press. You mayor, who was a news media owner then, was asked not to report the story thinking it could and would get the man killed.

In addition, the real power base in San Miguel de Allende, the Gringo land barons, the Gringolandian property moguls, despicably so, didn't want to risk this story affecting their property values or tourism--the source of the Gringolandian Lord of the Flies' potential home owners. They saw it was squelched.

For 'filthy lucre' the ones who pull the puppet strings in SMA, the Gringolandians, prevented the publicity of this story as it was happening.

And, do not think this doesn't happen in the capital. Not only have there been express kidnappings, but there are Gringos here who for the love of their filthy lucre will threaten you with death believing your truth telling in your writing is somehow preventing them from raking in the dough.

Sickening!

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Resources

1. THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT LIVING IN MEXICO
2. A WALK THROUGH MEXICO'S CROWN JEWEL - A Guanajuato Travelogue
3. ROCKET SPANISH
4. LEARNING SPANISH LIKE CRAZY

###

Guanajuato, Mexico - Interface

Almost all the Gringolandians I know in Guanajuato will profess with the most grandiose pontification that "all my friends are Mexicans." What they mean by this is that all the Mexicans they know are bilingual and speak English with the Gringolandian because the Gringolandian refuses to learn Spanish.

(Unless the Gringolandian is brain dead, it is NOT an issue of CAN but WILL in learning Spanish.)

The Gringolandians actually have to use bilingual Mexicans to interface with the language and culture never, ever living in the culture they profess to love and know.

That's why it is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me when I hear Gringolandians refer to Mexicans by their first names. You know they did not have any sense at all of the language to be able to use the formal Usted form until given permission to use the informal Tu form. It is an assumption of familiarity that is tolerated by the Mexicans they claim are their friends.

Their so-called Mexicans friends are too polite to correct them.

We have a close elderly Mexican friend in town. She is influential and rich. She gave us permission a very long time ago to call her by her first name. However, we don't. We continue to show her respect with regard to her age and status by using "Doña" in front of her first name.

And of all of this most certainly begs the question whether the Gringolandian's perception of these bilingual Mexicans are their friends is true or not.

It also begs the question as to how much the Gringolandian understands the Mexican culture at all.

If all the Gringolandian can do is use a bilingual to interface with the culture they claim to love, then how do they know, how will they ever know, the complete picture? You have to be able to interact (interface) with Mexicans from all walks of life, all educational levels, all the socio-economical levels that exist in Mexico to learn "what it is really like."

Just how can you do otherwise?

Resources

1. THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT LIVING IN MEXICO
2. A WALK THROUGH MEXICO'S CROWN JEWEL - A Guanajuato Travelogue
3. ROCKET SPANISH
4. LEARNING SPANISH LIKE CRAZY

Guanajauato, Mexico -- Today

Today we rose at the crack of dawn. We had business downtown, early. I hit the shower after the wife. There immediately occurred a Typical Mexico Operation or TMO. The hot water was suddenly and without so much as a "by your leave" gone. I do not do cold showers.

After a quick wetting of my hair and screaming bloody murder, we dressed and quickly prepared for departure to downtown Guanajuato. Before I could pick up the phone and order a cab, we heard the distance roar of the gas truck. You know it is coming by the hideous, ice-cream truck tune that it plays endlessly on loud speakers bolted to the cab of the truck. Normally, you want to shoot the speakers off the truck with a canon but today we seized upon the opportunity.

I stood ready at the bedroom window to screech at the truck just in case the wife didn't make it down to the street to hail it. I chose this as my contribution to the "getting of gas ritual" since I was mostly naked and it just would not have been right for me to be seen on the street. What rigid logic I have.

Cindi successfully hailed the gas truck and soon we had gas but no time for me to bathe. I had to get to the hospital for a blood test so off I went with sponged out pits and a wet but dirty head.

I was able to be seen almost immediately. That was a plus. The tech who drew my blood did not wear gloves. She did do an extensive disinfection of her hands chemically, though. That was ok because I knew if I asked her she would have said there aren't any gloves. If I insisted, she would have shrugged her shoulders and walked off. I knew better so I kept quiet. I've live in this country for seven years. I know when to shut my mouth.

At least I will know where the hepatitis came from.

Next, as a reward for having been drained of some of my blood, we went to breakfast. We tried a new joint which I highly recommend: Casa Ofelia.

This used to be on La Paseo de la Presa. Now it is is downtown and the location was enough to convince me this was a place to spend my money.

In the old location the price of your meal included not only good food and really good service but the noise level that only Superman would have been able to withstand and enough carbon monoxide that would be sure to give you blood clots (which really happens, by the way). The place was right on the street and you could never hear yourself talk with your dinner partner or your food would taste like it was prepared and served in a mechanic's shop.

Now on the street, Calle Truco, it is quiet, the food tastes like food and not bus exhaust, and the service is Super Friendly.

For $184.00 pesos, we had the greatest omelets, a bucket-sized glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, bread (lots of it--pan dulce costs you), coffee Americano, and did I mention marvelous service? We loved it.

As we were enjoying the pleasure of fully extended bellies, a nice looking middle-aged Gringa-looking woman came in and sat near us. She leaned over and asked where we were from. Ashamedly, I must confess that I normally rattle off something in Spanish so as to thwart any Gringolandia contact. I know, I am evil. But, she seemed so nice and had a warm and engaging smile that we talked with her.

The poor thing was in a bit of a snit that she could not get anyone in the service industry in the city to speak English.

If we had a peso for how many times we've heard that.

She went on to lament that she could not hire tour guides or find any tourist info in English. This is, if you've been following my blogs, the usual expectation of the Gringo, the American gringo which is what she was, who comes here. They sincerely have this idea that because English is so widely spoken in the resort areas (including SMA) that it will be everywhere else. They get a shocking revelation when coming to GTO.

Actually, there are some tour guides who do speak English (usually not well). You have to check with the tourism office if it is open. Otherwise, you are on your own.

Another interesting thing: When we moved here in 2003 the tour guides operated on a propina or tip basis. Now apparently, they've organized or syndicated and have loose (very loose) pricing structure. After our encounter with the woman in the restaurant, whose breakfast we had to practically order for her, we went to El Jardin and talked with some guides. We heard anywhere from $100.00 - $200/00 pesos for a tour.

This is not a bad price. They have families to feed and they really are very entertaining in their guides mostly making it all up as they go. You will never hear the same info twice.

I really don't get why people do not buy a guide book. Lonely Planet, which is not terribly accurate, is better than nothing.

We took our leave of El Jardin, checked the mail, bought some milk, then caught a cab home.

Maybe it is not a terribly exciting adventure but it is our life TODAY in Mexico.

Until next time.

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Resources

1. THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT LIVING IN MEXICO
2. A WALK THROUGH MEXICO'S CROWN JEWEL - A Guanajuato Travelogue
3. ROCKET SPANISH
4. LEARNING SPANISH LIKE CRAZY

###

Guanajuato, Mexico - House Hunting

If you are really considering moving to the city of Guanajuato, you will need to engage in the #1 Survival Factor and that is finding a place to live.

Because American Gringolandians coming to start their expatriation experiment tend to think of Mexico as just another American state (I am not kidding either.), they think in terms of how an American would find a place to live. They want to know which rental-finding service to use.

You are not going to find that in Guanajuato. No matter how hard you look you are not going to find it and you might as well get it our of your mind long before you step a foot over the border that Mexico is not like America. Mexico is not set up like America and no amount of foot stomping is going to change how it is.

Some real estate agencies, both Mexican and American run, have rentals. But the #2 Survival Factor will come into play when you walk into any of these offices: The Rip Off Factor.

Here is the problem: No matter how much you take offense at this Inconvenient Truth, if you are not Spanish and Culturally fluent, the chances of you getting "taken," "ripped off," "scammed," or "gouged" rises to the power of infinity and beyond.

You need a representative. You need someone who is linguistically and culturally fluent and who is objective. You need someone who can spot a scam from a mile away.

Martha Roberts is such a person.

We've known this woman for years and though she charges for her excellent services (as she should), she can spot a flimflam and make sure you do not get ripped off.

Check out her web site. Her contact info is on this site.

###

ROCKET SPANISH

Click On This Link Reach The ROCKET SPANISH Website!

Learn Spanish Like A ROCKET With Rocket Spanish!...
Who Else Wants to Learn to Speak Spanish Confidently and Naturally In Less Than 8 Weeks??...AND take all the frustration, difficulty and headache out of YOUR practice time with this EXPLOSIVE interactive 'learn Spanish' package!

Guanajuato, Mexico - The New GTOLIST

If you don't have a lot to do and are interested in touching basis with Guanajuato Expats check out this site: www.gtolist.com which is, I must admit, pretty slick. If the site's cool splash page is any indication of how successful the site will be, it will do very well.

What it is, is a forum. The setup is smart and snappy. It has a broad range of categories to which you can post. Or, if you are the lurker type, you can just read.

Forums can be informative, fun, and relaxing. They can also be a battle ground of disagreement, verbal donnybrooks, and sometimes participants resorting to even threatening you. Of course, that's why most have moderators.

I suppose some think that name calling at the very least and threats of physical harm at the very worst can be disguised under the umbrella of "Freedom of Speech." I could be wrong, though.

I used to be a network moderator for the Internet Relay Chat. There were times when on this live chat format that I had to ban users from the network. They would become so abusive that the chat room owner(s) would ask me to ban them.

I can't wait to see how this new www.gtolist.com works out. I wish it the best. It looks like it is far more interesting than the other gto_list.

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Resources

1. THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT LIVING IN MEXICO
2. A WALK THROUGH MEXICO'S CROWN JEWEL - A Guanajuato Travelogue
3. ROCKET SPANISH
4. LEARNING SPANISH LIKE CRAZY

###

Guanajuato, Mexico - The Gringo Propaganda

Check out NBC's Dateline Report on San Miguel de Allende Kidnappings--CLICK HERE

***


One of the most salient examples of just how propagandized the vast majority of websites and blogs are when it comes to presenting the truth about living in Mexico, is retireinluxury.com. Whether it is a book, a house to sell, or a travel business to promote, the bias is as thick as maple syrup .

The people of Mexico routinely treat strangers with warmth and curiosity. The people here seem to have the ability to enjoy life, be more hospitable, more respectful of their fellow man....And it's not our money that makes everyone so friendly: the people are deeply steeped in a tradition of courtesy, culture, and kindness that goes back centuries...The people are almost always willing to stop whatever they are doing to be of assistance to a friend, a neighbor or a stranger. It seems they welcome any opportunity to be helpful. Isn't that the way life should be? -- www.retireinluxury.com

1) "The people of Mexico routinely treat strangers with warmth and curiosity." -- Go the website, My Mexico Story and read a few of the stories of how these folks were treated when they were strangers in Mexico.

2) "The people here seem to have the ability to enjoy life, be more hospitable, more respectful of their fellow man" -- You should on your next visit to San Miguel de Allende as the owner of the butcher shop, Carnemax, what he thought of this when he was robbed at gun point on Feb. 19, 2010 by his fellow Mexicans.

3) "And it's not our money that makes everyone so friendly: the people are deeply steeped in a tradition of courtesy, culture, and kindness that goes back centuries." -- Either the author of this website, who is trying to sell a book on how sinless it is to live in Mexico, is absolutely mono-cultural, or she is not telling the whole story (Maybe she doesn't know it).

One more than one occasion , Mexicans have told us that from a very early age they are taught that Gringos are to be "taken" whenever possible. They are taught how to do it all along with the rationalizations why this isn't a bad or unethical thing to do. Another told me that Mexicans are your best friends as long as they are getting money out of you. When you stop the cash flow you then become the enemy.

4) "the people are deeply steeped in a tradition of courtesy, culture, and kindness that goes back centuries...The people are almost always willing to stop whatever they are doing to be of assistance to a friend, a neighbor or a stranger." -- What this quote in its whole is trying to prove and failing to do so, is that Mexicans have some intrinsic goodness that sets them apart from the rest of humanity. In many face to face meetings I've had with potential Gringo expats, these wannabes will not believe that any crime occurs in Guanajuato or it is so insignificant as to not be worthy of a single thought.

The Gringo perceived politeness in Mexican culture is probably due more to the cultural need to save face than it is to some ill-perceived Gringo notion that Mexicans know how to treat their fellow man better (Is that even a testable hypothesis?). See the study done on this very point: Click Here

The point is NOT whether there are polite Mexicans in Guanajuato, or in the country at large. The point is whether Gringos who have ulterior motives are telling you the whole picture? Are their perceptions tainted with biases and/or nefarious motives?

To write about something critically never implies any degree of hate. To NOT like something and to say so is NOT wrong.

What is wrong is becoming singularly obsessed to the point of wanting to destroy someone who holds a different point of view than your own.

What is totally insane, and implies the need for professional help, is to believe an author who disagrees with the position that Mexico is something other than just a place with flawed people is out to ruin your real estate business, your money making source. That bias, obsession with filthy lucre, can drive one to paranoia.

That's all I'm saying.

ROCKET SPANISH

Click On This to Reach The ROCKET SPANISH Website!

Learn Spanish Like A ROCKET With Rocket Spanish!...
Who Else Wants to Learn to Speak Spanish Confidently and Naturally In Less Than 8 Weeks??...AND take all the frustration, difficulty and headache out of YOUR practice time with this EXPLOSIVE interactive 'learn Spanish' package!

###

Guanajuato, Mexico - Arrogant Americans Need Not Apply

I can hear the screaming coming from the other side of the world. I have readers there, you know. Thailand comes to mind, if you must know.

I didn't say that, "Arrogant Americans." Someone else did and when they did it raised all sorts of hell.

An information technology staffing firm based in Rolling Meadows, Ill., posted an advertisement for a technical writer that warned that an "arrogant American" would not flourish in the position. "Exelon is looking to provide these proposals to Chinese businesses, so someone who is respectful and understands Chinese culture is preferred. An arrogant American will not work well in this role," the listing read. - SOURCE

Of course, the ad firm took it down as soon as the threats of lawsuits began flying faster than geese during hunting season. Such hues and cries of, "offensive and inappropriate" and "Exelon is deeply committed to diversity and inclusion" were heard. Viva USA, an information technology consulting firm took the ad down. They shouldn't have.

Americans are now the "we can do no wrong" crowd and don't you dare saying otherwise. If you do, we will sue your buttock based on the profound legal precedent of "hurt feelings."

Actually they will quote the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as the basis of suing you, but let's face it, they will come after you based on how tight that knot in their panties got twisted.

There is a reason why the ad originally read as it did. Americans come across to the rest of the world as an arrogant lot. It just has to be the "I am American hear me roar" attitude that it perceived as sour grapes by the rest of the world. It is "The American way or it's the highway" also tastes a little bitter to the rest of humanity.

In Mexico, you have to take a really long time developing relationships with Mexicans before you can discuss American arrogance with them. They don't want to offend and when they are assured they won't offend you, the info flows like water.

The Mexican also hates American arrogance.

Learn Spanish, take a few years to develop a trusting relationship, and they will most certainly tell you so.

##

Resources

1. THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT LIVING IN MEXICO
2. A WALK THROUGH MEXICO'S CROWN JEWEL - A Guanajuato Travelogue
3. ROCKET SPANISH
4. LEARNING SPANISH LIKE CRAZY

###

Guanajuato, Mexico - The Most Hated Gringo in the World #36

If you want to know the quintessential member of Gringolandia read this forum quote:

I must confess how surprised I am to learn that the absence of expats in a town can be seen as a positive feature. my understanding is that Mexico is attractive to gringos not because but also because it isn t all that different from their homecountry (Wallmarts and anglospeakers to be found). Surely it´s positive to integrate into one s local community and have Mexican friends.But also having people who share one s first culture and language is important for one´s long term integration in sociocultural terms. If the presence of expats was of no importance I´d be living on a sailboat, in Nha Trang, St Pierre de Miquelon. Of course I am as fluent in Spanish as in English, but I know from personal experience that I could not resettle in a place without expats. Voila! - Quote as is from Yahoo Forum

1. This person is "surprised" to learn that the fewer the amount of Gringos in a Mexican town the better. Well, Voila, it is not a positive trait to have any sort of organized Gringo community, enclave, or Gringolandia. The fact that you postulate such a thing tells me that you are not an expatriate, are not expatriate material, and never will be an expat apart from a complete stripping away of your Gringolandian presuppositions.

a. If what you want is to live in an American or Gringo enclave with an exotic flare, why did you bother to leave American in the first place? Why not move to Scottsdale or Miami?

b. You obviously do not understand the cultural impact Gringolandians have on Mexican communities. It is cultural destruction. Americans move into a Mexican community with their vast riches and take on the attitude, "This does not appeal to my American tastes..., then go about changing everything into a little America. They conform the rich, centuries old cultural into something more suitable to their Imperialistic tastes. The local color is gone, the tie that bound the locals, cultural, is destroyed, and what you have left is a hybrid: Not America, Not Mexican, but something entirely different.

c. "...my understanding is that Mexico is attractive to gringos not because but also because it isn't all that different from their homecountry (sic) (Wallmarts (sic) and anglospeakers (sic) to be found)..."

This, to be perfectly honest with the reader, is one of the most disgusting, if not the most, aspects of the Gringo infection in Mexico. This only confirms my 7-year long developed hypothesis that Americans are so incredibly culturally and internationally STUPID.

Rather than come to a foreign country and assimilate into the cultural, with all its good points and bad, they come here (mostly Americans) and proceed changing it into something entirely different.

Note how Voila defines her own culture: It has Walmarts and anglo-speakers. She is out of touch with her own culture much less what Mexico is. She thinks it is "not all that different from American's home country."

I find the abject ignorance almost beyond my ability to comprehend and disgusting beyond the pale.

2. "...But also having people who share one s first culture and language is important for one´s long term integration in sociocultural terms...." Once again, Voila, you betray your ignorance. No study, credible or not, I have read has mentioned this as important for developing a bi-cultural fluency.

3. "...Of course I am as fluent in Spanish as in English,..." -- I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have heard this claim and when the Gringo opens their mouth they can barely pronounce Spanish much less communicate fluently. Native speakers are fluent. Children who come from a bi-cultural household and grow up in bilingual homes develop fluency. We Gringos work at developing the highest possible degree of proficiency. There is a huge difference.

Voila, we don't need another Gringo like you in Mexico. Try living in the sailboat.


###

ROCKET SPANISH

Click On This to Reach The ROCKET SPANISH Website!

Learn Spanish Like A ROCKET With Rocket Spanish!...
Who Else Wants to Learn to Speak Spanish Confidently and Naturally In Less Than 8 Weeks??...AND take all the frustration, difficulty and headache out of YOUR practice time with this EXPLOSIVE interactive 'learn Spanish' package!

###
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