Misconceiving Mexico
Blake Freeman
Issue date: 4/20/05 Section: features
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Versus Magazine Online [Image based format]
I recently spent a week in Mexico, living with a family. I was entirely clueless about the reality of Mexico. As a result of Hollywood and equally ignorant gringos, I had depicted Mexico as something that it certainly wasn't. I stayed in San Luis Potosi, the capital of San Luis Potosi, the state. This wondrous city sits at an impressive 6000 feet above sea level on a plateau. Originally established as a mining city in the late 1500s, San Luis is now an economy based on contemporary business professionals.
Upon my initial arrival in Mexico, it seemed that many of the stereotypes that I had built up about Mexico had been confirmed. I drove through the border town of Nuevo Laredo. Nuevo Laredo has a sister town in the U.S. called Laredo, TX, right on the other side of the border. I stopped in Laredo before entering Mexico, a land consisting of Wal-Marts, fast food, and capitalism as far as the eye can see. The second I set foot in Nuevo Laredo, it was as if I was in a different world, consisting of a disenfranchised populous, trying to make ends meet. Most gringos outlook on Mexico is a result of experiencing border towns, big cities, like Mexico City or Tijuana, or tourist locations such as Cancun. This projects a warped view of all the splendor that Mexico has to offer. Most people refer to Mexico as "a poor, crime-ridden country.... but it's got nice beaches." Mexico City and Tijuana are comparable to our New York City and Boston. And like our own big cities, they are wonderful, entertaining, tourist cities. But also much like our own big cities, they have high crime rates and a large homeless community. Many people go to Mexico on community service projects, typically to border towns. Of course, their experience will be one that is skewed because they are seeking out the areas of Mexico that are inherently in trouble. I went to the very heart of Mexico-your more typical mid-sized city with a 750,000 person population. I found this to be a more realistic depiction of life in Mexico.
Let me address stereotype number one. "Don't drink the water. The natives are immune, but you will get sick." They are right about one thing, you aren't suppose to drink the water. But what many people do not realize is that the people of Mexico don't drink the water either. They will become just as sick as I will. The grocery stores and convenient stores of Mexico sell large jugs of purified water that people buy regularly. My friends became offended when I asked if the ice had been purified as well. They told me that they wouldn't let be eat something that would make me sick and that anything that made me sick would make them sick also.