2-23-06 Where are all the Americans?
On Sunday morning as we were making pancakes, Ruth and I realized that we hadn’t met many other Americans on our trip aside from the skanks at the timeshare resort and a guy from Colorado in the parking lot at Coba (oops! And our neighbor at the produce section at WalMart). As we discussed this with our French neighbors at the kitchen table, they agreed. They had seen American backpackers throughout Central America, but not here in Mexico, and had never run into an American family. Our armchair sociological hypothesis was that the Americans are either on the cruise ships or at the all-inclusive resorts or in the backpacker hostels in Central America, but that we are in some mystery zone in between.
Only a few hours later, we were in a tour group (of just two families) at the Anthropology Museum. It turns out the other family of four was from New Jersey, and we shared our hypothesis with them. Well, their presence sort of disproved our theory, except that the father was originally from Bombay and the mother was born in Kenya to Indian parents. So, our hope that more American families would get out to both see Mexico and represent the United States in a better light still stands.
And then, this morning after the kids were at school and Ruth was off at an internet café signing the kids up for summer activities, I answered the doorbell at Hostel Alvarez as I often do to help out Enrique and Miriam. Who was at the door but a family of five from the United States! And of course, where in the USA would a family like that come from in the midst of their 4 months in Mexico? Vermont!! Nice folks from Calais with 9-year old twin daughters and a 12-year old daughter as well. Miles, Jill and Ally will be pretty surprised when they get home at 12:30.
But the wish still remains, we simply need more American faces out there in the world besides a President who has no demonstrable interest in world travel, a charm-less Vice President who has the misfortune of shooting a guy while hunting, and Brittany Spears and her kin who are grinding their navels in the world’s face.
Come on in, the water’s fine!
On Sunday morning as we were making pancakes, Ruth and I realized that we hadn’t met many other Americans on our trip aside from the skanks at the timeshare resort and a guy from Colorado in the parking lot at Coba (oops! And our neighbor at the produce section at WalMart). As we discussed this with our French neighbors at the kitchen table, they agreed. They had seen American backpackers throughout Central America, but not here in Mexico, and had never run into an American family. Our armchair sociological hypothesis was that the Americans are either on the cruise ships or at the all-inclusive resorts or in the backpacker hostels in Central America, but that we are in some mystery zone in between.
Only a few hours later, we were in a tour group (of just two families) at the Anthropology Museum. It turns out the other family of four was from New Jersey, and we shared our hypothesis with them. Well, their presence sort of disproved our theory, except that the father was originally from Bombay and the mother was born in Kenya to Indian parents. So, our hope that more American families would get out to both see Mexico and represent the United States in a better light still stands.
And then, this morning after the kids were at school and Ruth was off at an internet café signing the kids up for summer activities, I answered the doorbell at Hostel Alvarez as I often do to help out Enrique and Miriam. Who was at the door but a family of five from the United States! And of course, where in the USA would a family like that come from in the midst of their 4 months in Mexico? Vermont!! Nice folks from Calais with 9-year old twin daughters and a 12-year old daughter as well. Miles, Jill and Ally will be pretty surprised when they get home at 12:30.
But the wish still remains, we simply need more American faces out there in the world besides a President who has no demonstrable interest in world travel, a charm-less Vice President who has the misfortune of shooting a guy while hunting, and Brittany Spears and her kin who are grinding their navels in the world’s face.
Come on in, the water’s fine!
posted by The Lambersons at 10:37 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home