I try to not regret very much in life. I try to allow my experiences to be life lessons that enable me to grow. I try to be non-judgmental because throughout my life I have made many misjudgments. I try to be open to new things as I have closed myself off to so much in the past.
Several years ago I visited Mexico. I found myself in Oaxaca, a beautiful southern city that claims to have the tallest tree in Mexico. Oaxaca also is a city that has packs of wild dogs roaming the streets. I stayed with the family of a local punk guy named Erick. I wish I remembered all of their names however sadly I do not. At their home I slept on a concrete slab covered by a roof made of sheets of metal that was about 25 feet high. This family I stayed with did not have running water. Therefore, water got delivered weekly and was stored in two storage containers. One storage container was for drinking and cooking and the other was for washing. The family was very careful to explain to me not to make a mistake with the water. This family with whom I stayed were poor yet they had one of the nicest television sets I have ever seen.
In the city centre there were armed soldiers everywhere. The soldiers stern glares did not make me feel welcome. I was thirsty so I went to a street vendor and got fresh squeezed orange juice in a tied plastic bag complete with a straw. It is a pretty awesome experience to buy fresh squeezed OJ on the side of the road and have it served to you in a strange and definitely unaccustomed way. For my snack, I went to a different street vendor and got corn on the cob however this is corn on the cob Mexican style and it is called elote. Elote is a cooked corn on the cob, slathered in mayonnaise with crumbled cheese sprinkled on. At first thought you might think that this sounds fairly unappetizing however it is surprisingly tasty and delicious.
While I was in Oaxaca, some friends and I visited a market place. There was so much to look at and ask questions about and it was all very interesting. We came across a punk and metal record store. Did you know that in Mexico, it appears that “porno core” is quite popular? This at the very least applies to some of the people I was travelling with. While we were in this store, guttural and brutal grind music was playing on the stereo and each of the songs included a sample of what sounded to me to be some pretty unfriendly sex.
There was a woman travelling with me with a very young daughter and they were both in the store and no one flinched. I found the situation pretty hard to swallow however it didn’t seem to bother anyone I was with. Perhaps it is better to say that it didn’t appear to me that anyone was bothered by the samples and the music. What it really comes down to is that a white man from Boston who doesn’t speak Spanish and doesn’t have the background, understanding and lived experience of the culture and life of a Mexican person, surely is not the right person to make any sort of definitive conclusion about the situation. I can say that at some point while I was in the store, they played Anal Cunt and I suppose it warmed my heart as they a local Boston band and it made feel close to home. Yeah, I am not sure that Anal Cunt has heard that one before but who knows?
While we were in the marketplace, one woman that I was shopping with had purchased a bag of crickets who had already met their demise. She offered me to try some of these potentially tasty yet definitely crunchy treats. Looking back, I can’t believe I balked at the opportunity, I mean when in Mexico, do as the Mexicans do. To this day this is a choice that I wish one thousand times over I could make again. It is not so much that today I want to snack on some crunchy critters. I don’t necessarily long to chomp on bugs but oh my goodness, I screwed up in that moment. I had an opportunity to be at one with Mexico. In many ways I feel that I am connected at the heart, based on the many beautiful and meaning experiences and memories that I hold dear in my heart when I remember my time in Mexico. However it doesn’t matter which way I analyze the situation, I know that I failed immensely in that moment. The choice was mine and I said “no gracias”. In the future, I will not be making that mistake again.
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