MEXICAN CULTURE CHAPTER SEVEN

1. Why are they racing on the sidewalk knocking not only gringos out of their way but also other Mexicans? We've had to pick up a few older Mexican men and women who have been knocked around by Mexican youth racing past them too. Then, why if they see a group they know, do they slow down so much that you still have to walk in the street and risk being hit by an automobile?

2. Why don't they get to appointments on time? When you tell them to meet you at your house to paint the living room at 9:00 a.m., why do they show up at 11:00 a.m., expect you to feed them, and not start work until 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon?

If they are running so fast, back and forth, on the sidewalks of Guanajuato why can't they show up on time to work?

Each time you run into a Cultural Bugaboo in Mexico, and especially in a provincial town like Guanajuato that is stubbornly resistant to changing with the times, there are three criteria with which you should judge these events to help you understand what's going on.

1. The Mexican's understanding of space.

2. The Mexican's understanding of time.

3.The Mexican Group-Oriented Life.

The Mexican worldview is totally different than ours and, therefore, we Americans have to interpret everything we see and experience in this culture through the Mexican worldview and not through our own.

Whereas we Americans think of space as "me, myself, and I", the Mexican thinks of space as "we, us, all of us." There is no "I" but "we in the mindset of the Mexican. The American draws a circle around himself and asks, "Am I doing ok?" The Mexican draws a circle around the group and asks, "Are we doing ok?" Americans are so individual-oriented that we draw a line around ourselves as individuals and all but have panic attacks when our personal space is called into question.

This is one of the reasons why Americans are so notorious for acting out the Ugly American Syndrome in every country on the earth. They come to Mexico, for example, and for reasons only known to them, expect everything to be Americanized. Even in resort areas of Mexico, where the Mexicans do try with all their Latino might to cater to the spoiled and pampered, Americans all but blow a gasket when they are forced to come in contact with the Mexican worldview. If you ask me, Mexicans are the most astoundingly strong and humble people to put with the likes of Americans (I can just see the emails flooding my inbox for that statement).

Whereas Americans regard time as a straight line along which we have to run to catch up, with the segments of our life notched along that line, requiring us to have to pay heed to it, the Mexican does not. We perceive time as clicks on a clock. The Mexican regards time as a flowing current along which they ride on the raft of life. They float along, going with the flow, and getting to the destination sooner or later. Space and time in Mexico are filtered through the group dynamic-always!

The second issue mentioned above is by far the easiest to figure out. To arrive to an appointment on time for the Mexican always happens. In the mind of the Mexican, they always get to where they need to go on time-On Mexican Time. Once they get to the appointment is when they are on time. It does not matter if they make it by some deadline. The time set for the appointment, the deadline, is the suggested time. And because time is a flowing current, many things could have happened while riding that current. Sometimes the ride on that flowing and very liquid current of time goes quickly and sometimes it goes slowly.

Besides, it does not matter why the Mexican did not make it "on time" as long as he showed up. The important thing is that he is there now. It does not matter why he didn't make it right at ten on the dot. He got there and that's what counts. For the gringo to go into a fit of apocalyptic proportion will do no earthly good at all. It just will not! It won't change a thing so you might as will get your life's raft on the Mexican time current and start going with that flow!

The issue of why they race down the sidewalks knocking people out of their way is not so easy and may be a combination of the criteria I mentioned above. This is Mexico so why can't this explanation be a little convoluted? Convolution seems to be a way of life here.

When I am strolling down the sidewalks between the Embajadoras park and downtown Guanajuato, I stroll at a leisurely pace. What I've perceived is when a single Mexican woman (and they all seem to be women) comes walking up behind me, it is very much like driving down the highways in central Mexico when a truck zooms up and tries to attach itself to your rear bumper. It is as though they simply cannot stand that there is something in their way. It isn't as through they really care that I might make them late for anything since lateness isn't a consideration in the mind of a Mexican. It is that there I am an obstacle in the current of time they are riding and I need to be dealt with. She wants to go faster than me. When my presence suddenly dawns on her, she sees me as an obstacle to get past. Once around me, I am forgotten.

If she sees someone she knows further along the sidewalk, then the Mexican Group Orientation thing comes into play and she slows down because now she is ready to employ the group mentality. If there's no one to "group with," then she might continue on at that speed and course she just used to knock me down. Who knows? On Mexican Time anything can happen, as it often does.

The more provincial the town, the more you will see all of this dynamic come into play. I heard a business woman who was originally from Monterrey complain how her Guanajuato employees would constantly show up for work "late." Her traditional concept of time and lateness had been so altered from living so close to America that she was no longer provincial in her thinking. I've heard this over and over again from Mexicans whose personal Mexican worldview has been changing and coming more into alignment with the rest of the business world's view of time and punctuality.

A school in Leon, Guanajuato, that offers Spanish to Gringos has to offer a come-on-time-to-class bonus to the Mexican teachers they've hired to teach Spanish. At the University of Guanajuato, some of the students have told us that sometimes professors don't show up to teach a class with no explanation offered. Remember, if you confronted him on his tardiness or absence, the Mexican would say, "The why isn't important. What's important is that I am here now."

Just this evening we sat with a lady whose deceased husband was responsible for building many of the modern hotels in this city as well as some of the newer tunnels. He was an architect and the family is very well connected. I asked her about the differences in the Mexican people from region to region. She confirmed what I have been writing about over the past four years.