When I moved to a different country I knew that it would take a while to adapt. I knew that there would be many differences that I would encounter. However, I never really thought I would actually enjoy many of them as much as I do.
Photo courtesy of sipse.com
Some of the things that I have seen or experienced here are intriguing to me. Living back home, I absolutely hated to do my laundry. I would wait until everything I owned was dirty and truly had to be done. I always had to do it on a day off because of how much time it took. Here, I have not done one piece of laundry and couldn’t be happier about it. The lavanderias have you drop off your clothes, and they will wash, dry and FOLD all of it for you at a much cheaper price than I was paying at a laundry mat to do my own dirty work.
Photo: riviera-maya-news.com
Pumping gas always made me feel uneasy. There is always someone watching you at the pump, or the attendant is yelling at you because he thinks you won’t get off your phone before you start to pump gas. Here, I can sit in the comfort of my own car and have someone pump it for me AND wash the windows.
I hate parking, trying to find a spot, and parallel parking by myself. Here, it’s not as much of a problem. Men with whistles and towels will show you where all of the available parking spots are and will also help you while you parallel park. This next one is rare, and I have only experienced it once, but after we parked at a restaurant for lunch, the gentleman asked if he could wash our car… inside and out, while we ate. This to me was too much: were we the 1,000th customer that was receiving a car wash as some sort of prize while we had lunch?? It was so nice to know that after lunch we had one less errand to run because of this service. Similarly, these men will also cover your car for you while you go in somewhere to shop or eat. After leaving Market 28 one day, I noticed that someone had placed a huge piece of cardboard on our car and my first thought was, “Um…. someone left their garbage on our car,” but I was of course wrong, as a man walked over to remove it and then helped stop traffic to get us out of our spot.
Photo: anodeforthecamotetruck.blogspot.com
As great as it is going out and having these things done for you, I couldn’t imagine all of the services that would be offered right at my door! The first time I saw something like this, it was a man selling coconuts, riding on a cart up and down our street, The next time, it was an ice cream man, and after that, a man selling sweet potatoes that were being cooked on a wood-burning stove that he was carrying on his cart. I started asking questions about how we were supposed to know who did what. Some of them clap or ring a bell, while others will yell out what they are selling, but each has a specific noise that coincides with what they are offering (all of which is common knowledge to locals). Water will be delivered to your door, and they will take away the empty five-gallon container; a shoe-repair man will fix any shoe; a man will sharpen all of your knives; and the list goes on. I noticed that there are so many more jobs here and that almost everything is done for you (of course, all come at a cost, and usually, most of the services require at least a tip).
Photo: wixoo.fr
The culture here is so rich and deep in customs too. We were eating lunch one day when a family from a table next to us got up to leave and said, “Provecho,” to which my boyfriend replied, “Gracias.” I felt so bad that I didn’t introduce myself, since obviously he had known them, or so I thought. Brian told me that it is customary to tell other diners as you are leaving a restaurant to enjoy their meal. Another thing I didn’t understand was that Brian would call women “Madre” when they were clearly not his mother. This is another deeply rooted sign of respect.
Photo: youtube
Lastly, to conclude each day, and this segment, the Mexican national anthem is played each night at 12:00 and every morning at 6:00 am, followed by the Mayan national anthem (only here in Cancun is the Mayan national anthem played). Overall, I have enjoyed experiencing these events and learning about the culture and customs. I never expected to fall so deeply in love with another country that as far as I have seen, has accepted me with such open arms.
meet me in cancun 