Gypsy Jan
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Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
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So Eloquent - Article by Linda Ellerbe
One Journalist's View
By Linda Ellerbee
Sometimes I've been called a maverick because I don't always agree with my colleagues, but then, only dead fish swim with the stream all the time. The
stream here is Mexico.
You would have to be living on another planet to avoid hearing how dangerous Mexico has become, and, yes, it's true drug wars have escalated violence
in Mexico, causing collateral damage, a phrase I hate. Collateral damage is a cheap way of saying that innocent people, some of them tourists, have
been robbed, hurt or killed.
But that's not the whole story. Neither is this. This is my story.
I'm a journalist who lives in New York City, but has spent considerable time in Mexico, specifically Puerto Vallarta, for the last four years. I'm in
Vallarta now. And despite what I'm getting from the U.S. media, the 24-hour news networks in particular, I feel as safe here as I do at home in New
York, possibly safer.
I walk the streets of my Vallarta neighborhood alone day or night. And I don't live in a gated community, or any other All-Gringo neighborhood. I live
in Mexico. Among Mexicans. I go where I want (which does not happen to include bars where prostitution and drugs are the basic products), and take no
more precautions than I would at home in New York; which is to say I don't wave money around, I don't act the Ugly American, I do keep my eyes open,
I'm aware of my surroundings, and I try not to behave like a fool.
I've not always been successful at that last one. One evening a friend left the house I was renting in Vallarta at that time, and, unbeknownst to me,
did not slam the automatically- locking door on her way out. Sure enough, less than an hour later a stranger did come into my house. A burglar?
Robber? Kidnapper? Killer? Drug lord?
No, it was a local police officer, the "beat cop" for our neighborhood, who, on seeing my unlatched door, entered to make sure everything (including
me) was okay. He insisted on walking with me around the house, opening closets, looking behind doors and, yes, even under beds, to be certain no one
else had wandered in, and that nothing was missing. He was polite, smart and kind, but before he left, he lectured me on having not checked to see
that my friend had locked the door behind her. In other words, he told me to use my common sense.
Do bad things happen here? Of course they do. Bad things happen everywhere, but the murder rate here is much lower than, say, New Orleans, and if
there are bars on many of the ground floor windows of houses here, well, the same is true where I live, in Greenwich Village, which is considered a
swell neighborhood — house prices start at about $4 million (including the bars on the ground floor windows.)
There are good reasons thousands of people from the United States are moving to Mexico every month, and it's not just the lower cost of living, a
hefty tax break and less snow to shovel. Mexico is a beautiful country, a special place.
The climate varies, but is plentifully mild, the culture is ancient and revered, the young are loved unconditionally, the old are respected, and I
have yet to hear anyone mention Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, or Madonna's attempt to adopt a second African child, even though, with such a late
start, she cannot possibly begin to keep up with Angelina Jolie.
And then there are the people. Generalization is risky, but— in general — Mexicans are warm, friendly, generous and welcoming. If you smile at them,
they smile back. If you greet a passing stranger on the street, they greet you back. If you try to speak even a little Spanish, they tend to treat you
as though you were fluent. Or at least not an idiot.
I have had taxi drivers track me down after leaving my wallet or cell phone in their cab. I have had someone run out of a store to catch me because I
have overpaid by twenty cents. I have been introduced to and come to love a people who celebrate a day dedicated to the dead as a recognition of the
cycles of birth and death and birth — and the 15th birthday of a girl, an important rite in becoming a woman — with the same joy.
Too much of the noise you're hearing about how dangerous it is to come to Mexico is just that — noise. But the media love noise, and too many
journalists currently making it don't live here. Some have never even been here. They just like to be photographed at night, standing near a
spotlighted border crossing, pointing across the line to some imaginary country from hell. It looks good on TV.
Another thing. The U.S. media tend to lump all of Mexico into one big bad bowl. Talking about drug violence in Mexico without naming a state or city
where this is taking place is rather like looking at the horror of Katrina and saying, "Damn. Did you know the U.S. is under water?" or reporting on
the shootings at Columbine or the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City by saying that kids all over the U.S. are shooting their classmates
and all the grownups are blowing up buildings. The recent rise in violence in Mexico has mostly occurred in a few states, and especially along the
border. It is real, but it does not describe an entire country.
It would be nice if we could put what's going on in Mexico in perspective, geographically and emotionally. It would be nice if we could remember that,
as has been noted more than once, these drug wars wouldn't be going on if people in the United States didn't want the drugs, or if other people in the
United States weren't selling Mexican drug lords the guns.
Most of all, it would be nice if more people in the United States actually came to this part of America (Mexico is also America, you will recall) to
see for themselves what a fine place Mexico really is, and how good a vacation (or a life) here can be.
So come on down and get to know your southern neighbors. I think you'll like it here. Especially the people.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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Loretana
Senior Nomad
Posts: 825
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Location: Oregon/Loreto
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Ellerbee article
AMEN!!
[Edited on 4-14-2009 by Loretana]
"If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration."
-Nikola Tesla
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Dave
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Understandably eloquent...
Given her Mexican experience.
PV ain't TJ.
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Mulegena
Super Nomad
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Registered: 11-7-2006
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A breath of fresh air...
to clear off the dirt thrown on this wonderful country, glorious land and good people.
Thank you, Linda Ellerbee.
I'm going to circulate this journalist's article.
Copy and print it, post it on Facebook.
To see it here is wonderful,
but its "preachin' to the choir".
Let's share this.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
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Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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It's what we all know.......Mexico is a land of extremes. Extremely good and extremely bad. Is a Zebra white....or is it black? Well, we all know
it's both.
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Marie-Rose
Senior Nomad
Posts: 894
Registered: 10-2-2003
Location: Victoria, B.C. and Todos Santos
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Mood: Worried...
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Thank you for passing this on to us Gypsy Jan!! Like Mulegena I am going to pass it on to some up north who continually pass on news articles that
depict only the worst!!
Remember, when in Mexico, yes may be no and no may be
maybe!
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