Letter from Americans living in Guanajuato

[DonJuane]

I am still thinking about what might be appropriate. I don't follow the news as much as I used to (a blessing of being here in Mexico, perhaps a major one if you are lucky enough to put away your computer or block it out, and not be forced to look at it) but when I was in Pozuelos Mall the other day I kept wondering why I was getting all the strange looks I had not seen before. So I checked a mirror to see if something was on my face, fly undone, you know standard stuff and I didn't see anything abnormal but later after learning about the shooting I was wondering if anyone may have been viewing me as a reference point, perhaps thinking while looking at me "could someone normal looking like this do something horrible like this in Mexico too" and I hoped that was not the case and it was simply that they were looking for some other reason. When I later learned about this horrible tragedy, at that point I better I understood maybe what could have caused those looks. In hindsight, had I known about this horrible event when I was at the mall I would have gone directly on home.

I do think that most people here are astute and should recognize that we as Gringos are here for a reason and from the statistics I have observed which to me appear, that as far as expats in Central Mexico go, it seems near all I have met do severely detest what is happening in the US now and this is the number one reason many of us have moved here (other than of course it being a really special and beautiful place, this part of the country).

And I have never been harassed in this area other than last year when one bus rider loudly called me Donald Trump as I stepped onto a bus. In response I stood on the bus and asked in Spanish why he thought I was on this bus in Guanajuato if I was a fan of Donald Trump. Everyone bowed their head and would not look up after that incident but that's the only encounter I have had and I have been traveling Mexico extensively for the past 12 years. I once got shoved out of a bar by an inebriated guy in Chiapas, who was screaming while calling me George Bush back in 2007 but there are disturbed people everywhere while evil seems to lurk in far too many hearts of men all around our great globe. I do my best by being as kind to every soul I meet as I possibly can be and I just hope a small percentage will pay that back.

Otherwise I would hope that the country of Mexico realizes who we are as Gringos living here and realize what we stand for and how that we love the people of Mexico the same as we do our own families back home and that what happens in the USA as a result of so many deranged and sick people is as far away from us and who we are as can possibly be. And I don't know exactly how to communicate that to the citizens of Mexico where it would have the most impact.