So there I was in the airport at Newark, New Jersey, changing flights to head over to Houston, Texas and then back down, south of the border to our home in Mexico. Our flight, out of Glasgow, had been delayed "for unspecified security reasons" and that left me with fingers crossed hoping to avoid the nine hour delay that would result from missing my Houston connection.
As always seems to be the case in the USA, my fellow passengers, who were standing in line waiting to be cleared by that airport's immigration guys, were friendly, chatty and several were in no hurry to catch onward flights and they were quite happy to wave me ahead of them up the queue.
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| Oaxaca Cathedral |
I was grateful and the Houston flight looked well within range when I reached the box, smiled and handed my passport to a rather dour looking little man behind the desk. I have been doing this for a lot of years although not much since 9/11, I must admit - but I was shocked by the attitude of this man which seemed too close to hostility as he "interviewed" me for about fifteen minutes when he basically had nothing that he needed to find out, but when I told him that I was on my way back from a family celebration in Scotland to our home in the beautiful mountains of Southern Mexico, he asked a question that really did stop me in my tracks.
"Why do you live there?" he growled.
I smiled and told him that my city of Oaxaca was the most beautiful place on earth and that the weather there was such a contrast to that of the West of Scotland where I spent the first half of my life, especially as the rain mostly had the good grace to fall on our city in either late afternoon or evening.
That seemed a better response than telling him that my reasons for living in Mexico were none of his damned business. Such a response in these times might lead one to an overnight stay in one of The Department of Homeland Security’s jail houses or indeed much worse! What a change in the USA that I have loved for so long. On the previous trip back to Scotland our luggage was "inspected" by American customs and a number of items were stolen. Thank you Department of Homeland Security!
I start this piece about Mexico outside the country to underline the point that while Mexico has for many years been bad-mouthed often by Americans as a home of corruption and theft, lo and behold their own once free land has turned out to be a near copy of the repressive USSR of the late Sixties and Seventies.
Just like the Muscovites of that time, the American people are still the generous souls that I have always found them to be but this nervous, unelected Government seems intent on killing the constitution that made the US the envy of much of the world not so long ago and its reputation has sadly tumbled through the floor.
But worry not, dear reader, it is quite possible to reach Mexico without making that detour through the USA and that is what I would recommend to anybody considering visiting here.
My answer to that question about why I lived down here put a smile on my face as I ran like a madman through the airport in Newark and after two tannoy calls just managed to take my seat on the plane bound for Houston. I even managed to get my luggage on-board, thanks to some sterling efforts by a young Hispanic lad who took the time and trouble to ferry my cases straight out to the runway.
Why do I live in Mexico when we could live more or less anywhere that we want to?
There are a lot of answers to that, but mostly it is just the feel of the place - the mood that so contrasts to the scared, anal-retentive USA - our big northern neighbour.
It is not as though there is no crime in Mexico - far from it - but in general Mexico is probably safer than most of Europe and north of us, only rural Canada can compare in that direction.
I appreciate that few of our SIG members will currently be planning an extended stay in Mexico and perhaps a few comments are due on the suitability of this country as a holiday destination. Firstly, the distance from the UK suggests that a three-week break is more practical than anything shorter and the fact that much of this country is at altitude confirms just what a smart idea that is.
Obviously the altitude factor does not enter into the calculations of those looking for a beach holiday but, if that is all you are after, there are more suitable destinations around the Mediterranean, where you can lie on sand and tan without incurring the cost and upheaval of long-haul flight.
Unless you are a car fanatic who cannot abide any other forms of transport, it makes sense to catch a plane for some of the longer journeys within Mexico or, if you have the time and the inclination to see a bit more of the undoubtedly fascinating terrain, there are excellent bus services available throughout most of the country.
Even the more isolated or indeed exotic destinations that you might want to see are catered for by smaller private local services and, within the great cities of the country, cabs are a reliable method of transport.
That recommendation has the caveat that, within Mexico City, it is advisable to have your hotel call you a cab from an established firm and take care if you are looking to flag down a cab in the evening, as these are something of a lottery in security terms.
Mexico City, just like London and many other major visitor destinations, has a regular sightseeing bus service that takes you around some of the best-known tourist destinations in this vast city and, for most of the year, the weather makes travelling on the upper open deck of these big red buses a pleasant experience. This is a good way to see the city and you can leave and later rejoin the service at various landmarks around town and, if some of these particularly catch your eye and seem to demand a longer visit, then a cab trip on another day makes sense.
The capital hosts many different cuisines, rather like the costal holiday resorts which are very similar in design and in cost to the Florida hotel complexes, so food should not be a problem in any of the major centres in Mexico. Flora and I have been largely fish-eating vegetarians since our years in India and just as was our reasoning in dropping meat when we lived in India, any little niggles that ail you after Mexican dining will often have their origins in the wide variety of meats available.
Maybe the thing that most Mexicans find most difficult to understand about my native Scotland is the idea that, in summer, there is a very short period of darkness for each 24 hours as Mexico, almost all year, has almost equal division of light and darkness.
We travelled down through Mexico for the first time over eleven years ago and when we reached this beautiful colonial city of Oaxaca (pronounced Wa-Ha-Ka), we rented a house for two weeks while we took a few Spanish lessons. That fortnight turned into an eight year stay in the same house followed by three years in our present home as we simply fell in love with the charms of this beautiful place.
The first and maybe most obvious attraction is the climate which, during most of the year, has very little or even no rain falling here - very tough on our garden but for former residents in the chilly, wet west of Scotland most welcome otherwise. Even when the wet season comes along (June - late September) the rain has the good grace to stay away during the hot, sunny days and only begins to fall in very late afternoon and into the evening.
The people are another major attraction in this part of the world and, in living a life that has never been based on 'ex-pat living', we have made many firm friends in this region to a point that we are almost as Mexican in our outlook as we are European.
Food is another plus and, while the casual traveller through this country will be delighted with the quality and variation in restaurants along the way, we buy and prepare most of our food. More than half of our weekly food stock is bought from the organic market which appears every Friday and Saturday in town and many of our regular suppliers there have become good friends over the years. While much of that food is sourced from local people, our pasta and Italian bread is made on the day before we buy by our Italian friend Sandro and his Korean wife Gia, but our goat's cheese and yoghurt is brought into town by a young woman who has lived in the same village all of her life and who is part of a family that has kept goats for almost a century in that area. Our vegetables come from a range of local growers and it is quite a change from our times in the UK to buy these vegetables from the very person who has picked them out of his ground earlier in the day.
Obviously it is possible to go down to the supermarkets and, just as in other countries, buy imported fruit and vegetables long out of season. But for most of the last twenty years we have greatly enjoyed a return to traditional ways by eating according to the season. That (mainly) food market also has a couple of potters who provide the clay cisternas which decorate our roof terrace and gather water to feed to our plants when the rain does fall.
Just down the road is one of the two shops in town owned by a young man who studied in Belgium and Germany and who decided on his return to Oaxaca to open a bakery, managed by the very person who made the wonderful bread and croissants that he so enjoyed in Europe, so we can enjoy that too. Next door is one of a number of coffee shops dealing in locally grown coffee, to drink on the premises or take home for grinding and drinking later.
In recent years many aspects of the world at large have become part of our life here. But there is enough to remind one of the gentler times of the 1950s and 60s and generally the pace of life down here south of the border is closer to that of the Scotland of my childhood than to the big city rat race of today.
The internet has, of course, changed much in terms of communication and I can still pick up scores from the Gaelic Football of the wild west of Ireland where we also spent happy times. Test Match Special also rekindles memories of my years as a cricket commentator in India although there is no cricket played in Mexico and actual participation in the game is one of the few things that I do badly miss. In tandem with satellite television, which brings almost any sport we could wish to see, the internet and the instant contact it gives us with our children and grandchildren makes things much easier than before. In India, a letter to our son or daughter could take up to four weeks to be delivered with the reply taking a similar time for an eight week turnaround. Today, that communication delay is reduced to around ten seconds by internet.
This has been quite a difficult piece to write as other articles that I have written for VISA over the years have been about places that I have visited but, when you actually live in the place you are writing about, perspective becomes a little harder to manage. So what about Mexico for the visitor?
A massive country of great and widely varying beauty in its high regions, its tropical beaches, its deserts and all against a backdrop of great craftwork, super food and good conversation (even if your Spanish is limited, many Mexicans have spent time up north and returned to the "civilization" of their native land with more than a smattering of English).
I cannot really be very objective about Mexico, other than to suggest that voting with our feet and living here is still the greatest compliment that we can pay to any country on the entire planet.
If you have a few weeks to spare, you could take far worse decisions than to spend that time here in old Mexico and, while the bigger cities of this country have their own ample charms, my bias would always direct you to our beautiful city of Oaxaca up in the mountains of the southern part of this land.
We have a small airport in town and, by luxury coach, the journey from Mexico City has these days been trimmed to under six hours. If living away from the sea is not really to your taste, a short flight to the south of here is Puerto Escondido and its beaches, which are considered by surfers to be amongst the world's best for such activities.
Mexico... a strange and wonderful land!
First published in VISA 80A (Aug 2008)
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