Mexico City
28 de Septimebre de 2010
So, I´m sitting on the beach in Acapulco. It´s late September and blistering hot on the Pacific Coast. The bay, never really clean, is dirtier than usual. Heavy rains in the mountains have washed all sorts of debris down the rivers that feed into Acapulco Bay. I´m quite content to be alone for a few days after the festivities in Mexico City. I just avoid swimming in the ocean.
It's way, way low season. Very few tourists. Which all great by me because it means that no one's on the beach.
Except...the Mexican who's got a day off.
This guy has been eying me. Nothing suspicious. I just think he wants to talk. I finally see hello and we spend the rest of the afternoon, off and non, chatting. He wants to practice is English, but we spend 98% of the time in Spanish. He works in a restaurant. Invites me to come the next day. We talk about what it's like to live in Acapulco, what other beaches there are on the other side of the bay, how to get there. In the end I decide that if I'm back in the city I'll track him down to be my guide for a day out of town. 100 pesos. Not a bad deal at all.
After awhile we really lack for things to talk about. He wants to know how much money I make, something I never divulge in poor nations. I ask him.
"Fifty pesos," he tells me. For twelve hours of work. Plus tips. Fifty pesos. As 12 pesos to the dollar that equal $4.50 a day!
$4.50 a day!
I deal with this all the time with the few Mexicans I know. They really struggle to make ends meet, and struggle in a way that's much more severe than the average American knows. Give up any idea of a vacation. Give up the idea of owing a home. One friend can only afford 800 pesos a month for an apartment. $65.00!
And these days life in Mexico is even tougher. Fewer tourists mean fewer jobs. many people work two or three jobs just to make ends meet.
Perhaps this is why hooking up with a cartel is such a lure. Of course it's dangerous. Of course it's illegal, but it's a way of bringing a whole lot more cash into your life than a measly $4.50 a day for 12 hours of work.
At least my new friend on the beach hasn't gone this direction. LIke the vast majoity of Mexicans he's appalled at what's happening and is looking to the USA for a solution. It is, after all, us who's fueling these ccartels. Without our rampant drug addiction, there'd be no cartels.
And if there weren't cartels, maybe far more tourists would come back and this guy could earn a decent salary.
Just a thought!
28 de Septimebre de 2010
So, I´m sitting on the beach in Acapulco. It´s late September and blistering hot on the Pacific Coast. The bay, never really clean, is dirtier than usual. Heavy rains in the mountains have washed all sorts of debris down the rivers that feed into Acapulco Bay. I´m quite content to be alone for a few days after the festivities in Mexico City. I just avoid swimming in the ocean.
It's way, way low season. Very few tourists. Which all great by me because it means that no one's on the beach.
Except...the Mexican who's got a day off.
This guy has been eying me. Nothing suspicious. I just think he wants to talk. I finally see hello and we spend the rest of the afternoon, off and non, chatting. He wants to practice is English, but we spend 98% of the time in Spanish. He works in a restaurant. Invites me to come the next day. We talk about what it's like to live in Acapulco, what other beaches there are on the other side of the bay, how to get there. In the end I decide that if I'm back in the city I'll track him down to be my guide for a day out of town. 100 pesos. Not a bad deal at all.
After awhile we really lack for things to talk about. He wants to know how much money I make, something I never divulge in poor nations. I ask him.
"Fifty pesos," he tells me. For twelve hours of work. Plus tips. Fifty pesos. As 12 pesos to the dollar that equal $4.50 a day!
$4.50 a day!
I deal with this all the time with the few Mexicans I know. They really struggle to make ends meet, and struggle in a way that's much more severe than the average American knows. Give up any idea of a vacation. Give up the idea of owing a home. One friend can only afford 800 pesos a month for an apartment. $65.00!
And these days life in Mexico is even tougher. Fewer tourists mean fewer jobs. many people work two or three jobs just to make ends meet.
Perhaps this is why hooking up with a cartel is such a lure. Of course it's dangerous. Of course it's illegal, but it's a way of bringing a whole lot more cash into your life than a measly $4.50 a day for 12 hours of work.
At least my new friend on the beach hasn't gone this direction. LIke the vast majoity of Mexicans he's appalled at what's happening and is looking to the USA for a solution. It is, after all, us who's fueling these ccartels. Without our rampant drug addiction, there'd be no cartels.
And if there weren't cartels, maybe far more tourists would come back and this guy could earn a decent salary.
Just a thought!
No comments:
Post a Comment