The day Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California I hopped on a plane in San Francisco headed to Cancun, Mexico.
I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as I looked down at the bustling, hectic, city life fading through the clouds below, thinking to myself, "Hasta la Vista, baby! I'll be back." Exactly when I would return was unknown.
I had booked a one way ticket and rented an apartment for one month I had found on Craigslist. With a couple hundred dollars to my name, no job lined up and not knowing anyone or speaking the language, what could possibly go wrong?
What could possibly go wrong?
Boarding the plane three days before my 40th birthday, my friends thought I had gone crazy,. * or crazier than usual *, but that didn't stop me. No better way to trust your instincts then to go all in I say.
Besides, if you're going to be homeless, a tropical beach is not a bad option. Could be worst.
I know my friends and family meant well when they showered me with horror stories about the dangers of Mexico, the drug cartels, crooked cops and other various shenanigans many Americans have heard repeated endlessly and regurgitated ad nauseam, but I had previously vacationed in Mexico for a whole year, going to many of the places I was warned about and never encountered a problem.
As I flew over Las Vegas I reassuring myself that gambling on myself has always been a pretty good bet. My odds looked good to me, but I was airborne so there's no turning back now.
Confident that I would make it work somehow, I glided into a deep sleep until the stewardess woke me to prepare for landing.
Grabbing one bag and my guitar, I exited the airport. The thick, humid air made me feel like I just walking into an oven.
I played charades with a taxi driver until he gave me a look of understanding and was shuttled to my studio apartment in Playa Del Carmen. Thankfully it had A.C.
I made a beeline one block away to the talcum-powdered beach and marinated in the crystal-clear, womb-temperature ocean. So far so good.
The irony didn't escape me that night as I danced with fire dancers at a beach party. Fire makes a hot dancing partner if you know the moves, but don't you dare step on her toes.
The next morning I looked for work.
Expats In Mexico
Most expats living in the Riviera Maya own a business, are retired or sell timeshare. My $200 had dwindled to $80 so retiring or starting a business was out. Timeshare was an option and judging from the stories I heard from people I met on the beach last night it was a pretty good option. They all looked like they were doing alright.
One week later I found a job at the Mayan Palace, or what I like to call it, the Lieing Palace. Talk about a shark tank full of bullshit artists. I sucked at it, but still managed to make one sale and eat a free breakfast each day before I was fired for lack of sales. To make matters worst, the rent was up on my apartment in three days. Looks like I'm going to be a beach bum after all. Maybe I could get paid to work on my tan.
So there I was, playing guitar on the street to support myself and dancing with fire in paradise when two guys I briefly worked with drunkenly, stumbled past me and blurted incredulously, "What the hell are you doing?" I must have looked startled when they continued, "You just got fired and lost your apartment and you're dancing and singing and acting like you don't have a care in the world."
Actually, I made more money playing in the street than lieing through my teeth. I'm I good bullshitter, I just don't like lieing. Yes, there is a difference.
Glancing around at all the topless girls soaking up the sun like orange iguanas on holiday, I said, "Well, it's not so bad. Could be worse. ", to which they responded with a round of epileptic laughter. Once they regained their composure they declared, "You're coming with us."
I had no say in the matter as they packed up my guitar and handed me an ice, cold beer. "Where we going?", I asked. "We got a huge house on the beach and a spare room you can sleep in.", they said through tears of laughter. I quickly informed them that I had no money to pay when they said, " We don't want your money man. We want your energy." Then they had another seizure of laughter before handing me another beer.
They were totally legit it turns out and even when they were sober the next morning, they didn't kick me out. I stayed there for a month until I found another job and made enough to get my own place. They just appreciated the balls it took for me to do what I was doing, the unworried attitude I possessed and they genuinely wanted to help me out and have that kind of energy around them. They said having my positivity around helped them sell more.
Years later, I got to pay it forward many times over in similar ways and experienced the warmth, kindness and generosity of Mexican people more times than I can count.
What's So Cool About Mexico?
Many Americans mistakenly think of Mexico as a third world country and although some of the poorer villages give that impression, as do some towns in the U.S., it's anything but. They have the same stores, shopping malls, interstate freeways, skyscrapers and high-speed internet as we do. They have Costco, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Starbucks, BMW's, Burger King, Dominoes, Crispy Cream and everything we have here except Taco Bell, which no self-respecting Mexican would ever subject themselves to.
Here's some things they have that we don't have stateside. For starters, they have a flat income tax. Each state charges different rates. Where I lived it was 11%. It comes out of every check, a part of it goes into their version of Social Security and you don't file any return. Simple, reasonable and easy to figure out.
There's no tow truck drivers in the whole country because if your car breaks down anywhere in the country you just call the Anjelos Verte, the Green Angels, who arrive in short time to help you out. It's 100% free and they will do whatever is needed to get your car on the road again or to a mechanic. You won't see a single car broken down or abandoned on any road in Mexico.
In Cancun, a city of close to one million people, there are no homeless. Not because they're in shelters, but because no family member would allow their family to sleep in the streets. It's unthinkable. If someone was homeless they would take them in or find someone that would. Just like I was taken in when I first arrived. That saying they have, Mi casa es tu casa, (My house is your house) is not just a saying. They really mean it.
Health care is affordable in Mexico. I remember taking a client to the pharmacy one afternoon to get some medicine they needed. If you're a foreigner traveling in Mexico and you have a prescription from your doctor back home, you can get your prescription filled at a pharmacy.
We pulled up to the place and they went inside while I waited in the car. When she returned she was in tears. "What's wrong", I asked, "don't they have it? We can go to another place." "No, they had exactly what I needed. The same brand and packaging that I get back home." she said. "So why are you crying?", I asked. She was crying because it cost her $10 dollars to get a month supply of her medicine that she paid $240 for back home. "Why," she cried, "Why is it cheaper here than in the United States for the exact same thing. This medicine is made in the U.S.. How can this be?" I didn't have an answer for her, but next year she used the almost $3,000 per year she spent on her medicine to travel to Mexico to get it and spend a week on the beach with the savings. Maybe it costs so much in the U.S. so your doctor can spend a week on the beach.
Car Crash In Mexico
My own emergency room experience in Mexico illustrates how reasonable healthcare is in their country compared to the U.S..
I was involved in a car accident that totaled the car and sent me flying through the windshield. The ambulance arrived and rushed me to the hospital. The Green Angels got to the crash scene as fast as the paramedics did and were towing my car to the police station.
The doctor took x-rays of my skull, back and neck. I was lucky, no major injury, just a lot of blood from a cut on my forehead that required a dozen stiches.
The total cost for towing my car, emergency ride to the hospital, x-rays, stiches, stiches removed and prescriptions was $300. I'm not a citizen and didn't have health insurance. Extremely reasonable.
The cops were so cool about it. For an extra $50 (included in the $300 mentioned above) they didn't even report it. They're attitude was, you're alright, the car is toast, no one was hurt. Give us fifty bucks and we'll make it all go away. I grabbed my stuff out of the car thanking my lucky stars. No record. No report. No increased insurance premiums. Viva Mexico.
Mexico, Is Not What Think
From my experience, Mexicans are not at all like some of the stories you hear from foreigners, most who have never been to the country and are relaying stories they've heard from someone else.
In my ten years living in Mexico, I have come to realize that we have an impression of the country that is way off base, and in some cases, outright lies perpetuated by our media.
For example, in 2009 the U.S.cancelled all flights from the U.S. to Mexico because of a swine flu epidemic sweeping the nation. When I inquired at the local hospital they informed me there were no know cases of swine flu in Cancun and only nine confirmed cases in Mexico City, a city with a population of 21.2 million people. Not exactly an epidemic.
Interestingly enough, the announcement parroted in the mainstream media coincided with a meeting President Obama had with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. President Obama was literally on his return flight on Air Force One when every television station in the U.S. simultaneously reported the outbreak of swine flu. Three days later all flights leaving the country were cancelled. I suspect the Presidents meeting did not go so well.
The Obama administration declared the spread of swine flu a public health emergency on April 26, 2009. The Associated Press reported that,
"Swine flu is now formally a pandemic, a declaration by U.N. health officials that will speed vaccine production and spur government spending to combat the first global flu epidemic in 41 years," on June 11, 2009.
The stock for the swine flu vaccine shot up over 600% in the following weeks.
Meanwhile, for three weeks back at work, I asked all the tourists that I spoke with daily if they were concerned about the swine flu. Everyone of them said the same thing. What swine flu? None of their media outlets ran the nonexistent story. No flights were cancelled.
It seems it was all a bunch of bullshit to scare the American people into buying a vaccine to protect themselves from nothing.
Media Manipulation
To me, this begs the question, "What other cultures do we demonize and fear based on false pretexts?" I for one, will no longer buy into the illusions cast by the mainstream media. Their agenda is transparent through these eyes. I have see the man behind the curtain.
I did finally return to the U.S. and carry with me a Mexican spirit I'm sure will never fade.
Now that I'm back it occurs to me that one of the possible reasons that our media propagates fear of rampant drug cartels and corruption is to keep Americans from even considering moving there.
Baby boomers could retire in Mexico and live very comfortably on their pensions. If they knew how much better off they would be there, they would be moving in droves or at least would demand an equal living standard in our own country.
So how did these experiences make me a better person?
I learned to see things for myself firsthand before forming an option. Often, we make judgments about people and situations based on what we hear from others, who themselves have heard from someone else or the media, and we cling to those beliefs without investigating further. When the belief is based on pure fiction, we lose the ability to think critically and our actions are biased by a false premise.
I do my best to longer do that and have enjoyed the comfort of understanding that people of all nations share more commonalities than differences.
Our enemies are not the people from other cultures, who love, cry, laugh and love their children just like we do, but the governments and their media mouthpieces that craft dissent and disinformation to frighten their nations into a reaction that benefits governments more than their own people.
You really can't judge a book by its cover. You can't even judge it by the first few pages. You have to read the book and even then question the motives and biased of the author.
Reading the story of the Mexican people was a page turner for me, opening my eyes and heart to make room for more understanding.
It made me more discerning in how I consume information presented by the media and less inclined to judge people.
They made me understand my own biases that were instilled in me unknowingly and helped reveal them for what they are, fictions.
Over the years I have come to realize that Mexican people are some of the most loving, generous people you could ever meet, eager to extend kindness to a stranger and to celebrate our differences, not highlight them.
They don't forget their loved ones or put them in nursing homes. They care for them until their final days. They are quick to forgive, slow to point fingers in blame and hard working, qualities we would be wise to emulate.
Donald Trump's generalizations about Mexicans makes me ashamed of my own people and I can't apologize enough to my Mexican friends for his thoughtless remarks, but true to form, my Mexican friends made me laugh once again. "Don't worry about it.", the assured me, "We know not all Americans are that ignorant. Besides, Donald Trump pinatas are selling like hotcakes!"
Thanks for reading my post and if you liked this story, follow me @luzcypher For more interesting adventures and get to know me more, see my introduction post here: Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself
