the REAL Mexico
We've joined a fitness club around the corner, found the Superama grocery store and an upscale mini-mall with video rentals, ice cream shop and vegetarian restaurant. Except for the language difference, we feel right at home.
All throughout our trip when we've run into non-Mexicans, they look away quickly, no eye contact. The need to preserve the fiction that they're the only non-native ever to visit that part of the world is strong. Passing them on a sidestreet they look everywhere but at us, dart into a shop and quickly say something to a shopkeeper in an approximation of Spanish.
The non-Mexican visitors who've been here a while and are ready for a little English quickly appropriate us and talk our ears off. One of the themes I keep hearing is "The Real Mexico". An American at the health club has family coming to visit next week. She is planning to show them a small town outside Cuernavaca, "The Real Mexico". As if a village with no amenities beyond poverty, ignorance, and topes, is the only authentic version of the country. If 95% of the people at the health club, the Superama, and the mini-mall are Mexican, I call it a genuine Mexican experience.
All throughout our trip when we've run into non-Mexicans, they look away quickly, no eye contact. The need to preserve the fiction that they're the only non-native ever to visit that part of the world is strong. Passing them on a sidestreet they look everywhere but at us, dart into a shop and quickly say something to a shopkeeper in an approximation of Spanish.
The non-Mexican visitors who've been here a while and are ready for a little English quickly appropriate us and talk our ears off. One of the themes I keep hearing is "The Real Mexico". An American at the health club has family coming to visit next week. She is planning to show them a small town outside Cuernavaca, "The Real Mexico". As if a village with no amenities beyond poverty, ignorance, and topes, is the only authentic version of the country. If 95% of the people at the health club, the Superama, and the mini-mall are Mexican, I call it a genuine Mexican experience.
1 comment:
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