I hate to say this, but I hate Mexico. I truly hate everything about this country. I don't know how this place can possibly function on a day-to-day basis. There is a mentality here of 'manana, manana.' Everything is tomorrow, tomorrow. And odds are that it won't get accomplished tomorrow, or ever for that matter. Furthermore, the corruption that is rampant throughout the country is astonishing! From the loftiest politician, to the lowliest crossing guard, every one in this country is looking to get something for nothing.
When we first made our decision to come here from Thailand, I think that we were under the assumption that the whole of Mexico was going to be like Cabo San Lucas, or Cancun. Needless to say, this is not what we found. We found a place where it is very difficult to get around; electricity is out more than it is on; you have to buy gas for cooking and heating water off trucks in 40gal tanks; and the people are incredibly DISHONEST. This misconception was partially due to our lack of knowledge about the country, and a misrepresentation of the city of Pachuca by the school during our interview.
I do not mean to paint every single Mexican in the country with the same broad brush, but all in all this has not been a good experience. From the extreme drama we had to deal with at the American School, to the laptop being stolen by FedEx, I don't think that there has been one single week that has been drama free.
Mexico truly is the third world, as much as they would like it not to be so. The dichotomy between the "haves" and the "have nots" is staggering. The extremely wealthy in this country have only become extremely wealthy by taking as much advantage as humanly possible on the gullibility and naïveté of the common Mexican. The richest man in Mexico, and the 5th or 6th richest in the world, Carlos Slim, is the owner of Telmex; the Mexican telephone company. This company has a COMPLETE monopoly on the telephone services in the country. If you want a phone in your home… Telmex. Internet…Telmex. Cell phone…Telmex. Make a phone call from a pay phone…yes, Telmex. And Telmex is NOT cheap, quite the opposite actually, it is very expensive. But it is the nature of all monopolies to gouge people as much as they can, because they can.
There is a story that virtually every Mexican knows. A few years ago, T-Mobile (owned by Deutch Telecom) was going to try to set up a mobile network in Mexico. In order to do this they had to get the permission of the Mexican federal government. Well to cut a long story short, T-Mobile never set up a network in Mexico. They were NOT able to complete with the amounts of cash that Telmex was bribing officials with.
This sort of underhanded, criminal action is indicative of the country as a whole. After living here and seeing how the poor of this country are treated, I certainly don't blame them for risking life and limb trying to get into the United States. I think that after we leave here, we will never return. Not for anything. I can say, with 100% certitude, that the only thing we have liked about being here is the wonderful group of friends that we have made at the school. Beyond that? Nada. Zip. Zilch.
Well that's my rant for today. Cheers and see you soon.
When we first made our decision to come here from Thailand, I think that we were under the assumption that the whole of Mexico was going to be like Cabo San Lucas, or Cancun. Needless to say, this is not what we found. We found a place where it is very difficult to get around; electricity is out more than it is on; you have to buy gas for cooking and heating water off trucks in 40gal tanks; and the people are incredibly DISHONEST. This misconception was partially due to our lack of knowledge about the country, and a misrepresentation of the city of Pachuca by the school during our interview.
I do not mean to paint every single Mexican in the country with the same broad brush, but all in all this has not been a good experience. From the extreme drama we had to deal with at the American School, to the laptop being stolen by FedEx, I don't think that there has been one single week that has been drama free.
Mexico truly is the third world, as much as they would like it not to be so. The dichotomy between the "haves" and the "have nots" is staggering. The extremely wealthy in this country have only become extremely wealthy by taking as much advantage as humanly possible on the gullibility and naïveté of the common Mexican. The richest man in Mexico, and the 5th or 6th richest in the world, Carlos Slim, is the owner of Telmex; the Mexican telephone company. This company has a COMPLETE monopoly on the telephone services in the country. If you want a phone in your home… Telmex. Internet…Telmex. Cell phone…Telmex. Make a phone call from a pay phone…yes, Telmex. And Telmex is NOT cheap, quite the opposite actually, it is very expensive. But it is the nature of all monopolies to gouge people as much as they can, because they can.
There is a story that virtually every Mexican knows. A few years ago, T-Mobile (owned by Deutch Telecom) was going to try to set up a mobile network in Mexico. In order to do this they had to get the permission of the Mexican federal government. Well to cut a long story short, T-Mobile never set up a network in Mexico. They were NOT able to complete with the amounts of cash that Telmex was bribing officials with.
This sort of underhanded, criminal action is indicative of the country as a whole. After living here and seeing how the poor of this country are treated, I certainly don't blame them for risking life and limb trying to get into the United States. I think that after we leave here, we will never return. Not for anything. I can say, with 100% certitude, that the only thing we have liked about being here is the wonderful group of friends that we have made at the school. Beyond that? Nada. Zip. Zilch.
Well that's my rant for today. Cheers and see you soon.
