April 12, 2008 - Keeping up with the Garcias

Well, we aren’t exactly a mainstream American Family when we’re at home, so it is interesting to watch so many Mexican families aspire to something that we haven’t quite accepted.

For a Friday afternoon’s entertainment (and to seek out air conditioning), we went to one of Merida’s newest malls. Malls in Merida are pretty indistinguishable from American malls, and Friday’s mall was probably nicer than many in the states. It had a Sears, Radio Shack, Crabtree & Evelyn’s, Chili’s, Office Max, etc. Not to mention, numerous customers walking around sipping on their cold drinks from Starbucks.

We made our mark when M.i.l.e.s accidentally unplugged the theft prevention cable on a MacBook at Office Max (the alarm was loud and continuous), and when we took goofy pictures of ourselves on the Macs using Photo Booth (I doubt any employee will find them for weeks—we weren’t the first clowns to do this). We also hopped on to the open wi-fi signal coming out of Chili’s and showed Miriam and Alli headlines from the Burlington Free Press and pulled up the web page for the guest house. Cheap thrills.

More indicators of a rising middle class: Most of the kids at school have cell phones. The entire 5th grade (6 students) came over for an afternoon to work on an English language project. There aren’t many opportunities for the kids to get together, so there were the classic challenges of a small group try to get its act together. One of the popular ringtones that distracted everyone was “Bebe Reggaeton”. (You’ve either heard reggaeton or you haven’t: Think Daddy Yankee.) It was a baby’s gurgles, chirps and cries to a reggaeton beat. Otherwise, there was mixed success labeling a furniture diorama with English vocabulary.

However, as part of “P.a.u.l’s English language program” I tried to engage the kids in conversation. I learned that the kids liked Hannah Montana, High School Musical, and the Cartoon Network. Sweet. Here are pics from the kids working on their project. By the way, the kid with the shoe box, Eduardo, is top notch and wants to be the President of Mexico someday. You heard it here first!


Additionally, as part of the incredibly generous shower of welcoming gifts that rained down on M.i.l.e.s and J.i.l.l when they arrived at school, M.i.l.e.s received a High School Musical digital watch. I can’t find the words to describe his emotions.

And, when M.i.l.e.s and I took an afternoon walk in the central plaza, as is our habit, it was interesting to see a Mexican family on a park bench with Dad working on his laptop while the pigeons gathered at his feet. Miles: “They’ve come for the chips.” (He’s a witty one.) It was also bittersweet to see the classic picture of the young lovers strolling by arm in arm…..each looking at their respective cell phones. By the way, most of Merida's bigger city parks have free Wi-Fi provided by the government.

I recently heard that Mexico is now Number 2 on the list for national obesity and is on track to overtake the United States within 10 years. What an honor.

Here’s something I hope doesn’t change too soon: The antiquated single engine airplane flying low and slow over the city with the monster sound system and the “barker” shouting out promotions about the circus that is in town (I think).

Life at the Guest House: It is hot as heck right now and the tourist season isn’t at its high point, so the Alvarez Family Guest House is pretty empty, and that’s OK when you hear the tales about Enrique and Miriam working their tales off over Christmas, Semana Santa (the big 2-week vacation period surrounding Easter), and other times, especially since they’ve landed a coveted spot in a Lonely Planet guide book.

So who is here? A retired couple from Maine who spend a couple of months here now and then. A young couple from Italy, she is on an around the world trip and her boyfriend is catching up with her for a short time here. A divorced father who lives in Cancun who comes here every few weeks so he can see his 10 year old daughter who lives in Merida with her mother. Saturday morning found the daughter playing with Jill and Alli while dad watched television. Or one of my favorites, the young man who works and lives in Villahermosa and stays here every couple of months so he can visit his girlfriend who is a local college student who lives with her family. Miriam reports that all is innocent, that the girlfriend never sleeps here, and that the biggest mess they’ve made is when they gave each other haircuts.

Back to Enrique’s famous cars, watch for them in the upcoming biography of Che Guevara, “El Argentino” starring Benicio Del Toro. Miriam reports that her brother Enrique was a bit emotional as the flatbread tow truck left the parking lot with his pride and joy on board. Fortunately, the film crew delivered as promised, other than pulling the treasured Vermont window sticker off one of the cars. I think it would have been a hoot to see a movie with Che driving an old car with a Ski Vermont window sticker on it.



More old car news. A couple of years ago, Enrique sold his antique car collection to Don Emilio, a local gas station baron. Enrique used the proceeds from the sale to expand his family home into a 9-room guest house. We saw Don Emilio’s complete car collection a few years ago and I asked about him recently. Turns out he died in July after a full and large life. I asked about the cars as well, and Miriam told me that every year the local gas station owners have a big promotion where they give away 3 brand new cars (as an income reduction and tax reduction strategy). After a couple months of promotions, there is a big car show at a local park where Enrique’s former collection is on display alongside plenty of new cars and the 3 lucky winners are drawn. It’s a lot of fun to connect with a Mexican family and their city to the extent that we can understand what’s going on. Here is a picture of what Miriam describes as "El attic de Enrique".




One more example of getting in tight with the Alvarez family: We met Enrique and Miriam’s “Primo Hermano” Alonso the other day. “Lonnie” is an orthodontist with an office across the street from the guest house. He’s in his late 50’s or early 60’s and was getting ready for a vacation in Europe. When I asked for an explanation of “primo hermano” (direct translation: cousin brother) I think I understood the answer: Enrique and Lonnie’s fathers were brothers. To further help with the answer, Lonnie put his arm up next to Enrique's and told me, “El mismo sangre: Azul!” (The same blood. Blue!)

Life is good.