Well, I have decided that I do not want to live here 6 months of the year, in fact, I am leaving Mexico earlier than I expected.
I have found that we are considered Gringos and are accepted, welcomed, then left to our own devices. The month that I spent in Cuernavaca is where I came to this conclusion. I was very grateful to be invited by Rosa to visit her family, to visit her cousin who just had a baby and to go to visit a neighbouring village with her mother, aunt and uncle form Chicago. If it had not been for the Chicago couple, I would have never had anyone to talk to for a whole day. In fact, when they were not around I was left to sit by myself while they chatted in another part of the apartment. I would sit for hours at a time. I grant you that my Spanish is not good, but it was good enough to get into conversations on medical care, social system and the political clime. I may make a lot of mistakes, but I am understood. The last day of my contract in Cuernavaca, I took Rosa, her daughter and Alfredo out for supper. The talked to each other and left me to sit there all evening.
So, would I want to live for 6 months among people who smile and welcome, but do not want to go any further? Thank you, no.
Then, my work. It really seemed to be a sham. Firstly, the orphanage that had children with measles never called back. The next one I went to would frequently have other things scheduled and I would have trudged there (and I mean trudged up and down very steep hills in the hot sun) to find that there was no one available.
Somehow, we gringos are to be accepted on face value then ignored. I put this down to the fact that Mexico is not a developing country. It is a country with a very developed social and economic fabric that does not need us. Why they would advertise for volunteers, I do not know. They don't need us.
Then there is the very minimum life style that I would have to put up with for 6 months. There is frequently no hot water, or no water at all. One lives in one large room of cement floors, cement walls and cement ceiling. Most places are dirty, paint is peeling, and it is dingy. Travel is on buses that are of the 50's vintage that grind gears and bump over pot-holed roads. Pedestrians have to watch for their lives. Food is fine if one cooks for one's self. Otherwise one is living on tortillas and beans morning, noon and night.
Even Cancun, which is supposedly the haven of the Caribbean is the same with added restaurants that are too expensive and more traffic. The beaches are crowded, and everything costs much more than it would at home.
Nah. I have decided to cut this short. I love the constant blue sky and hot weather. But, I miss my family and friends. If that is so now, what would it be like if I had to wait 6 months before I saw them. So I am on my way to the cold north and anxious to get there.
BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT IS NOT A LOVELY PLACE TO VISIT. For instance:
Mexico City
The magnificent Cathedral. A breath-taking view as one comes out of the Metro.
This is only part of the beauty that is inside the Cathedral.
Aztec dancers, doing their worship service outside the Cathedral
The dances are very complicated. Note the nuts at the ankles. They clack in rhythm.
Besides the old colonial buildings are the magnificent modern ones.
Cancun and Beaches
Tulum and the Mayan
SO WITH ALL THIS, I AM SAYING GOODBYE TO MEXICO. I WILL SEE YOU AGAIN, AS A TOURIST.
