| Pages:
1
..
5
6
7
8
9
..
16 |
FARASHA
Senior Nomad
Posts: 848
Registered: 6-3-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
I agree with FLYFISHING Nomad - are there Mexicans on this board who would throw in their stories, with what they had exprienced with Gringos/Gringas?
|
|
|
Lee
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3494
Registered: 10-2-2006
Location: High in the Colorado Rockies
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by FARASHA
I agree with FLYFISHING Nomad - are there Mexicans on this board who would throw in their stories, with what they had exprienced with Gringos/Gringas?
|
A related story I can tell for a Mex friend in Denver:
we were at a business workshop over a weekend, and somewhere there was an air conditioning problem, and through the weekend, he was questioned whether
he was the air conditioning repair man, or not. Eventually, he did get pi**ed off about it. I think it was, partly, because he was dark skinned
and the white folks (it was white folks asking) just thought the repairman would not be white. Strange but true.
Now, in Baja, I don't think the reverse is true, but might be on some level.
|
|
|
Iflyfish
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3747
Registered: 10-17-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
Lee
Good one
Iflyfish
|
|
|
Iflyfish
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3747
Registered: 10-17-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
Great Dead Fish Pic Minnow.
I must have missed that one. Jealousy is an ugly thing in any culture! I just have a hard time hiding mine when I see pics like that.
Iflyfishwhennotlustingafterotherpeoplesfish
|
|
|
fdt
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4059
Registered: 9-7-2003
Location: Tijuana, Baja California
Member Is Offline
Mood: Yeah, what if it all goes right
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by FARASHA
I agree with FLYFISHING Nomad - are there Mexicans on this board who would throw in their stories, with what they had exprienced with Gringos/Gringas?
|
You asking and longlegs inspiring me I remember that for my 16th birthday, living in La Paz we(my friends and I) organized a party were I lived, The
Hosteria del Convento, my girlfriend at the time was the daughter of a coronel in the army and she got me the military band to play at the party. Well
when I told Javier, who was sort of like the manager of el Convento about the music that would be playing, he just said NO, because of the other
guests, so here I am all sad and all when that afternoon Hanssie arrived back from San Francisco (remember, the american lady that taught english in
La Paz? "English with Anita") and I visited her and she said she was very tired from her trip but after I told her the situation, she just looked at
me and said to just forget about Javier and have the party in her place. Very few people will do this, she lived in a 2 bedroom unit, or I guess you
could call it livingroom and bedroom, she taught English in the living room area that had desks, chairs and so on, and her room was the back one. Well
anyway, the band set up in her bedroom and the party was in the living room, I don't know how she did it, but she slept right next to the band. Wow
what a gal she was, love you Hanssie.
A well informed Baja California traveler is a smart Baja California traveler!
|
|
|
fdt
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4059
Registered: 9-7-2003
Location: Tijuana, Baja California
Member Is Offline
Mood: Yeah, what if it all goes right
|
|
Simone my wife is one of those that gets upset if there is a party late at night, instead of looking at it as a serenata, oh well that's cultural, or
not
A well informed Baja California traveler is a smart Baja California traveler!
|
|
|
Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
Member Is Offline
Mood: undecided
|
|
fdt! Good story! 
|
|
|
FARASHA
Senior Nomad
Posts: 848
Registered: 6-3-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
fdt - what a party - can imagine her sleeping next to the band  - travelling can
be a killer - really a good story.
Also the one from longleg, I feel with that poor gringa - I'm sensitive to noise myself (ie my neighbor'sTV) . But if it is a cultural event - HEY
lets have it!
|
|
|
fdt
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4059
Registered: 9-7-2003
Location: Tijuana, Baja California
Member Is Offline
Mood: Yeah, what if it all goes right
|
|
Anita Walker was a special kind of gringa 
A well informed Baja California traveler is a smart Baja California traveler!
|
|
|
FARASHA
Senior Nomad
Posts: 848
Registered: 6-3-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
I remember about a thread were she was mentioned, some month ago.
|
|
|
Lee
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3494
Registered: 10-2-2006
Location: High in the Colorado Rockies
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by longlegsinlapaz
A prime example of cultural diversity, thought processes & appreciation….or lack thereof:
The several hundred Mexican residents within a mile: Most likely simply appreciated the free music!
|
Great story, LL.
I think everyone has a similar story, eventually.
I think it's different when you have the option of being a celebrant. Otherwise, it's someone else's party, and you have to wait until they stop.
Free music after mid-night for those within a mile of the party, who weren't invited, probably counted the hours until it stopped as well.
Ya think?
US Marines: providing enemies of America an opportunity to die for their country since 1775.
What I say before any important decision.
F*ck it.
|
|
|
DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
Member Is Offline
|
|
As said before, it is so nice to read a thread where civility rules.
While it was not Mexico, it was a Latin American Culture. We were living and teaching in Honduras. Invited to a student's birthday party, we arrived
an appropriate 1/2 hour late only to find the entire family still in their pajamas. It was an awkward 1 1/2 hour wait before the other guests
arrived.
When my high school seniors were preparing their graduation invitations, they stated a starting time 1 1/2 hours earlier than planned. The owner of
the little bilingual school operated on their punctual Minnesotan time schedule, and the parents were on Hondruan time. Some parents were still late.
But from our living and travel experiences, we have found one unfortunate cultural equalizer ---this picture was taken in Batopilas, at the bottom of
Cooper Canyon in Mexico. There are not a lot of supplies available there, but this open aired shop was well stocked.
Plastic, Coca Cola, and disposable diapers have taken over the earth
Diane
[Edited on 12-4-2006 by jdtrotter]
[Edited on 12-4-2006 by jdtrotter]
|
|
|
Iflyfish
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3747
Registered: 10-17-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
jdtrotter,
I recall when people carried goods in rebosos or multicolored seisel bags. I was told that each village had it's own distinctive reboso. I remember
clearly the year that plastic bags were introduced into Mexico and now they are to be found everywhere including the roadsides. I wish they were
produced in such a way that they would decay!
Not all cultural change is for the better. I recall the markets of the Tarahumara in the Copper Canyon full of raku fired terra cotta pots with
wonderful designs and green woven reed baskets. I still have some of both that I treasure with the memories. I also recall what to me was the music of
Mexico, the hands slapping together to produce hand made tortillas. What a treat those were. Mmmmmm good!
I recall the advent of television. I saw my first in a Chrysler Dealership in our small town in North Dakota. I recall looking through the window and
discussing with my brother how stupid that was, "who would waste their time watching that thing. I recall seeing early TVs in village squares hung on
a tree for all to watch. Television has changed the culture of the USofA irrevocably. Few families sit down to eat together at a table where they
discuss the events of the day. Families often sit side by side in front of the glowing tube and so are only engaged in parallel activity. In my life
time we have moved from a linier to acoustic age. It is wonderful to be engaged in a context where people are writing back and forth (linear) with
each other and exchanging ideas, images and feelings using this acoustic format. In the USofA we are surrounded and bombarded with images that come at
us faster and faster. They tell us how to be, smell, think, and feel. I wonder how this will affect our neurology over time. It may already be
affecting attention spans.
I think it is the province of the aged to regret change. The young often embrace it while the old resist it. The Latin phrase goes "Sic Transit Gloria
Mundie" translated roughly into "Thus Passes the Glory of The World"
In a world where the only constant is change, it is adaptive to embrace it or in the effort of fighting it become cynical, remorseful and angry.
Seize the Carp!
Or Carpe Carpum as OSO so eloquently puts it.
Iflyfishforcarpemdia
|
|
|
Lee
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3494
Registered: 10-2-2006
Location: High in the Colorado Rockies
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by fdt
Well anyway, the band set up in her bedroom and the party was in the living room, I don't know how she did it, but she slept right next to the band.
Wow what a gal she was, love you Hanssie. |
I love this story. Thanks for printing it.
Sounds like people I grew up with. Not the Ozzie&Harriet/FatherKnowsBest stuff I watched on TV, but REAL.
US Marines: providing enemies of America an opportunity to die for their country since 1775.
What I say before any important decision.
F*ck it.
|
|
|
Paula
Super Nomad
Posts: 2219
Registered: 1-5-2006
Location: Loreto
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Lee
| Quote: | Originally posted by longlegsinlapaz
A prime example of cultural diversity, thought processes & appreciation….or lack thereof:
The several hundred Mexican residents within a mile: Most likely simply appreciated the free music!
|
Great story, LL.
I think everyone has a similar story, eventually.
I think it's different when you have the option of being a celebrant. Otherwise, it's someone else's party, and you have to wait until they stop.
Free music after mid-night for those within a mile of the party, who weren't invited, probably counted the hours until it stopped as well.
Ya think?
|
Here's another difference-- if you can hear the music you are invited to the party! Just walk in and smile, and you'll pretty much for sure be
welcome. We tested this out Friday night when we were surprised to hear live music coming from next door. Now fortunately we like banda music, and
2 trombones, 3trumpets, one tuba and the cutest little french horn I ever did see-- all pulled together by the rythm of 3 different kinds of drumset--
is music to our ears. We stayed for half a dozen songs, as the music started at 10 pm, and we just hadn't planned ahead to party all night. Tonight
it's recorded norteno so far. I don't know where these guys came from, never heard a sound from that place before, and my guess is they won't stay
all that long.
Life in Mexico, where to hope and to wait are both expressed by the same word... and the sky and heaven are both el cielo
|
|
|
DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: |
Here's another difference-- if you can hear the music you are invited to the party! Just walk in and smile, and you'll pretty much for sure be
welcome.
|
We recently taught school and lived in Calexico for five wonderful years. The majority of our neighbors were from Mexicali. Many owned businesses
there and lived in Calexico.
It was a typical cheap---well nothing in California is that cheap--tract with the garage in the front. Unlike other areas of California, in the
evening, many of our neighbors sat outside in the front yard, socializing with the community like around a plaza in a typical Mexican town---very
unlike the typical gringo sitting on the patio in the backyard, isolated from the community. And when it was fiesta time, a childs birthday, an
anniversary, or maybe just a Friday evening, it happened in the garage in the front yard, and yes, all the neighbors were invited, even if we didn't
speak much Spanish.
But when it came time to move and our neighbor wanted to buy our house, she was quick to make sure that we understood that she wanted to do business
in the gringo way---everything stated firmly, clearly, and finished quickly. This was all communicated through her bilingual daughter as she spoke
little English and our Spainish is very weak.
It was an interesting place to live-and work. --sometimes a place caught between two cultures, or maybe a place of a unique border culture. There
were lots of positives, and some negatives. As one graduating student shared her fears with me, she felt caught between two languages, neither of
which she knew well. It was not uncommon in the classroom to hear, "Donde esta the stapler"?
Diane
|
|
|
Iflyfish
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3747
Registered: 10-17-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
jdtrotter,
I can almost smell the bbq. Of course the zocolo used to be the focal point in villages. I used to really enjoy the passeo in the evenings.
In the UsofA there is the mall.
Iflyfish
|
|
|
Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
Member Is Offline
Mood: undecided
|
|
If you can hear the music, you're invited to the party!  My
kinda people.
|
|
|
Cincodemayo
Senior Nomad
Posts: 725
Registered: 3-7-2005
Location: Pacific NW
Member Is Offline
|
|
Dang...Great stories people!
Back in 1980 from San Clemente a good friend's Dad bought a big GMC Eleganza moto home and took 3 weeks..One week down Baja, one week in Cabo and one
week driving back..While staying in Mulege we went scuba diving and got invited to a locals house in the palm groves to a fantastic dinner and had the
best time while stayijng at the moto part of the Serenidad...One of many stories in Mexico that are all good.
Just to show different cultures around the world the first time I went to Bali by myself I hired a driver for a 4 day jaunt around the magical Island.
The first night he hooked me up with this beautiful Balinese gal who he was friends with and went with for another day. The next day we were driving
up thru Bali and he asked me if I wanted to do something tourists never get to do. I asked what and he said the Island c-ckfight in the middle of the
jungle. Well after a few Bintangs I said sure and it was amazing. I was the only white guy amung 300-400 Balinese in the middle of the Bali Jungle
with the biggest lightning and thunder show with a 45 minute deluge during the festivities! It was not for me to judge what they have been doing for
hundreds of years so the experience was unbelieveable that will be engrained with me forever. My guide being Hindu had 2 families and he was proud to
introduce me to both with great Balinese food at each residence. The experience surely opened me up to other cultures and what they are all about.
The Balinese like the Mexican people are awesome and not to be judged. I've traveled the world and the only people I've scorned at are Germans in
Tunisia and "UGLY" Americanos.
[Edited on 12-5-2006 by Cincodemayo]
Don\'t get mad...
Get EVEN.
|
|
|
Iflyfish
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3747
Registered: 10-17-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
Cincodemayo,
I was fortunate enough to be in Queretaro during the Christmas season. We went to the Palenque and after the matches were over they covered the floor
with plywood and out comes Vincente Fernandez and his band. They sung and played till the wee hours. Amazing!!! There is so much magic in
Mexico........... and on it goes.
I kept betting on white roosters, never won.....not once!
Moral.............. don't bet on the white chickens.
I never saw roosters so well maintained, oiled and pampered, mouth to mouth resuscitation, water spewed at the nether regions, such pleading urging
and encouragement, such admiration and love........ till the end........ then it's all over for the bird............. and taco time.
Now talk about cultural differences!!!
Iflyfishwithfeathersfromthechicken
|
|
|
| Pages:
1
..
5
6
7
8
9
..
16 |
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
