Shocking
Alright here we go again. School has started and I spend most of my day in a classroom discussing diversity and 2nd language acquisition for kids in public schools. Enjoyable topics but I will not bore you with the details.
Due to school we have yet to do more touring of the historical sites but Nan and I did manage to find the nearest supermarket, Subway Sandwich shop, and bank with an ATM. Also we found the LDS church that is closer to the University that we visited last week. Plus, it starts at 8am instead of 9am so hopefully we can have more time for visiting the major tourist site and worship God. All is the same day! Thrilling!
Since I have less to report I thought I would discuss some of the things I have found a bit shocking since arriving here in Mexico.
My story begins with Nan and I out for a little stroll with our mama the first day she picked us up at the university. I was dragging my suitcase to the car, minding my own business, and car full of young Mexicans drive by me. I didn’t catch all that they were saying (actually none but Nan translates for me) but it was basically, "hey baby!" and "whoo whoo". In my mind I though, "Are the men here that desperate?"
The next day as I was walking though the market, again minding my business, I notice the male locals staring at me... well more like my breast and bottom. Maybe they have never seen a white girl with "goodies" but I’m doubtful that is the case considering the number of white girls running around. I might even be flattered that they find me attractive but the little creeps have done it to all the girls here on campus. You would think they would get tired of it... I mean if you have seen one pair of boobs you have seen them all right? One of the papa’s of a girl in our group told her to smile at them and then flip them off... I wonder how that would fly? I don’t think I’ll try.
Next shocker... So you want to make a little money here in Mexico? Yes, you can make money! All it takes is a little DNA and poop! Yes Poop! If you get sick and end up on the toilet with diarrhea you give the research team from Texas a sample of your feces then they will pay up to $160 bucks if you complete all their steps. I’ve already earn $10 for giving them my DNA! (They want a sample from when a person arrives healthy and then one before we leave and have possible gotten sick)! It is a comfort to know that if I get Montezuma’s revenge I get paid!
The whole research project is being done by a medical team from Texas University. They are trying to find out what bacteria cause the problems in order to create medicine to help the babies and kids that die every year from the illness. Also, about 40-60% of all foreign visitors to Mexico become ill due to contact with contaminated water or food. My USU teacher who has been here before says they have been working on this for some time here.
Shocker number three! No flushing toilet paper! You must throw it away in a separate trash can so that the toilet doesn’t overflow. Supposedly, the plumbing here has a tendency to get clogged and so to limit the times you have to see you and your neighbors excrement again they ask you to comply with this rule. I now know the real reason swim the Rio Grande.
And the last shocker I will leave you with is a mental image of a little old lady with a gangrene lip. While visiting the museum, Nan and I visited the exhibit on a village here in Mexico that has toxins in the water and soil. The people are constantly taking lead and other arsenics into their bodies which are killing them. This trip has been an eye opener of how many of our Mexican neighbors live.
That’s all for now!