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    Going to Mexico
    Going to Mexico
    Going to Mexico
    Ebook115 pages1 hour

    Going to Mexico

    By David H. Greegor

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    About this ebook

    Going to México provocatively probes the side of México not often seen by visitors, the small pueblos, and provides a humorous, but at times, poignant perspective. In his Peace Corps memoir, David H. Greegor offers personal accounts of not only the life of a volunteer, but the lives of the Mexican people. You will read about the hilarious side of the Mexican bus system, Christmas in one extremely poor community, the profile of the author’s Mexican papá and a glimpse of the life of another volunteer. This book will make you laugh as well as cry.  

    Going to México evokes reasons why so many people love México and why living there changed his life forever. From the introduction David writes, “I remember very vividly one night walking to downtown Querétaro and my wife, Sonya, saying, ‘We probably will never have life this good again.’ And even though I had been working all day in a small village and was beat, I could only agree with her. And I still do.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDavid H. Greegor
    Release dateApr 18, 2017
    ISBN9781386245339
    Going to Mexico

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      Book preview

      Going to Mexico - David H. Greegor

      INTRODUCTION

      When my wife, Sonya, and I left the Peace Corps México program in 2011, after having volunteered for over three years, I mentioned that I might combine the stories I’d been casually writing about some of our wonderful experiences into a book. "Do you mean you’d write a real book? she questioned. Yeah, right, I guess, I replied. If I paste the stories together it should make a book or at least a comic book (I believe very weak humor to be my main writing strength). She threw back her head, Ha, you’ve been threatening to write a book about various topics since we were nuptially tethered back in the Pleistocene, to win a Pulitzer, and to buy me a ragtop BMW, a 22-year old Chippendale dancer, and a pedigree labradoodle. Look at me, I’m still sharing a ’96 Toyota 2-wheel drive beater pickup with you; I’m still married to you; and our dog is a 17 year old arthritic and crazed half-labrador." Sonya did not really say this, of course, because she is a kind, compassionate, and very patient person, and she has been a huge help with this book project. I could not be more serious – for once.

      Unfortunately, had she said it or even thought it, she would have been right. No ragtop, no hunk husband, no labradoodle. Why not? Well, I have several weak, very personal reasons which I will share:

      Autobio insight 1: defective brain. I have loved writing, and for years have written emails, Facebook messages, and notes on toilet stall walls, but with no resultant income increase. I’ve also kept personal journals since I was a teen, written newspaper and magazine editorials, and scientific journal articles. But, this is my first book, which should make enough money to put me in the one percent bracket – the upper, not the lower. Oh, I have written entire book outlines and even a chapter or two scribbled on a bedside notepad during episodic 3 a.m. brainstorms. Brainstorms, at least mine, seem to be storms that originate in some mystery organ of my body other than the brain, let’s say for sake of discussion, the pancreas, an organ not reputed to house any rationale thinking cells. Why do I say this? Because the result of these pancreatic storms is so often downright preposterous when illuminated by the light of the next day, it ends up in the wastebasket. Going to México never made it to the security of the wastebasket, even though it begged to be put out of its misery many times.

      Autobio insight 2: lack of talent. For example, take the James boys, Patterson and Michener. They would have guffawed at my assignment and written my book while relaxing on a hotel toilet or maybe while waiting for their bottle of Chivas Regal at Delmonico’s. Not a decade.

      Autobio insight 3: procrastination/dedication. I have heard many famous authors say that to become as famous as they are (their chest detonates at that point) one has to be able to sit down at the computer in the eye of a hurricane at 8 a.m., take a break and a shot of scotch at 10 a.m. and return to the keyboard until noon, all while the hurricane is buffeting a screaming baby who is going unfed with its diaper exploding. At noon, the famous author would eat a watercress sandwich washed down with bourbon, feed and change the damned baby and be back to the keyboard from 1 to 5 with intermittent shots of whatever was in the cabinet. Famous authors don’t relate to my whining cries of procrastination, like, Ye gads, my little toe is so sore, maybe I’ll go to the ER and write that two page introduction sometime next month. Or, "Oops, I can’t miss the last installment of As the World Turns but that story needs a better title. Later, alligator. Or, Hmmmm... maybe I’ll think about that weird margin next Tuesday."

      Autobio insight 4: generalizations. I over-generalize and always have which generates at the very least a mild rebuff from Sonya. For example, I might say, Most, if not all, Mexicans love gaudy colors. In essence I did say almost exactly that. Well, did I take a survey or a poll before making that statement? No. I just assumed that since everything is so colorful in México, even toilet paper (maybe not), that the vast majority are addicted to color. If not to color, my next assumption would be that they are addicted to LSD and in a hallucinogenic state – all the time. What’s wrong with that reasoning? Aren’t those fair generalizations? Absolutely.

      Hopefully these stories in Going to Mexico convey that Sonya and I truly loved our Peace Corps experience and living in México. I have, however, found it a challenge to explain in words the synergistic effect México and the Peace Corps had on me. The reader should know that we weren’t just out of college like so many Peace Corps volunteers are; we were retired and spry candidates for Happy Geezer Acres Retirement Community. The chemistry of the Peace Corps and México and the timing of the diversion in our lives was just right, as Goldilocks discovered.

      Certainly another objective of this book is to convey the pure goodness we found in the Peace Corps endeavor and the Mexican people. Too much news today about México is terrifying, but the drug cartels are not what México is about. They certainly have their impacts in regards to corruption, distrust of the government and the police, and real danger in certain areas, but the people do not seem to let it overwhelm them.

      Going to México is a collection of independent and near-chronological stories which I began writing in early 2008, within a few months of completing our three month Peace Corps language and culture training. The last story, La Casita, was written several days after returning to the United States Essentially, Going to México is a three year memoir.

      We loved all of those twenty or so communities where our projects took us, but one community seemed to emerge above the rest: Chitejé de Garabato. Garabato is featured in the story, Falling from Grace in Garabato. The people of that tiny community embraced us without hesitation on our very first official work day and continued until our very last work day, more than three years later. I don’t mean that we stayed in their embrace for three years!

      In each of these ten stories, I have attempted to allude to some facet of the innate genuineness of Mexicans and to the humorous side of my personal experiences. To find both was easy.

      It was on a Seattle summer day, after we had returned to the United States, I was picking up my now five year old grandson at his day care, and I had just unbuckled him from his rear car seat, when he leaped into the driver’s seat, grabbed the steering wheel and proceeded to twist it back and forth making motor sounds. What are you doing, Garrett? I asked. He shouted, I’m going to México. I hadn’t said a thing

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