Two Types of Americans Tell Us "You Don't Know Anything About Living in Mexico!!!
- Frederick L Shelton
- Aug 31
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 28
We've been here eight months! I still absolutely love it. All of it. The warm and friendly people - many of whom have become closer friends in months, than anyone we knew in San Antonio for years - are my favorite part of this country!
We love the culture. The closeness of family and friends. The fact that everyone is so incredibly nice to us and even welcomes the Gringo with the shitty Spanish (that apparently has improved dramatically but I am still completely dissatisfied with my progress). Unlike the US, if you speak with an accent or speak poor Spanish here, random racists don't start yelling and hating on you. What a concept, eh?
No Country Club Cliques. At our country clubs in the US, there was a wall that separated people by skill level. People ranked in the 4.0 or 4.5 levels (advanced) would NEVER invite people who were 3.0 or 3.5 (beginner and intermediate) to play with them. It was all "cliques". If it did somehow happen, the lesser skilled players would quickly get CRUSHED by the advanced players. People here have more class than that.
For example, there are these two guys named Jorge and Beto who have been playing since birth - and it shows. When either of them plays me and my lovely bride, they take it easy on us. Don't get me wrong, they don't just give us points but they use more spin and placement than just powering the damn ball right through us - which they could easily do. Class. So everyone plays with everyone and puts fun and friendship ahead of being overly competitive.
That being said, during our "escalaras" (club tournaments), we DO have a few players who
get VERY competitive! And guess what?
It's the mujeres (women)!!!
The guys have fun and joke around but I've heard screams that make me think someone is about to get in trouble, come out of Beto's wife Irene, when she misses an easy point.
The same goes with Lucy "Tennis Barbie", Suzeth and Marianna - none of whom will ever show the slightest bit of anger toward their opponents but they "yell at themselves" every time they commit a "Ramon" (missing an easy shot at the net is named after one of our pals at the club!).
Finally, there's my friend "Dany Sharapova" who has a serve that's as good as mine (and I'm one of the better servers on the courts!). But it doesn't matter if it's an advanced player or beginner on the other side of the net, she's going to check her grip 5 times, and then send that tennis ball flying at them as hard as she can hit it! (Okay, she might take it easy once in awhile... I probably just missed it.) But no one here ever has the underlying resentment, never accuses anyone of "sand-bagging" (rating themselves below their skill level) and I have NEVER seen an argument on a tennis court here. The players in the USTA could learn much from Mexico. Now let's talk about the PARTIES!!! Oh. My. God.
I lived in Vegas for 15 years and 50 year old Mexicans will out-party 21 year olds in Vegas! In the last month, we've been to three fantastic parties which all lasted over 10 HOURS!!! At every party, there was dancing and singing and people are just so CLOSE here! The last one had gourmet food, topline drinks (including Scotch for this gringo!), a lighted dance floor, THREE Mariachi bands (it turns out that literally half the people we know are professional caliber singers!), a DJ and dancing and a host who has treated us so wonderfully since we got here, that he and his family feel like extended family to us.
Great Stuff! But I can't take so much partying! While my lovely bride and all the pretty Mexicanas we know (do any these women with kids ever AGE??? It doesn't look like it!) can sing, dance and even rap to Karoake, I can't do 10 hours of that shit at a time!
But still, I can't help but LOVE ALL THIS!
I love the food! I love the street food, the traditional food. I love that most of the fruits and vegetables we buy are all different sizes and shapes because they were on a farm yesterday! AND I love the French food, Sushi and US Barbecue! I'm now learning about Tequila vs. Mescal from my brothers Jose and Jesus. Fun Fact: Tequila is the single healthiest alcoholic beverage on the planet. No added sugar, lowest congeners (hangover causing stuff), less effect on insulin than beer or wine etc. BUT I still love my various whiskies! Finally, I love our clean, modern and safe neighborhood! I love our beautiful penthouse with 24 / 7 security, fingerprint scanners, polished marble floors, two AC units and 7 meter tall ceilings. I love taking 20 minute, steaming hot showers and sleeping in a room that just a little bit "fria" (chilly) at night! And what does all of this mean? It means we "Don't know anything about living in Mexico!".
I get this all the time in my Immigrants Living in Mexico Facebook Groups. Who says this ignorant tripe?
It's almost always one of two types of people:
1. Some ignorant American guy, who's usually a proud, Trump-supporting MAGA, with a shitty job, living in Nowhere Ville USA. Seriously, the last idiot tried to tell me that San Luis is not safe! Apparently, our lovely city has been overrun by the cartels and there is war in the streets every day! Why? because according to him, SLP is located in Sinaloa and Zacatecas (it's not even close to those places). THAT is how ignorant those whackjobs are! LOL! BTW, this is the safest city I've ever lived in.
2. The second type of hater is some US immigrant who moved here because they couldn't
afford to live in the USA, and who resents us because of our lifestyle. This group seems to believe that if we don't live in a little 600 sq foot (55 sq mtrs) casita with no air conditioning, no hot water and no modern amenities, we don't know the "Real Mexico".
Guess what?
Little casitas with no AC are not the "Real Mexico" any more than living in a poor or lower-middle-class neighborhood in the US is living in the "Real United States"! There IS no "Real Mexico" just as there is a "Real USA". East L.A. is not more the "Real USA" than Beverly Hills is. Everyone has their own unique experiences.
All of our friends here, have also worked to become successful and like us, to be able to prioritize their families and health, over just working all the time. We genuinely admire all of them for that, and would love to introduce them, to the idiot Gringos who claim that our friends "Don't know anything about living in Mexico"! Because you know, it's not like they're Real Mexicans!
Comments