General Adaptation:
It’s
okay to screw-up, being the weird one in the crowd; you are, and it’s just part
of the travel game we must play. You will probably get strange looks, but
certainly it’s not racism here in the pueblo. They are just confused why you
would want to be here rather than in the city; and perhaps why you have come to
the pueblo. Speak Spanish to them! And if that doesn’t work and they laugh at
you, don’t take it personal. You are the weird one here already. Accept the
reality that you are totally different; get over it as quick as possible; and
begin to enjoy the fact that you only have to be your true self.
Many people will engage you as you
wander the streets of the pueblo with at least a ‘buenos días’ in the morning,
while others will want to truly get to know you through conversation. You bring
something new to their reality, and like most people they are curious. They
hear and see so much through TV, film, and through their smart-phone devices,
which presents the advancements of the Western world that they are scarcely a
part of here in the rural parts of the Yucatan Peninsula. People here are
certainly connected to the global community, though grandparents and older
parents are out of the loop from burgeoning technology like anywhere else,
though it’s just more extreme here in a pueblo that still doesn’t have cable.
There are satellite TV providers that offer service at reasonable prices, even
for locals; but at the same time, landline phones have mostly disappeared from
the scene giving away to rampant cellular phone use making sporadic internet
access a subtle form of censorship.
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