Total Immersion in Mexico

by Tara Kirkpatrick

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I wish I could take the Mexican experience and freeze life in that moment. Things in Mexico seemed so simple and almost surreal. I was able to forget about life’s stresses and focus on the aspects of life that truly matter: relationships, laughter, community and simply enjoying life. Leading up to the trip in class, we examined different aspects of Mexican life, but it could not have prepared me for the overwhelming culture shock I experienced while in Buena Rosita. From the sentiment I received from the assigned readings and my own inaccurate preconceptions, I was truly expecting a downtrodden, depressed people with horrible living conditions needing to be "saved" from their terrible lives in Mexico. I experienced the exact opposite while in Buena Rosita and fell in love with the Mexican culture. There are several areas of Mexican life that could be improved (as is the case in every culture), but overall their simple lifestyle and generosity creates a truly beautiful culture, which I am extremely pleased that I got to learn about first hand.

Although I was not really prepared for the culture, there were several facets of Mexican life that were very similar to what I was expecting based on research from the class. The first thing that was similar to the class readings and research was the familial roles played by each member of the family that I stayed with, especially the mother and father. My family was almost identical to the description in The Mexicans. The father displayed strong tendencies of machismo in almost of all his behavior from the way that he showed no affection towards his children to the way he demanded things from his wife. My experience was different than the situation in many families of the community. Most of the other students commented on how loving and affectionate their fathers were; however, I did experience the machismo stereotype and was outraged by it. The father of my family was presumably a hard worker and brought home enough money to put food on the table, but as soon as he walked in the door after work, my mother tensed as he immediately started demanding flour tortillas and criticizing her cooking. He used a harsh tone with his children and wife, and showed no visible signs of affection. One night after we gave him questioning looks after one of his rants, he explained that in Mexico it was the woman’s job to cook and take care of the man. I hope that his behavior was only an act as the result of our presence in the home.

The mother of our house fulfilled the typical role of a housewife—she rarely left the home and spent most of her time cooking, cleaning and looking after her two daughters. Her formal education ended after ninth grade and she was married at fifteen. Although she said that she was happy, she was not very convincing and I couldn’t help and wonder if further education for women would help neutralize gender inequality, especially that which I witnessed the home. My mother was adamant about explaining how the family was saving money for their two girls have an opportunity for further education to give them more career options than a housewife. The research in class explained that many families are beginning to do this, but that when push comes to shove, the girls get married or go to work. I returned from Mexico with a renewed sense of respect for the Mexican women, as they are completely self-giving and work tremendously hard to maintain the household (and in my family’s case with little appreciation).

Just as my experience with the Mexican family was similar to the research from class, the other societal institutions such as education, healthcare and the government were also as I expected. The children of the community went to school in waves, based upon their age. I went to the elementary school to help conduct physical fitness testing. The inside of the classroom looked similar to many of the classrooms in the United States, except several students had to share desks and there was only one teacher for several different grades. The children had bologna sandwiches, Cheetos and soda for lunch—also analogous to the United States and heartbreaking for a "health nut" like myself to see. On a side note about nutrition, besides the Americanized lunches in the schools, the traditional Mexican diet was much more balanced than I was expecting. From my own research, I was expecting little more than beans, rice and flour tortillas. I was pleasantly surprised to see a few meats, a lot of fruit, vegetables and little processed food throughout the week. With the exception of the tortillas, their diets were very healthy—much more so than many of the diets in the United States.

As we were reading about the corruption of the government in Mexico, I had my doubts, questioning how such blatant fraud could occur. I think I saw the manifestations of this corruption within my own Mexican family. My family was very protective of their girls and did not let them out of the house without supervision for long. Later, my mother told me that her husband was the president of the farming community. Having a conversation about it later, it was brought to my attention that because of government corruption, the girls may have been at risk. I do not know how true this is, but from the readings, it seems as if the ruling party grabs and retains power by controlling every facet of the political system from the president of a small farming community to the governor of larger states.

I was hoping to encounter a healthcare situation that was different than what I found in my research, but unfortunately found similar conditions to those I had researched. There were three types of hospitals: private, public and those funded by social security—none of which would have been acceptable under American healthcare standards. From what I heard, government-funded healthcare left much to be desired and the public clinics were even worse. Although I did not witness the facilities first hand, it was heartbreaking for me to hear the conditions of some of the hospitals and clinics. Even over the counter painkillers were scare in the homes of the community and I can only imagine that the situation becomes even worse as one travels farther and farther away from a major metropolis. The care and availability of public care was already lacking, and it can only be worse in more rural areas. The experience in the culture reaffirmed my desire to join Doctors Without Borders. I cannot think of anything I would rather do than to be able to improve the health of people who have such joy and enthusiasm for life.

Before making the trip to Mexico, I did not have an accurate idea about what the Mexican culture was really like. I think I was expecting a much more depressing situation. Instead I fell in love with a culture and experienced many "firsts". Never in my life have I laughed as hard or as long or been so happy and at peace. Never in my life have I seen children so innocent and happy, or just enjoyed people as much. And never in my life have I used a Barbie leg for plumbing purposes. This trip opened my eyes to the beauty of the simplistic lifestyle of the Mexican people. Their lives are not perfect—they are human and experience difficulties and struggles just as the rest of us, however, they are not the impoverished, helpless people I first imagined either. What I will take away form this experience is the beauty of the Mexican culture and lifestyle. It has given me a taste of Mexican culture, and has left me wanting more; in fact every day I wake up wishing I was still in Mexico.

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