Giamarie
Apr 7, 2009, 12:22 AM
Post #54 of 85
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Re: [La Isla] What was the hardest thing to give up when you moved to Mexico?
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Guess I'd better do some explaining. I sort of figured this post would raise a few eyebrows. I came down to Mexico in my mid-twenties ( I'm 30 now) for an adventure, to teach English and then figured I'd move back to the States after about a year. But...............I fall in love with a Mexican guy, and what do you know, get pregnant a little less than a year into our relationship. Hey I don´t regret this. I love my daughter soooo much. She turned 2 in February. I also love my boyfriend, Jaime.
I just recently came back to Mexico after living with my folks and caring for our daughter for two years while Jaime worked hard to pay off debts, promote his business, fix up the house, etc. For a little over a year of that time I was working as well. During that time he did visit me in Michigan three times on his tourist visa. He was there with me in Michigan when she was born.
Right before I met him he had bought a little house that looks like a typical Mexican house in a typical Mexican neighborhood. Two little bedrooms, a bathroom, and one main room that has a kitchen area at one end and the other end is our dining area-living room. Now that it has fresh plaster covering all the cracks, fresh paint, and tile covering the whole floor it is much more comfortable.
That was my condition for coming back to Mexico. Either the house fixed up or we move to an apartment. I kept pressing for the apartment (hopefully in a more attractive area) and that sure caused some heated debates, and revealed some personal ( and perhaps cultural ) differences that are probably deeply ingrained. No apartment, no way, Jose.
So he fixed it up for us, eventually. I wasn't being too demanding either, considering how much I had helped him out. ( we won´t even go there!!! )
He bought the place because it seemed ok to him for the price and he loved the huge backyard. He didn´t care what the neighborhood looked like.
I came into this relationship with little so I couldn´t buy us a better house in a better area or anything.
I should describe the neighborhood a little better. It isn´t one of the worst I´ve seen or even close. It is your middle of the road Mexican neighborhood where some people have pretty nice places and other people live in one little broken down room with a tin roof, or in houses of unadorned cinderblock. Some of the streets in the neighborhood are paved. Ours isn't. Quite a few of the houses are in various stages of construction. People build on when they can. Lots of people stack up sand and bricks and you have to dogde their piles when walking down the road. Little ma and pa stores everywhere, farmacias, minisupers, vulcanizadores, comedores, puestos de comida, etx. People sell stuff out of their house. You all know the kind of neighborhood I´m talking about if you've spent time in Mexico.
Jaime would move to a different city if he were sure he could find decent work there. I suppose we won´t go through the hassle of changing houses until we can move somewhere else entirely.
We also live with his adolescent son from a previous relationship. So some things complicate the picture.
We have talked about moving to San Cristobal de Las Casas in several years if we can save enough money to have a small business of some sort.
We also have talked of moving to the US for a few years once his son ( going on 14 ) finishes highschool. ( Still 4 years down the road ).
We are doing alright. I wish the neighborhood was a little prettier, and I wish Tuxtla wasn't so damn hot, but oh well. Sorry if I made it sound like our situation was hopeless. And sorry about the long post. It's a long story and hard to explain breifly.
Giamarie
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