Living in Mexico- Emergency Services

I was in a bus with my wife heading back to Guanajuato from Texas. We had visited my childhood friend Mark. My wife had fallen asleep. I took up a conversation with a Mexican heading to Mexico City. When he learned we lived in Guanajuato he said something I found most curious, "You must be taking your chances living in Guanajuato."

Not knowing what he meant I requested an explanation. He informed me that all the emergency services, except the police, were all volunteer. The fire and paramedic rescue workers were all under the auspices of the Red Cross. I was taken aback. I had no idea. We had not lived here, at the time, for more than a few months. He was correct. All of the emergency services, save the police, are Red Cross volunteers.

I would not have thought it.

Their facilities are top notch. The vehicles look top of the line. The equipment looked just like what you would see in the States. The firemen and paramedics looked tough as nails and I had watched them train as hard as anywhere in America. They do it, not for money, but for the love of saving their fellow Guanajuatenses in the event of a fire or medical emergency. I find that inspiring.

Once, perched high on an oxygen depriving callejon, sitting on stoop outside a small house, was an equally small, frail, and almost dead old woman. She was having some sort of heart event. The paramedics were called.

When they responded they had to leave their ambulance at the bottom of the mountain and run up its side taking two cement steps at a time. They carried equipment, stretcher, and themselves up the side of this mountain like they were supermen. They ministered to this old lady; loaded her on the stretcher and within seconds had her stabilized. They carried her to the waiting ambulance.

I wanted to find the guy in the bus and say,

"We aren't taking our chances at all. We have Supermen and Wonder Women watching over us!"

Living in Mexico - Gringolandia Survival Tips

How to make gringo enemies and lose gringo friends is a subject one really must tackle with all due diligence when contemplating a move to Mexico. Whether you are expatriating to Mexico as a retiree, student, worker, or just to hang out for while, you really need these tips. If you follow these suggestions, you are guaranteed never to have any friends in the American Expat Community. So, here you go. Be warned. Take Heed.

To assure that fellow gringos will hate you and perhaps even plot your death, ask these questions:

1.) Question: If you moved here because you love the Mexican culture and want to learn all you can about Mexicans, doesn't it make sense for you to live in the culture you profess to love and adore?

2.) Question: How can you possibly learn all about the Mexican culture when you live in an "Gringo Expat Community" and not in the culture in which the Mexicans live, i.e. A Mexican neighborhood?

3.) Question: If you claim to be a part of a Mexican city, have all Mexican friends, and know all there is to know about them, why do you need a "Gringo Expat Community"?

4.) Question: Would not the phrase "Gringo Expat Community" be an oxymoron if you claim you've acculturated and are fully accepted into the Mexican Community?

5.) Question: How is it even possible to claim cultural fluency when not only do you not know Spanish, but in some cases you claim you have no intention to ever learn Spanish?

6.) Question: If language is the portal to culture, then where does your claim to cultural fluency stand in light of your monolingualism?

7.) Question: If you have to depend on Mexicans who are bilingual to interface with real Mexico, then how do you know anything at all about Mexico when you are getting it second hand?

8.) Question: If you are not bilingual and can't talk with ALL Mexicans in Spanish, then how can you ever really know the culture?

9.) Question: Apart from having a high degree of spoken fluency in Spanish, how can you claim to be accepted into a Mexican city?

10.) Question: Having to depend upon Mexican bilinguals, are you not limiting yourself to a small and narrow class of Mexicans who happen to be bilingual?

11.) Question: How will you know if your bilingual friends are merely telling you what you want to hear or tainting the truth with their biases?

12.) If you haven't the linguistic ability to sit in some Mexican's kitchen and talk about your life experiences, listen to the Mexican's life experiences, and discuss pretty much anything under the sun, just what do you think that communicates to the Mexican community of which you claim to be a part when you've lived in their community for maybe even decades?

Move to Mexico and start asking these questions of the local "Gringolandians" and you'll be sure to have an exciting and engaging time trying to figure out who is sending you threatening emails, calling you all manner of vile names to your face on the street, and wishing you would move to Iraq where you too could have your head removed from your shoulders.

Guaranteed!