You are looking at a piece of history.
An old piece of history. The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. The silver route.
The road the Spanish used to transport silver from Zacatecas, Guanajuato, and San Luis Potosi to Mexico City and to ship mercury from Europe north to extract that silver. The road from Spanish national rags to riches to rags.
The stones that are there now are not the same as were there in the 1600s. Even though it feels that way when you are driving over them.
The stretch of the royal highway pictured above is in San Miguel. Between Babs’s house and the place I decided for today’s Mexico adventure.
Rather than visit the market stalls to buy two weeks of groceries, I decided to slowly drive the king’s highway to a shopping center on the outskirts of San Miguel. For me, it is a bit exotic. We simply do not have things like this in Melaque.
For me, it is a tourist destination. For the Mexican families I encountered, it is simply a convenience in their lives.
It looks like almost any shopping center you would find in a small California town. A big box department store (Liverpool). Banks. Coffee shops. McDonald’s. Optician. Multi-plex theater. Video arcade. Large grocery store (Soriana). Office Depot.
Before I visited San Miguel, several people told me I should skip the place. It is nothing more than Gringolandia. All you hear is English. It is not authentically Mexican.
It was the last point that got me thinking as I looked around in the shopping center this afternoon. I didn’t see any burros. Or sombreros. Or happy peasants beating the stuffing out of a piñata.
What I did see were parents having lunch with their families at McDonald’s. Shopping for corn flakes at Soriana. Buying computers at Office Depot. Trying on clothes at Liverpool.
In short, middle class people acting just as they would in Fresno, Oxford, or Madrid.
Not too long ago on one of my Mexico message boards, a young Mexican in Mexico City took we expatriates to task for trying to freeze Mexico in amber. The land of siestas, burros, and sombreros. To her, that is not Mexico. Mexico is young families doing their best to improve their lots in some of the world’s most exciting cities. To her, that is the authentic Mexico.
I suspect she is both wrong and right -- as are the amber-fixated expatriates.
There are a lot of Mexicos. But all of them are changing to one extent or other. And each of them is authentically Mexican. Because they exist in Mexico.
The trick is finding the Mexico that meets your passions -- and then change right along with it.
And my passion? Today I found part of it. And I am enjoying its contribution as I write.
Can Mexico get any more authentic than this?
Well said amigo... I used to work at a casino in Lake Tahoe and folks there used to complain that the tourists were ruining the area and that the old Tahoe was dying. I remember thinking which "old Tahoe" were they referring to; the one from the Native American days(I too can be politically correct), the Ponderosa Ranch/gold rush Days; the logging days, the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s?
ReplyDeleteI suspect we are anachronistic creatures by nature. But before that cobblestone road was out there, there was a time where there there were no people here at all.
ReplyDeleteI generally find it irksome when people make statements like "San Miguel is not Mexico or Cancun is not Mexico." What they don't realize is that these unique places are exactly what Mexicans have made them. They are 'made in Mexico' and proud of it. It's like saying Las Vegas isn't American or Quebec isn't Canadian.
ReplyDeleteReally cant get much more "Mexican" than the Liverpool Store. Wonder when we will get those in the states, then someone will say, "It's not really Norte Americano"
ReplyDeleteIt would make more sense if people would simply say, "I prefer this part of Mexico." And then say why.
ReplyDeleteA Mexican acquaintance who grew up near Puebla once told me he didn't think the people from Monterrey were "real Mexicans" because they were too much like Americans.
I rather liked Liverpool. It reminded me of the old Meier and Frank store.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point. Did you go into Liverpool? They have a great candy department, but my favorite is the imported foods section. They have the best spice selection in Merida, I assume it's the same there. The prices are reasonable too.They have all sorts of interesting goodies from teas to sardines.
ReplyDeleteAs for clothes, I look at the price tags and get my heart racing. Who can afford full retail?When they have a sale though, wow, great prices but limited selection.
regards,
Theresa
Any place with good cherries is authentic.
ReplyDeleteWe have a HUGE Liverpool dept. store in Xalapa. Come on over amigo!
ReplyDeleteI went in and looked at most of the departments -- especially, the electronics. Good selection, but mostly dated computers at incredibly high prices. (But I already knew that.)
ReplyDeleteThe brand name men's clothes are more expensive than they are in The States. But they carry some Mexican-made clothes that are similar -- and much cheaper.
One of these days, I will need to cross the Great Divide and head down on your side. But a large lake south of here is calling me for August.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that, brother. One pound disappeared this afternoon. There is another pound in the refrigerator. I just may need to do a little more research at Soriana tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI went over an old Royal Road in Guatemala a few years ago, top end was less than ten miles an hour. After many hours of travel, it was getting dark, it looked like a night along the Royal Road was in the cards. Turned a corner and there was a one lane strip of blacktop, another turn, a town and a hotel. Got a room and went to get a bite. The local people were not very friendly. A week or so later I was back in the tourist town of Antigua and asked around about why those people were so unfriendly. It turned out that during the civil war, the army had pulled into town with a trackhoe on a flat bed trailer and used it to bury as many of the locals as it could find. The good people of that Royal Road have good reason to not trust strangers.
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt that these roads -- that did so much to open up the interior of Latin America for economic growth -- also brought tragedy. And now and then still do. There are many layers of authenticity.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, the road went from capital to capital, with stops about 20 miles apart, a few of those stops can still be seen, pretty much the reason I travel the Royal Roads when I can. The route in Guatemala ran south to north and up through what is now Belize, over to Valladolid and Merida in Mexico and on back south to Campeche. I have driven a good bit of the route, it is one of those bucket list things.
ReplyDeleteAh hah, or should I say Ajijic.
ReplyDeleteNice theme trip to see a lot of the sights. I never thought about how the road was the economic backbone of Spain's colonies. Of course, interesting things were going to grow up around it.
ReplyDeleteIf you did, you would be wrong. Try Patzcuaro.
ReplyDeleteMUCH BETTER !!! Sorry just thought you might be following the typical retired gringo americano route.. Hola Felipe
ReplyDeleteMuch better -- indeed!
ReplyDeleteMaybe we'll get to meet you on your next trip to Pátzcuaro.However, we will be in residence only the first week of August.
ReplyDeleteSaludos, Don Cuevas
Pick a date in the first week of August. We will do something.
ReplyDeleteI love that shopping center and go there every time I am in San Miguel. I don't believe I've ever heard anybody speaking English there.
ReplyDeleteThe only English I have heard up there was an elderly American couple involved in a high decibel dispute in front of McDonald's. I thought they were filming a remake of The Honeymooners.
ReplyDeleteI have a theory that the more one complains about hearing English, the less likely the complainer is to speak Spanish. Strange but true, I think.
ReplyDeleteAs you know, my Spanish is abysmal. But I like hearing English from intelligent people. I doubt I will ever be able to speak Spanish with the depth that would have allowed me to discuss the intricacies of film-making with the young Mexicans who approached me in the cinema the other evening. (That last sentence is an example. I would have no idea where to begin with it in Spanish.) But I cannot let that desire to get in the way of learning more Spanish. The more I learn, the more comfortable I feel down here.
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