MEXICO LIVING - Emergency ServicesI 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! MEXICO LIVING - Transacting Anything in this CountryRecently, I read a book written by a Cultural Analyst specializing in Mexican culture. I was impressed when he made the point that though you might have the highest degree of spoken fluency in Spanish and have excellent cultural fluency, when "push comes to shove," maybe having a Mexican partner, mentor, or advisor to accompany you would be best. What I think he meant was when you want to transact anything under the sun in Mexico, having a Mexican at your side would get things done a lot faster, more smoothly, and as hitch-free as possible.This makes perfect sense in light of the Mexican culture. We Americans are the "me" society. Our culture is geared toward the individual. Everything is based on procedures, methods, deadlines, and an anal-retentive regard for time. We want our meetings to go without a hitch. We want them fast. We want to get down to business immediately-no messing around! Mexicans are the "us" society. Their culture is based on groups. They have a group orientation toward everything in life. Relationships within the groups (any sort of group) is how this society functions. The culture is, in that regard, very much like the Japanese and Oriental cultures. Someone told me, "I've sent email after email to a Mexican real estate agency and have never gotten a response." A possibility, I told this person, is that business conducted by phone, fax, or email is not personal. You don't build relationships this way. Business here is conducted face to face. One is impersonal. The other is relational. Let's face it: as Americans, we lack in the relationship-building department. This is something often commented on by Latinos. One put it: "Americans, while technologically advanced seemed not very socially evolved." Mexicans, on the other hand, are experts at knowing how to build relationships so that a transaction of any kind can go down as hassle-free as possible. They know how to complete a transaction based on a relationship and not a piece of paper (contract).
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