The "Real Mexico"
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 8:51 pm
Some persons in the threads under the category "Off the Beaten Path" refer to small towns that they've passed through as being the "real Mexico."
There is no "real Mexico," just as there is no "real U.S.A." Is New York City the real U.S.A.? Is Los Angeles the real U.S.A.? Is Grand Junction, Colorado the real U.S.A.? Hopefully those of you who refer to the "real Mexico" will realize that Mexico is a highly diverse and complicated culture. It's civilizations are much older and were more dispersed than any others on the North America continent, which contributes greatly to Mexico's complexity and diversity.
With more than 70% of the population of Mexico living in urban areas, the small, more-primitive pueblos that are described as the "real Mexico" can't even be called typical. To refer to these places as the real Mexico is to suggest a complete lack of understanding of the country -- and to be somewhat insulting to most modern Mexicans, who are typically better educated and more sophisticated than their North American neighbors in the USA & Canada.
If you want to see how a more typical Mexican lives, go to a city like Puerto Vallarta, or, even better, to Manzanillo.
The small beach towns of Nayarit are all more tourist dependent than Puerto Vallarta. When there were few tourists visiting Bahia de Banderas, there was still a Puerto Vallarta. (The Spanish built ships here.) However, there were virtually no communities on the beaches of Nayarit when I was a young man and drove to Punta Mita. So, if you want to see a more typical Mexico while you're here, visit the Zona Romantica in Puerto Vallarta. Begin your walk 4-5 blocks in from the beach. This area represents a more typical Mexico.
There is no "real Mexico," just as there is no "real U.S.A." Is New York City the real U.S.A.? Is Los Angeles the real U.S.A.? Is Grand Junction, Colorado the real U.S.A.? Hopefully those of you who refer to the "real Mexico" will realize that Mexico is a highly diverse and complicated culture. It's civilizations are much older and were more dispersed than any others on the North America continent, which contributes greatly to Mexico's complexity and diversity.
With more than 70% of the population of Mexico living in urban areas, the small, more-primitive pueblos that are described as the "real Mexico" can't even be called typical. To refer to these places as the real Mexico is to suggest a complete lack of understanding of the country -- and to be somewhat insulting to most modern Mexicans, who are typically better educated and more sophisticated than their North American neighbors in the USA & Canada.
If you want to see how a more typical Mexican lives, go to a city like Puerto Vallarta, or, even better, to Manzanillo.
The small beach towns of Nayarit are all more tourist dependent than Puerto Vallarta. When there were few tourists visiting Bahia de Banderas, there was still a Puerto Vallarta. (The Spanish built ships here.) However, there were virtually no communities on the beaches of Nayarit when I was a young man and drove to Punta Mita. So, if you want to see a more typical Mexico while you're here, visit the Zona Romantica in Puerto Vallarta. Begin your walk 4-5 blocks in from the beach. This area represents a more typical Mexico.