Stuff Mexicans Like

This is my running list of all of the things in Mexico that are either baffling, funny, odd or just worth mentioning.

1. Saying something isn´t spicy when it actually will burn a hole in your tongue.
• Never believe when a Mexican says something is not spicy. Undoubtedly it is spicy.
2. Drinks from cartons.
• All drinks come in cartons here. Juice, milk, etc.
3. Unrefrigerated milk.
• Don´t be grossed out, once you open it the milk must be refrigerated but when you buy it at the store it is sitting on a shelf just like everything else.
4. Candy.
• Seriously, unless it is Halloween or Easter candy never enters the average American home. Here it feels like a staple.
5. Fitting lots of people in small cars.
• I know this probably confirms the stereotypical image that many of you already have in your mind. Well stick a gringa in the car and at the bottom of the pile and your mental picture is just about accurate.
6. Not baking.
• Mexican women rarely ever use their oven, for anything. Well that’s not exactly true, they use it for storing pots and pans. Don’t get me wrong, they cook all the time but a lot of women just don’t bake.
7. Paying for parking.
• I doubt this is something anyone actually likes but almost everywhere you go you will end up paying for parking.
8. Being late.
• I was hesitant to add this one because I was worried it might be taken offensively. But the truth is almost everyone here is late for almost everything. They even joke about it at church! If you joked about being late to the average southern Baptist potluck during church they might just send you down the street to the Pentecostal church to gets the demons out of you (not really but you get the picture). Seriously though, the American value of punctuality is not really on the Mexican radar.
9. Hugs.
• This is just the way everyone greets each other, with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. It really is a very warm culture in the respect that it is difficult to walk into a room and go unnoticed and ungreeted.  I don’t think I’ve been hugged by so many people so much in my entire life since being here in Mexico.
10. Actually talking
• There is little shallow about Mexican relationships even on the most basic of levels. You can never just go to the market or go and get your hair cut. First you talk about your kids and family and school and all other kinds of things before getting down to business. Sometimes this social process can seem laborious to Americans who are oriented to get as much done as quickly as possible. However there is something fundamentally beautiful about going to the market and seeing friends. Having relationship wherever you go and knowing that someone is going to actually you how you are doing and care about the response.