Thursday, May 3, 2012

Misconceptions About Mexico

Now you may think some of these are really ignorant, but I promise you that throughout our travels, I've been asked about these things many a time!

1. Siestas. Shops, restaurants, and markets close down and everyone takes a nap around noontime. 
This. Is. Not. Da. Troof. 

 2. It's SO HOT HERE.
It IS hot in some places, however, we are at about 7,000 feet so it is around 75-80 degrees year round here. 

3. Everyone wears a sombrero
I actually don't see that many people wearing sombreros. Sorry if I'm disappointing anyone! 
 
4. Be careful where you step, lest ye step on a decapitated body.
There aren't actually bodies without heads everywhere. 

5. A burrito is a typical Mexican food. 
Burrito here means "little donkey", and that is as far as it goes. It is not a Mexican food. And besides, cheddar cheese is virtually unheard of here, which...what is a burrito without 4 cups of cheddar melted all over the top of it? 

I wish the illegals would move back down here because maybe they'd introduce us natives to zeez leetle rolls of heaven called "burrrritos".

6. Mexico is dangerous. This is actually true.....if you have no brain. However, if you have even just an ounce of common sense, you will survive!
(Disclaimer: Juarez, Acapulco and any other tourist/border town is excluded :)
*Sigh* #6 is actually partly true, but not nearly as true as the American media portrays. 

The most dangerous thing in our area: The sidewalks. If you don't watch where you're going, you stand a very good chance of falling into a sewage drain or doing the zombie run as you trip over potholes. There is nothing your Mace can do for you in this situation. 
Remember. I got my purse stolen in San Antionio, TEXAS my dear children. :)

7. Mexico is a 3rd world country.  
This one is actually to debunk my own misconception. I thought Mexico was a 3rd world country until I saw Haiti. We are actually not that bad off after all, my sweets!


8. Spanish is the hardest language to learn. 
In my humble opinion, this is very untrue. English is hard. The letter "A" has about 27 different pronunciations in English. However, in Spanish it has one and only one. It is pronounced "aaaah". Always.  
"Everyone together now!! ROLLLLLL those R's!!"
9. Mexico is quite uncivilized. 
This is true for a huge part of Mexico, especially in the villages, but in the city of Puebla we are quite the industrious little people! We have Wal-Mart, Costco, Sams, Starbucks, Gloria Jeans, McDonalds, Burger King, Tony Romas, Chili's, Applebees, Black Angus, Coach, Prada, Guess, Payless Shoe Source, Sears, Brooks Bros, Krispy Kreme, Carls Jr, Best Western, Holiday Inn, Microtel, Marriott...aaaaaaand that's all I can come up with off the top of my head. Now, these places are rarely like their relatives in the US but hey, they makes us look cool.


10. Mexican kids only go to 6th grade. 
*Sigh* I actually had someone ask me about this. Ohhhhhhh people, people, people. 
This is not true at all. We actually go all the way to 12th grade!!! AND we have colleges too! We are amazing, are we not?

~Bethany~

4 comments:

Kathy McElhaney said...

The first one made me laugh because when we were in Italy last year, the entire town of Messina closed down for 2 hours midday! We got food, but were kicked out of the cafe ~ "we closing."

HonduranChikka said...

LOL...I should probably do one of these for Honduras! It is amazing what different things will people will ask. Sometimes it is kind of funny! :D

Anonymous said...

I agree that there are too many misconceptions about Mexico; especially since the murder rate in Washington D.C. is about 2x higher than that of Mexico City (Wikipedia).

Tiffany Bracken: said...

Oh, how I can sympathize with this post! My favorite is when someone ask if we drove from Taiwan to the US. Dad Bracken just said that they didn't have the bridge finished, so we had to fly. I wonder if the person ever figured it out!

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