Mexico Road Trip: Fetuses and Tequila
Tio takes out a bottle of Anis and puts two shot glasses on the table.
I wasn’t expecting you would find out anything, sobrino, but thank you for trying. And it’s time we had a man to man talk before you go, he says seriously. He fills the glasses and hands me one.
To your successful journey, he says.
To my successful journey, I reply, and click my glass with his.
We should all work harder, he continues, I regret not working harder when I was younger. I’m too old now, he laughs, and besides I’m Mexican. We can work hard but our government takes it all. It’s all for them and the people pay. Look at those Pemex workers with houses in Switzerland…how did they get that money? And look at Fox…he turned out to be like the rest. The government gets in the way…many of us work from gallo to grillo…from the rooster crowing in the morning until the crickets come out at night.
Our government allows those super rich to get richer…the politicos go to visit them and they do them favors, he continues. Look at Camarena and the color TV patent…he tried to get a patent in Mexico but all the government did was want more mordidas…so he took his patent to the U.S. The superrich just get richer…look at Telmex.
But isn’t that what you aspire to Tio? I ask.
I want to see my country progress and get out of the mess the politicos have taken us to. I want to see us work harder and for our young people to have opportunity…but look what happens…we invest in their educations and they go to the United States. Isn’t that a great loss for Mexico? And what happens when the government and the corrupt bleed the small businessman of his profits? Corruption and the government take their chunk and those of us that produce and do the work have to be content with what is left…do you see what I mean?
I nod my head in agreement.
We lack culture and a work ethic, especially here in Campeche, he continues, look at the economic boom happening in Cd. Carmen. Why isn’t it happening here? The other day I went to a parts house to find an air conditioning part…the employee said maybe they had it and maybe they didn’t but he didn’t have time to look. He told me to come back the next day. I had to go to Merida on business and I stop in a parts house there. The employee said they didn’t have it but he gets on the phone and finds it. He asks me to have a seat, offers me a cup of coffee and ten minutes later the part arrives. Why can’t it be that way everywhere?
But it’s that way in Carmen and Merida, I reply.
Yes, but that is also rare. It never happens here in Campeche…maybe we are too Mexican, he laughs. Our system keeps us down…and our government keeps the super rich taking it all. And no, I don’t want to be super rich, I detest them. Let me tell you a little story…
There were three compadres drinking on a Sunday afternoon and they started talking about what they would do if they were super rich. The first said he would buy a mansion and a dozen new cars. The second said he would buy a beautiful new wife and travel around the world and stay in the fanciest hotels. The third said he wanted to eat well, sleep well and go to the bathroom well. The others were confused and asked him why…
First, the rich don’t eat well because they eat pre-packaged foods that are frozen or out of cans. Secondly, the rich don’t sleep well because they are constantly worried someone is stealing their money. And thirdly, the rich don’t go to the bathroom well because they don’t eat or sleep well and they have health problems. And how can one enjoy all that money if they have health problems?
I laugh. Tio is a funny guy…
We Mexicans aren’t very smart, he continues, we think someone’s worth is determined by what they have. I have this young employee that works very hard and he is my best technician. One day his mother and father come to visit him in the shop – they are Maya and don’t speak Spanish very well. He doesn’t introduce them to me and I ask him why and he says he embarrassed…
Embarrassed about your own parents? I ask him, they put you through school and fed you and gave you love and helped you get to where you are today…
Yes, he replied, that is true…but people look down on them and I don’t want people to look down on me.
Go figure, sobrino, said Tio, we are losing our values with this modern world of ours…Parents like my employee are not teaching their kids Maya and the day will come when no one speaks Maya. Maybe one day we will all speak English, he laughs.
Many of the small business owners I know say business is good and then it goes bad…that’s not progress. But we are the problem too…not just the government. I get young men that come in every week and want me to pay them to learn the air conditioning trade…imagine that? I tell them you need to pay me for teaching you, he laughs. So between our government and this modern world where one wants things for free and even get paid for it, no wonder we are not progressing…when we aren’t going backward, we are going in circles, no?
I’ve got more questions than answers, I laugh, I see less in black and white and more in gray.
Tio pours us another shot of anis and we click our glasses.
Tio of course is right even though his views are simplistic. But there has to be a way to break this vicious cycle…
How did you learn all this, Tio? I ask.
It was hard on me, he says wistfully, when I was 15 my older brother took me off the ranch to live in a whorehouse. The owner was a Pemex director and there were maybe 40 or 50 women there. At first I thought it was great since I could have almost any woman I wanted…but then it was not so much fun. I would take the aborted fetuses and put them in a bucket and dump them in the river…does that bother you, sobrino?
Not much bothers me anymore, I answer.
I would see fathers bring their young daughters and sell them to my brother, he continued, and he would set them up in a room. I never forgot how sad that was…or how sad it was to see the children they had suffer. I saw it all or at least all I could stomach, he continued, maybe that is why I am the way I am…eventually I saw things I didn’t want to see anymore.
Every now and then there would be gunfight and I saw men killed right in front of my eyes…I used to dive under the table whenever I saw a gun, he laughed, and to this day even a policeman’s or security guard’s gun make me want to get down. One night I saw a man get shot in the head and the blood just drained out of him and made a pool on the floor. He ordered more tequila and put the bottle to his mouth and drank big gulps maybe going through half the bottle before he fell backwards dead. I left the next day and never went back. I worked every minute of the day so I would not have to live like an animal…when I think about it my stomach turns.
So you see sobrino, I have no sympathy for the weak and pathetic. There are no excuses for failure and success needs no explanation. That’s me and who I am…and I make no apologies. There are those that don’t like me but I don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me what they think…I’ve had a hard life and managed to get out…today, we Mexicans are too weak and want it all without earning it…don’t you think that is the case? he asks.
If you say so, Tio, I nod, if you say so…
Jack D. Deal
