Double Edged Culture Shock
So I’ve returned from my trip to LA-LA land and Mexico. My wife and my mum drove down last week and made terrific time….how’s about 385 miles in 305 minutes!!!..in my wife’s Civic mind you….and that includes one pit-stop in Buttonwillow. And I only got flipped off ONCE. Hehe
Anywayz, about culture shock, I have to say, international travel, especially to a completely foreign country is, without a doubt, Life Changing. One’s imagination simply does not do it justice. We packed our little family into my brother-in-laws Sequoia and headed across the border to Rosarito and Puerto Nuevo, small Mexican villages south of Tijuana. I’ve been to 7 countries outside of the US and been to extremely poor nations: the Phillipines and Nicaragua…and every time I witness first-hand day to day life in a 3rd world country, it blows my mind, completely assaulting my political sensibilities.
Mind you, as in all 3rd world countries, there are areas which, for one reason or another, are 1st world; top-notch, clean, safe, at times palatial, and most of the time walled in. It truly speaks to the huge gulf between the rich and the poor and the nearly non-existent middle. But I’m not going to rant about socio-economic inequality. What I will say is that I completely understand why any disenfranchised Mexican national born into poverty, of which there are millions, would want to immigrate (legally and illegally) into the US. For f***’s sake, spend one day walking through a couple towns and you GET IT. Of course, the conservative in me thinks about strengthening the border and the solution lying in uplifting the Mexican masses by uplifting the Mexican economy. But to that individual born into poverty…for example the young couple who sold us knick-knacks in some shanty town?…they don’t give a rat’s ass about our politics. They simply want something better for their family.
Enough of that rant. All along the coast south of Rosarito extending to the tip of the Baja peninsula, you’ll find huge and gorgeous beach-front condo developments. In just 30 miles, we encountered 12 massive complexes in different stages of development. In fact, Donald Trump is building a massive skyscraper/condo just north of Ensenada. Some of these developments are absolutely stunning. What was equally stunning was the small towns and villages, cramped, dusty and dirty, built shabbily with cinder and tin, shoved one on top of another……no power, limited sewage infrastructure, no paved streets, and a disaster waiting to happen if an earthquake were to hit…all interspersed between these soon to be completed palaces.
When you see the stores in the villages, the endless pharmacies selling name-brand drugs at cut-throat prices without a prescription, the bars that allow 18 and up alcohol consumption, the red-light districts, and the stores selling cheap name brand clothing knock-offs,…it occurred to me…the Mexican economy relies on the American dollar. Sure I read it somewhere that it did,…but this is what I’m talking about how our imaginations fail to capture the depth of reality.
We spoke with several folks who told us of how the American tourist, party-goer, young spring-breaker, etc. are THE demographic they cater to. Not to mention the thousands of Trump tower units being sold as summer homes to US vacationers, it becomes obvious that the Mexican economy just south of the border rely on US, and cater to US….I wouldn’t blame Mexican nationals for hating us for that subservient economic position.
Anywayz, I gotta run. I spoke of double-edged culture shock and I’ll have to get to that tomorrow when I blog about Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
Anywayz, about culture shock, I have to say, international travel, especially to a completely foreign country is, without a doubt, Life Changing. One’s imagination simply does not do it justice. We packed our little family into my brother-in-laws Sequoia and headed across the border to Rosarito and Puerto Nuevo, small Mexican villages south of Tijuana. I’ve been to 7 countries outside of the US and been to extremely poor nations: the Phillipines and Nicaragua…and every time I witness first-hand day to day life in a 3rd world country, it blows my mind, completely assaulting my political sensibilities.
Mind you, as in all 3rd world countries, there are areas which, for one reason or another, are 1st world; top-notch, clean, safe, at times palatial, and most of the time walled in. It truly speaks to the huge gulf between the rich and the poor and the nearly non-existent middle. But I’m not going to rant about socio-economic inequality. What I will say is that I completely understand why any disenfranchised Mexican national born into poverty, of which there are millions, would want to immigrate (legally and illegally) into the US. For f***’s sake, spend one day walking through a couple towns and you GET IT. Of course, the conservative in me thinks about strengthening the border and the solution lying in uplifting the Mexican masses by uplifting the Mexican economy. But to that individual born into poverty…for example the young couple who sold us knick-knacks in some shanty town?…they don’t give a rat’s ass about our politics. They simply want something better for their family.
Enough of that rant. All along the coast south of Rosarito extending to the tip of the Baja peninsula, you’ll find huge and gorgeous beach-front condo developments. In just 30 miles, we encountered 12 massive complexes in different stages of development. In fact, Donald Trump is building a massive skyscraper/condo just north of Ensenada. Some of these developments are absolutely stunning. What was equally stunning was the small towns and villages, cramped, dusty and dirty, built shabbily with cinder and tin, shoved one on top of another……no power, limited sewage infrastructure, no paved streets, and a disaster waiting to happen if an earthquake were to hit…all interspersed between these soon to be completed palaces.
When you see the stores in the villages, the endless pharmacies selling name-brand drugs at cut-throat prices without a prescription, the bars that allow 18 and up alcohol consumption, the red-light districts, and the stores selling cheap name brand clothing knock-offs,…it occurred to me…the Mexican economy relies on the American dollar. Sure I read it somewhere that it did,…but this is what I’m talking about how our imaginations fail to capture the depth of reality.
We spoke with several folks who told us of how the American tourist, party-goer, young spring-breaker, etc. are THE demographic they cater to. Not to mention the thousands of Trump tower units being sold as summer homes to US vacationers, it becomes obvious that the Mexican economy just south of the border rely on US, and cater to US….I wouldn’t blame Mexican nationals for hating us for that subservient economic position.
Anywayz, I gotta run. I spoke of double-edged culture shock and I’ll have to get to that tomorrow when I blog about Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
posted by supergoober at
4:51 PM
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