travel

Love Mexican Style

telenovela starsAfter seven years here, Mexico presents few surprises. We have more Mexican friends than those of our country of origin. Certainly the fact that there are more to choose from lends explanation. Add to this our liking the more relaxed lifestyle and family oriented nature of Mexicans, and our leaning becomes still more evident.

However, there are some things that register odd to us. The fact that few Mexicans read, bothers us. But, then there are less and less of those people in the U.S. There are the Mexicans that say “yes” to virtually all questions, regardless of any connection to reality. There are of course other issues but perhaps the most disturbing is fidelity or the lack thereof. It really seems that hormones have the upper hand on the Mexican populous.

The Mexicans cheat on each other. From our vantage point – they cheat a lot. The many Auto Motels are quite telling. For the uninitiated those are motels that usually come with a garage with a curtain to hide your car. Often there are porno videos for rent at the desk and most offer a 4 hour room rate. Essentially they are a place to go when one or both parties are having an affair.

Mexico’s Affairs of the Heart

Anita reports her gal pals say they have amantes (Spanish for ‘lover’) mostly because they receive gifts and occasionally a little dinero. The hombres – it is pretty much just a physical attraction diversion or sport.

But what really amazes is virtually every hombre we know has extramarital affairs; many have a love child or two. Is this in part because they often marry very young? Is it that they know little about the finer points of romance?

An affair destroys all trust in a relationship…sometimes forever.

The simple fact from a north of the border perspective is that most marriages never recover from an affair.  The vast majority of the time, the partners of cheaters end up calling it quits soon after. Why? Because the pain of an extramarital physical relationship hurts more than you can know. Here in Mexico it is different. Oh the Mexican relationships get scarred but seldom end.telenovela stars

Of course what we have described here is perhaps an over simplification. But, the facts are these. Machismo behaviors and rampant infidelity remain alive and well here in 21st Century Mexico.

The incredible almost universal fascination with the Mexican Novella becomes more clear after you have lived here a while. Art imitates life.

This all begs the question, are the Latinos more, or less, evolved romantically than the North Americans above their border? While we may be less evolved, we are happy to report we are quite content with Señora Calypso.

¡Manténgase Sintonizado! (i.e. Stay Tuned)

John Calypso lives outside Veracruz, Mexico, as well as Puerto Escondido. Back in the 60s, he was a very hip guy living in Hollywood and rubbing shoulders with Beatles and Monkees. Read lots more in his blog, Viva Veracruz.

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