The Other Mexico

After nearly 2 years of living in our beautiful house in Metepec and only 2 short weeks living in a small apartment on the poor side of DF, I have learned a lot about the "other" side of Mexico. I now refuse to call it "real" Mexico, bc the way I was living before was real to me. That cushy way of life is also real to the millions of upper-middle-class Mexicans - like many of our co-workers and friends - who actually live in beautiful houses with manicured lawns and housekeepers and big screen TVs and pantries full of food (kind of like what we call 'normal suburbia' in the U.S!).

But for most working class and poor Mexicans, their daily life is a little different than what I was used to.

As a background, my co-workers who live in the apartments are living off of a salary roughly equivalent to $5.50/hour with unpaid summer vacation. And for those of you who think "well, it's cheaper cost of living there" you're mainly wrong. Some things are cheaper, some things are about the same, and some things are pricier. But living in small apartments, using public transportation, and buying only enough groceries to get you to the next paycheck is always going to be cheaper than how I am used to living.

So, here in these apartments on the poor side of DF, this is what I have learned:

1. electricity, hot water, garbage pickup, internet strength, and working laundry machines are all sporadic and cannot be counted on to be available when needed.
2. standing on a bus for 45 minutes without falling into the lap of the lady next to me is a serious workout
3. carrying my groceries through the market, over the steps across the highway, onto the long bus ride, and then up the stairs to my house is also a serious workout
4. when the electricity and washing machines are not working, it is pretty tricky to carry my dirty clothes, laptop bag, and purse onto the bus to find a laundromat and an internet cafe
5. it is super tricky to keep Mexican germs - picked up during the multiple bus trips - from spreading through my apartment if I don't have hot water to wash my hands when I return
6. shopping for fresh produce saves me lots of money, but then I need to find a place to store all of it in the closet-sized kitchen, which I can't find, so I eat all the food right away, esp. because anything that needed to be refrigerated was probably lost bc we don't have electricity and anything that needs reheating has to be done in the oven bc the microwave isn't working bc we don't have electricity, so within 2 days I have eaten all of the fresh produce I bought and now I need a 2 hour bus trip to go get more.

It's been an interesting two weeks.