Culture Shock: 10 Things

I’ve been here for nearly two months now, and while Mexico is heavily Americanized, it retains a very distinct cultural identity that still surprises me sometimes. Here are just 10 of the things I’ve noticed so far:

1. Everything is on military time, but most things are much less punctual.

2. Hardly any Mexicans, at least in this part of the country, own clothes dryers.  Its sunny and warm year round, so they hang laundry outside to dry.  It’s common to see clotheslines on roofs across the city.

3. People really do call you “amigo.” As in people you just met, or the guy at the cell phone place, or your waiter.  Everybody’s friends in Mexico.

4. A lot of television is American, and is either dubbed or has subtitles.  Some I’ve seen so far are Friends and Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Most of the radio stations play American music, too.

5. PDA (public displays of affection) is much more common here.  Sometimes it feels like there is a couple kissing on every street corner.

6. There are Starbucks here, but the most common coffee shop is The Italian Coffee Company.

7. People are extremely sincere. If they invite you to stay with them when you visit their city, it’s not just hospitable small talk; they really mean it. This is actually a little bit hard to adjust to, but it’s also very refreshing.

8. Everyone can dance really, really well. We’ve all learned a few steps of salsa, but it’s pretty obvious who the foreigners are as soon as we start to dance.

9. The most common greeting for women is a kiss on the cheek, not a handshake.

10. It’s common to add “ito” or “ita” to the end of words, which means “little.”  Sometimes they even add it on twice, if they really want to emphasize a point.  It’s adorable, but sometimes hard to translate. For example, chica means small, chicita mean very small, and chicitita is extra tiny.

Oaxaca

Oaxaca is sandwiched between Puebla and the Pacific Ocean, and tops the list of places people tell us to visit here in Mexico. We visited the state last weekend on our first Notre Dame coordinated trip and got to see a lot of the culture native to Oaxaca, although I did not get my first glimpse of the Pacific. The drive was beautiful, and looked a little more like the Mexico I imagined with lots of mountains, hillsides covered in cacti, and terraced fields (including a couple being worked by an actual horse and plow.)

First we went to see the Tree of Tule, a giant 2000 year old tree. While the tree itself was incredible, the best part was our probably 7-year-old tour guide who pointed out various shapes in the tree trunk and branches.  From there we went to Mitla, a Zapotec archaeological site.  Zapotec and another indigenous language, Mixtec, are still fairly commonly spoken in Oaxaca, and the site was really interesting with lots of intricate carvings and beautiful views.

Then we went to a valley known for their artisan crafts and got a demonstration from a rug maker.  The pieces are really beautiful, and all the yarn is hand made and dyed with traditional ingredients.  It was amazing how much work went into each piece they made.  I tried to spin some yarn, and was not at all successful, although he assured me I could learn with three months of practice.

Then we went to the city of Oaxaca itself, where we stopped by the church of Santo Domingo.  It was beautiful outside, but we couldn’t go in because there was a wedding going on.  This is one of my favorite things about the churches here in Mexico; not only are they beautiful and historical, they are still used by people and are a part of their lives and culture.  Plus, can you imagine getting married in a place with that much history and meaning?

We stayed in a hotel in the city of Oaxaca, and we explored a little, going to a chocolate store that makes the chocolate from local cacao beans right in front of you, and a club with great live salsa music.  Sunday morning we went to mass in the cathedral in the center of the city. Although it was a beautiful church, the most memorable moment was when a dog got into the church and ran up on the altar in the middle of mass.  There are some things that just don’t happen in America.

For our second day we went to a mezcal factory. Mezcal is an artisan liquor made from the same plant as tequila that was invented in Oaxaca, and is, according to our host brother, a big thing among hipsters (he says it ‘eepsters.)  Another handicraft native to Oaxaca is barro negro, or black pottery. We saw a demonstration of how its made from a man whose family has been making this pottery for several generations. Each piece was more beautiful than the next.

Our last stop was Monte Albán, one of the biggest archaeological sites in Mexico built by the Zapotecs. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see much of this because I was sick, but I got a couple of pictures.

Oaxaca was a perfect example of all the subcultures that still exist in Mexico. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these cultures on our future travels.

La Comida aka FOOD

Our host mom is great cook, so I’ve been taking full advantage of the food here in Puebla.  Mexican food is delicious, and while it is sometimes a couple days between vegetables, I’m learning to like all the different flavors, especially the spicy ones.

Arroz con leche: This is basically rice pudding (literally “rice with milk.)  I had this at a restaurant near UPAEP.  Mine was cold, but I’ve been told its even better warm.  It was sweet and creamy and fantastic.

Pipian (verde y rojo): This is a sauce made with chiles.  It wasn’t too spicy at first, but by the end of the meal I was drinking a lot of water. The red version has a really unique flavor, a little like mole. It was served over chicken and rice (no surprises there.)

Tacos de pastor: These are tortillas filled with meat (usually pork) covered in an unidentifiable, but very flavorful, orange sauce.  The meat is carved from giant rotating hunks of meat, which you are guaranteed to see if you walk along the street for more than a couple blocks.  It’s one of those things that tastes better if you don’t think too hard about where it came from.

Frijoles (beans): Before coming to Mexico, I thought I didn’t like refried beans. But guys, I have been converted; homemade, they are perfectly flavored and creamy and they go with anything. I know, because we have them with almost every meal (including breakfast.)

Rice: Looks like plain white rice, but tastes so much better.  How do they do it?!?

Mole poblano: This chocolate-based sauce was actually invented in Puebla.  You can definitely taste the chocolate, and it’s a little bit sweet but also spicy.  It takes a ton of ingredients to make and has a very complex flavor (I sound like a foodie, right?), and it was fabulous, too.

Tinga poblana: Another traditional dish from Puebla, this one was chicken with a red seasoning that was a little bit sweet.  It made great tacos.

Posole: A soup made with broth, onions, and pork and flavored with lime juice and chili powder.  It’s apparently very popular at Independence Day parties.

Chiles en nogada: This is a traditional dish made only in August and September, partly because that’s when the ingredients are ripe and partly to celebrate Mexican independence day on September 16. It’s a green pepper breaded and stuffed with meat, fruit, and nuts.  It’s then covered in a sweet white sauce and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds to create the red, green, and white of the Mexican flag (its the picture at the top.)  Its very rich, and not everyone liked them, but to me it tasted like a sweet, flavorful lasagna.

Pan dulce: Mexican pastries are pretty different from traditional American desserts.  Our host mom’s favorite sweet bread is conchas (shells), which are a crumbly, dry pastry with a crumbly, sugary icing on top.

Our host mom serves corn tortillas with every meal, along with homemade salsa which I only was brave enough to try after a couple of days. It’s interesting (and delicious) to see this part of the culture from a Mexican home.

Mexico City

Our latest venture took us to the capital, Mexico City, for a full two days of sight-seeing.  Although I’ve gotten this impression already from my time in Mexico, seeing this ancient city confirmed for me just how young the US really is.  Mexico City is built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital.  Tenochtitlan was built on chinampas, man-made floating gardens in the middle of Lake Texcoco, so the oldest parts of the city are prone to sinking.  Because they were built on a lake. More than 500 years ago. Yeah, the US is a baby.

We went to the cathedral first, which is located in the center of the city on the zocalo.  It was decked out for Independence Day, which is September 16.  From there we went to see the ruins of the Aztec pyramid that is literally right next to the cathedral.  Also on the zocalo was the Palacio Nacional, which is a government building where Diego Rivera painted an amazing mural of the history of Mexico, as well as murals depicting some of the native cultures. From there we went to the Palacio de las Bellas Artes, which houses the National Theater.

The Cathedral

The Cathedral from the Aztec ruins

 

Then we went to the Castillo de Chapultepec, which was the home of the Hapsburg Emperor Maximilian I that one time when Mexico had an emperor (what? Another thing I learned from this trip is that I need to brush up on my Mexican history.) It is housed in a city park that is larger than Central Park in NYC, and had great views of the city, which is home to about 20,000,000 people. Our last stop of the day was the Anthropology and History Museum, which was fantastic. It focuses on indigenous Mexican cultures, and I could have stayed there for twice as long as we had. My inner social scientist had a field day.  We finished the day in our hotel room (after a long and fruitless search for a bar with NBC) cheering the Irish to victory against Michigan. 🙂

The view from Castillo Chapultepec

Sunday our first stop was the Basilica of Guadalupe, which was built on the site of the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe to Juan Diego, an indigenous man.  To convince the bishop to build a church on the site, Mary had Juan Diego fill his cloak with roses.  When he presented the flowers to the bishop, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe was left on his cloak, and Mexico’s most beloved icon was born. The original church is sinking (because lakes are not as good of foundations as you might think), so a new basilica has been built next to it to house the image, which remains unfaded after nearly 400 years.  To see the original image, you get on a conveyer belt which shuffles you across to make sure everyone gets a chance to see.  It was amazing to see, not only because of the miracle itself but because of the clearly visible impact this small piece of cloth has had on Mexican culture.

Our last stop was Teotihuacan, one of the most important pre-colombian centers. Teotihuacan is most famous for the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon and the Avenue of the Dead.  Not only are the pyramids feats of engineering and organized man-power, but the city itself is beautifully planned.  It blows my mind that the Spanish could have seen these cities and still thought the natives were savages (there was the whole issue of human sacrifice, but still.)  We had a blast taking pictures on top of the Pyramid of the Sun, and even the climb was fun when we played the Rocky theme.

The Pyramid of the Moon, leading to the Avenue of the Dead.

Mexico is gearing up for Independence Day in a week, and I’m looking forward to all the activities around town that day.  They seem like a country that knows how to celebrate, so it should be quite the fiesta.

Veracruz

Last weekend we went on a trip to the Port of Veracruz in Puebla’s neighboring state of Veracruz. It was a great chance to see another part of Mexico.  One of the biggest differences between Puebla and Veracruz is the weather; Puebla is 8,000 ft above sea level, so it stays a nice 70 degrees, while Veracruz, right on the coast, was 90 degrees all weekend.  This was perfect for Saturday, which we spent at the beach.  

The beach was surprisingly un-touristy, which we attributed to the fact that there are probably prettier beaches elsewhere.  But the sand was soft and the water was warm, so we didn’t mind being the only gringos around.  There were people selling everything from snacks to coconuts to music on the beach, and the ocean was full of sand dollars (in Spanish, galletas del mar, literally “cookies of the sea” or “sea biscuit.”) We weren’t able to watch the Notre Dame v. Rice game, but we sang the fight song on the way home.

Sunday we explored the fort of San Juan de Ulua, a Spanish complex on the north side of Veracruz that served alternately as a fort and a jail, where the crimes for which one could be imprisoned included witchery and Judaism. Now it is a museum and historical monument.  One of the coolest things was that you could see chunks of fossilized coral that had been built into the walls.

Afterwards we went to the Malecon, which is the older part of Veracruz. I’ve started to realize that most Mexican towns have a centro and a zocalo, or square, in the center of town, and Veracruz is no exception.  Their zocalo featured lots of palm trees and a white church, among other Spanish architecture.   The inside of the church wasn’t as ornate as some of the churches I’ve seen in Puebla, but it seemed to fit the more tropical setting.  We also got ice cream (I got half mango, half pineapple … when in Rome), which is apparently a Veracruz specialty, and went to La Parroquia, a restaurant chain in Veracruz famous for their coffee.  I don’t even like coffee, and I loved it.

This week we also started rotations in the hospitals (more on that later) and this weekend a few of us are going to Mexico City on an organized trip with UPAEP, our university.  We have a packed day Saturday, but we’re hoping to catch the Michigan game in the evening.  Go Irish!