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A Balloon in Cactus
Yes Virginia, There Is Another Mexico
By Maggie Van Ostrand
Her Email
Her Bio
"Move to Mexico? What, are you crazy?" said friends and relatives alike, adding, "Don't you know it's full of drug pushers, kidnappers and corrupt politicians?"
This attitude, prevalent among North Americans and fostered by U.S. media, is based on biased and incomplete information. Drug pushers, kidnappers, and corrupt politicians? Sure, but no more than in any other country, including the U.S.
We're missing an awful lot by shutting the Mexican people out of our lives. When we give in to the "lazy Mexican" or the "dirty Mexican" mindset ("all Mexicans spend their time sitting under two things: their big fat sombrero and a big fat cactus"), which is the opposite of the truth, we deprive our homes, our businesses, and our lives of hard-working, God-loving, family-oriented people.
In the mountains of central Mexico, in the State of Jalisco, sits a village called Ajijic (pronounced Ah-hee-heek). The church's steeple rises in the village center above patched-up, painted-over ancient buildings of sun-faded pastels. Built of adobe and stone, the church has been repainted so often over the passing centuries that endless rainy seasons and an uncooperative economy have created an exterior of flapping paint tongues. In the village, oft-mended white lace curtains blow out and succulent food smells flow out of the windows and onto the narrow cobblestone streets of this colonial village.
When I lived in Ajijic fulltime, I saw many things that caused me to realize how blithely the U.S. media twists the truth. It's even worse today than it was ten years ago with the lies growing so fast and furiously, Pinocchio's nose cannot keep up.
Lazy Mexicans? Dirty Mexicans? Quite the opposite. I've seen a bent old man with an old kitchen fork working slowly and laboriously scraping weeds from between the street cobblestones in front of his house. I've seen women with the day's supply of food in a basket on her head, a baby on one hip and another in her rebozo. Who says you can't do two things at once?
I've seen the cleverness of painting only the front of the church in honor of the Bishop's visit because the Bishop will see only the front; paint is expensive and should not be wasted on the sides and rear of the church, which the Bishop will not see.
I've seen the basic honesty of a worried policeman who robbed a nearby bank to buy food for his hungry children, then went to confession, returned the money and arrested himself.
I've seen Mexicans very happy to be employed, no matter the job itself. No one scoffs at what other countries might consider "lowly" employment. In Mexico, there is no such thing as lowly employment. If you are working, you are respected.
I've seen Mexican children in clothes that are screamingly clean and white, stiff with starch. Scrubbed on corrugated boards using elbow grease and homemade lye soap, without. . .
Maggie Van Ostrand is a wonderful storyteller with great insight. To read all her articles all the time, we invite you to join our family of subscribers... it isn't expensive. A monthly subscription is just $5.00 USD - that's $1.15 per week. An annual subscription costs $30.00 USD - only $2.50 per month or 58 cents per week. If you're interested in living or retiring in Mexico, we think you'll find it's money well spent.
Subscribe today and always read all the articles!Maggie Van Ostrand, writer, lives in Ajijic, Mexico and Pine Mountain, California. Her stories appear in the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, El Ojo Del Lago, and various magazines. She co-authored "Home Is Where The Hurt Is" with Tony- and Grammy-winning country humorist Roger Miller, and ghostwrites for television sitcoms.
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