Are you ever walking down the street in Mexico and spot someone you just know is “one of yours”? When I say “one of yours,” I simply mean someone from the same country. You don’t have to actually claim them. Perhaps it’s part and parcel of being a foreigner in Mexico.
I’m pretty good at this, as are most people. Or are we? I suppose we don’t realize we’re not spotting the ones we don’t spot.
But for the most part, when you’re a foreigner in Mexico, it’s noticeable. It’s not just that we sometimes look different from our hosts. After all, there’s an incredibly wide variety of looks in Mexico; this is a very diverse country.
It’s something else. Or some ‘things’ else. The way we dress? Our gait? The way we look at people or don’t look at people? Whether or not we smile at strangers?
All of the above, perhaps. And anyway, most Whitexicans are not traipsing around downtown on foot. And they’re certainly not doing it in athletic sandals.
Mexicans seem to get along with pretty much everyone
The good thing is that it’s not bad to look like an American around here. Unless you’ve wandered into an anti-gentrification protest or something along those lines.
But for the most part, Mexicans seem to get along with pretty much everyone. They’re friendly, they’re polite, they love a good laugh, and welcome a touch of irreverence and absurdity. And there’s something about the Mexican personality that just meshes especially well with that of their North-er American counterparts.
If the rest of North America and Mexico found each other on Tinder, we’d for sure both be swiping right. Still, we all want to fit in. We want to be unique but not necessarily different.
So what is it that gives us away? Unless you’re an internationally-wanted criminal, blending in is probably not your first priority anyway. I’ve personally given up on it. Still, it’s a fun game to try and put your finger on it. What makes us so easy to spot?
If you ask Europeans how to spot someone from the United States or Canada, they’ll usually say, “Oh, you don’t have to spot them; you’ll hear them coming.”
Happily, I’m not totally sure this is true here in Mexico. Sure, your ears might perk up if you’re hearing non-Spanish, but Mexicans tend to be quite loud themselves. Whew! Speaking English is of course a dead giveaway, but at least it’s not embarrassingly higher-than-everyone-else volume.
So what else have we got?
Well, there’s our way of dressing, often utilitarian and for comfort. Here in Mexico, people who can afford to dress up consistently, do dress up consistently. Americans, by comparison, are often quite casual. The comments that most made me laugh when doing my research were those that described us as if we were dressed for a hike through the mountains even when we were just wandering around the city. Well, paisanos, they got us there.
Another tell-tale sign? What our faces are doing. Are you confidently looking straight ahead as you go along? Making direct eye contact and smiling, perhaps? Saying hello? Asking the barista how her day has been? Mexicans may be friendly, but gringos are really friendly — as in, we see a potential friend in literally every person we pass. In that sense, we differ: Mexicans are generally a tad less trusting of strangers. People from the U.S. and Canada, on the other hand, are the Kimmy Schmidt of the Americas [Editor’s note: I am British and the thought of this makes me feel uncomfortable].
Now move down: what are our bodies doing? Now this, I hadn’t thought about before it was pointed out to me. “Americans lean on things.” “Americans aren’t afraid to take up space.” The leaning thing is totally true, and while I did do that today, I at least had the decency to feel self-conscious about it. You’ll also see me and others of my kind looking very irritated when people walk by too close or don’t make room for faster walkers on thin sidewalks. “Let’s go, people!” is, apparently, a very gringo kind of urgency.
Back to friendliness: we talk to people when we can. We like chit-chat, and we’re not as discerning in terms of who we make it with. We’re also, I’ve discovered, classic oversharers. For me, this is totally true. I even publish a newsletter where I write about everything I’m thinking and feeling. Wait, are we emotional exhibitionists? In my case, I’m afraid so.
The last surprising yet embarrassing finding, which is also kind of adorable? We like to stare in amazement at stuff.
“What? That’s not true!” I thought for a brief moment before I remembered myself, just last week, stopping to examine a pretty leaf I saw up close. Sigh.
What else gives us away? Feel free to add more to the list in the comments!
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sarahedevries.substack.com
