I Love Mexico And A Mexican
My love for Mexico began at age 18. My first trip to Mexico was in the company of my grandmother and mother whom I drove down to visit my uncle who was a US Border Patrolman. I had never been in Texas and it seemed like a fairly exotic trip to go to Piedras Negras, Mexico for a brief trip while visiting Eagle Pass,Texas. We went to a restaurant that my uncle frequented and it looked 'foreign' to me in that it was dark wood. The food was fantastic - I had my first Steak Tampico and since it was legal to drink in Mexico, I had my first 'legal' beer with my family. Then the music started and an almost 'polka' sounding music, the music of the Northern Mexico, began. A 6 foot Texan woman got up and was dancing with a much shorter Mexican guy. All of a sudden he lost control of her and she knocked over four tables. No man missed a beat - the music continued and we all enjoyed the scenery.
From that first trip in 1969 I have now made more than 100 trips with periods of time from a few hours to several weeks at a time. I have done business with many Mexican companies.
You have to love a country that has great music. I have grown to love mariachi music,which I listen to frequently via the internet now on my computer at http://www.linkline.com/personal/dserrano/
But there is nothing like going to Guadalajara and listening live to the music. I have made many trips to Guadalajara, on business, and spent the evenings enjoying the culture of Mexico.
One of my most memorable trips was when I was invited to a bachelor party of a young man who was engaged in Tepatitlan . I found myself in the company of 50 local people, mostly ranchers, and only 2 people who could speak English. But they quickly made me feel at home and I was quickly enjoying drinking the great local tequilas and the great food. After a while I realized I wasn't going to go home that afternoon, as planned, because this was one of those nights you wouldn't want to miss. The evening ended with tequila fueled bull fighting in a small bullring with young bulls. Nothing like watching people with tequila 'playfighting' bulls. On another memorable time I was invited to a party at one of the tequila manufacturers' homes and drank from his private stock - something I can only describe as the nectar of the Gods.
I was the typical American in that I didn't know many Mexicans personally but when I heard the word Mexico I always had good feelings. In the late 70's,early 80's going to Mexico was like entering a country completely apart from the United States. The telephones didn't work too well and often my family and employers wouldn't hear from me for a week when I made sales trips to Mexico. I would go to Monterrey and eat goat with a customer and learn to enjoy the beers of Mexico. Maybe I would go with the customer to Ciudad Obregon to see the desert part of Mexico or would go to Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco) and see the 'gringo's version' of a Mexican resort town.
In 1991 I was divorced against my will by my first wife, an American woman. I didn't see it coming and was quite destroyed. One of my customers heard about it and sent me a fax telling me about his girlfriend's girlfriend. We started talking and soon I found myself in love with a Mexican woman, Yoly, who would become my wife. She was a graduate of the University of the Americas and a native of Veracruz. So now I found myself going to Mexico to meet her family and friends and I started seeing a different Mexico.
We took an extended trip through Mexico in 1993 and ended up driving throughout small towns and big towns. I saw the adventures you can have in Mexico. Whether it was scuba diving in Ixtapa,after having been given 5 minutes worth of instruction in Spanish which I didn't even speak or watching Indians in Papantla dive off of a tower at El Tajin it was all interesting. But loving a Mexican also gets you in a position where you see a different side of Mexico - you meet people in their homes and their lifestyles, unlike the average gringo who goes to Acapulco and comes back and thinks that he knows Mexico and Mexicans. You see how the family units in Mexico differ favorably from the United States.
I love Mexico and Mexicans. Like the US, it has its blemishes and rough spots. It has an economy which has been hard to predict for a long time. It still has some government officials who make life 'interesting' at times but it has so many things that make it a great place to visit or live.
I urge all to learn to love Mexico and learn to love the Mexican people. Also, I urge you to learn to accept the differences that our countries have. Neither country is right or wrong on all things. I would like to see Mexico change the way it treats animals like dogs and cats, for instance. But these are all things that are changing and will change.
When I first drove into Mexico at age 18 I never realized I would have such a relationshp with Mexico. Nor did I have any hint that I would end up marrying a Mexican woman. I haven't 'lived' in Mexico yet but that probably will come at some time also. I have benefited greatly from learning to experience whatever comes my way in Mexico, from different tequilas to the different people who are in different areas of Mexico. I suggest that you consider being open to the many experiences of Mexico. It can make all the difference in the world.
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