I was traveling through the state of Nayarit in Mexico a few years back, and got into a conversation with one of the locals. Asked him if he liked the city of Tepic. His reply? " Of course, I was born here. It's the most beautiful place in all of Mexico." Here's a fellow, I thought, who doesn't get around much. Trust me, Tepic's not on any gringo's top ten in Mexico list by a very wide margin. The only people passionate about the place were born there. It's a quintessentially Mexican attitude, this fierce loyalty to the place of birth. In the dustiest villiages, and the filthiest city slums everybody will tell you the same thing--their place is best.
The longer I live in Mexico, the easier life here gets. My Spanish gets better and better. I learn how to cook the food, how to eat it. Still, there are some cultural barriers no gringo can cross. I'll never really understand, for instance, what it means to be this rooted. Every year more and more gringos come to visit. We enjoy the beach and the beer, and leave just as ignorant as we came. There are mysteries the land only shares with the people who belong to it. I love Mexico, but will never be Mexican.
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