Guanajuato, Mexico: PROVINCIALThe word provincial means, “a person of local or restricted interests or outlook ; a person lacking urban polish or refinement.”This really describes the city of Guanajuato and her people perfectly. Compared to the rest of Mexico, Guanajuato is a bit stuck in a time period almost forsaken in other regions of the country. Don’t get me wrong. This can be this city’s charm or its scourge. There are wonderfully modern things in Guanajuato. For example there is high speed internet in almost every Internet Café. You can also get broadband for your home computer. That is, if you can a phone line installed in your house or apartment. There you have a good example of The Charm: you can get high speed internet in your home but you can’t always get a phone line installed in your house. If you can talk someone at Telmex into installing a line it might take forever to get it done. Then, God forbid that you should ever have trouble with your phone line or internet connection: The Scourge! What you cannot really see in Guanajuato as a tourist, the group to which this book is slanted, is that living here is an all together different ballgame. This country, as the Unites States loves professing, is too a nation of laws. They have many, many laws. The problem is that there are no rules to govern the application and enforcement of these laws. The American press that perpetuates the American driven stereotype of Mexico would have the world believe Mexico is a lawless nation. It is not lawless. It is directionless. Living here you see every day that this country seems to be devoted to a kind of senseless and chaotic disorder. It can be, to say the very least, confusing as an American to live here.
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