Latest / onefjef / Gringa Tacos, Cineteca & Leaving for Bogotá with Fernando Marquez

Transcript

Gringa Tacos, Cineteca & Leaving for Bogotá with Fernando Marquez · onefjef

• 0:01
  Feels to me like we're, the Latin Americans, we are a little bit more warm.
• 0:05
  Oh, yeah.
• 0:05
  For a little, yeah, definitely.
• 0:07
  And Americans are a little bit colder, you know?
• 0:10
  Yeah, yeah, no.
• 0:11
  So- You can take out the little bit.
• 0:14
  This is episode 60 of onefjef 60, 60, 60 for you.
• 0:19
  Six.
• 0:20
  Hello once again, my friends.
• 0:22
  Hola de nuevo, mis amigos y amigas.
• 0:25
  Thriving?
• 0:26
  Yes.
• 0:27
  I hope you are.
• 0:29
  Always.
• 0:31
  Speaking of thriving, the podcast has been gaining some steam this month,
• 0:35
  so thank you for sharing it with your friends or family or people with whom
• 0:39
  you have an undefined relationship with.
• 0:43
  Thank you as well to my ex-landlord, who has no doubt been listening with
• 0:47
  a pen and paper in hand, searching for a new crime to charge me with.
• 0:52
  Buena suerte to you.
• 0:55
  At long last, I am finally releasing some of these interviews that I recorded
• 0:59
  months ago back in the old apartment when I was relatively fresh off the
• 1:03
  boat or the airplane, whatever, and it's funny listening back to these.
• 1:09
  I can hear it in my voice, the wild-eyed newness of everything,
• 1:15
  the whiplash still wearing off.
• 1:18
  I met my guest today at a Wednesday evening language exchange in Condesa
• 1:22
  that I went to a few times and have every intention of returning to
• 1:26
  at some point, but have not yet.
• 1:29
  His name is Fernando Marquez, and we only talked for about a half an
• 1:33
  hour at the language exchange, but it was one of the more interesting
• 1:36
  conversations that I've had since moving here, or at least at the time.
• 1:41
  So it seemed appropriate to have him on the podcast.
• 1:44
  He's in his 20s, and he's itching to see the world, and I'm all for it,
• 1:49
  and I am itching for you to go to patreon.com/onefjef and sign up to support
• 1:55
  this fledgling independent podcast for as little as $5 a month or about 85 pesos.
• 2:03
  You'll be buying motivation for me to continue making these, and you'll
• 2:07
  also get access to a bunch of free content, more of which is coming soon.
• 2:13
  Patreon.com/onefjef.
• 2:15
  If money is tight, totally understand.
• 2:17
  You can sign up as a free member and feel moderately good about yourself.
• 2:22
  And thank you to all of my continuing members.
• 2:25
  You're the best.
• 2:27
  As always, thank you for listening.
• 2:30
  Thank you for being here.
• 2:32
  Here's my conversation with Fernando Marquez
• 2:42
  I lived a few years out of the city in another, another small town-
• 2:45
  Mm-hmm … which is called Querétaro.
• 2:47
  Okay.
• 2:47
  It's like three hours away from here.
• 2:49
  I've heard of that.
• 2:50
  Um, but- It's on the coast, right?
• 2:52
  No, it's just like in the middle of the country.
• 2:54
  Okay.
• 2:55
  My bad.
• 2:55
  A, a little, a little more up towards the north.
• 2:58
  Okay.
• 2:59
  Uh, but still kind of like middle.
• 3:02
  But most of your life's been here.
• 3:03
  Yeah.
• 3:04
  All right.
• 3:04
  All right.
• 3:05
  What part of Mexico City did you grow up in?
• 3:06
  In this, uh, area, neighborhood called El Valle.
• 3:10
  Oh, okay.
• 3:10
  The same neighborhood you're in now.
• 3:11
  Yeah.
• 3:11
  Exactly.
• 3:12
  Yeah, yeah.
• 3:12
  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  I've been, I've been living there almost my whole life.
• 3:15
  Yeah.
• 3:16
  Cool.
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  So when I moved out of like my, uh, family's house, I wanted to find a place
• 3:21
  in the area because… Not just because that's a place that I really know- Yeah.
• 3:27
  Yeah … but I feel comfortable living there.
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  I mean, I like it.
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  Sure, and close to your family's important.
• 3:31
  Exactly.
• 3:32
  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
• 3:33
  Yeah.
• 3:33
  Are you close to your family?
• 3:34
  Yeah.
• 3:35
  Uh, I'd say my mom lives in Querétaro.
• 3:38
  Okay.
• 3:39
  So I go there from time to time- Mm-hmm … to visit her and to stay with her.
• 3:43
  I, I like that because I can say that I have a mix of both things.
• 3:48
  Mm. Mexico City, it's like the chaos side of my life.
• 3:51
  Right.
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  Right.
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  And Querétaro is more like the peaceful side because- Oh, that's nice
• 3:56
  sometimes when I feel like pretty stressed of this, I just drive there
• 4:00
  and I stay for just a few days.
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  I work remote from there.
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  Right.
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  She has like a, a, a nice backyard.
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  Mm. So I take my coffee there in the morning- Oh, that's nice … while
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  I'm working with my laptop, and there, there's no like sounds.
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  There, there's no- Yeah
• 4:15
  car noise.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Mexico City is very loud.
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  It is.
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  Yeah.
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  Extremely.
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  So what was it like growing up in… I mean, I know you have nothing to
• 4:23
  compare it to obviously, but what was it like growing up in Mexico City?
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  I would say it's pretty interesting.
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  I mean, I don't know, for example, like kids growing in small towns in the US.
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  Sure, sure.
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  But here in Mexico at least, there is kind of a big difference from these kids
• 4:41
  that are growing up in small towns- Right.
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  Right, right … than the kids growing up in the city.
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  Of course.
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  So I, I would say that you are open to more experiences.
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  Yeah, yeah.
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  There's always something new to do here.
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  You're exposed probably to a lot more as well.
• 4:57
  Yeah.
• 4:57
  Exactly.
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  Yeah.
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  And therefore, I think that we grow up with even different
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  levels of stress, I would say.
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  Hmm, right.
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  Yeah.
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  Right, right.
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  I think the noise just in general brings you stress, like
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  the constant din of Mexico City noise that never seems to stop.
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  Yeah, it's something to get used to.
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  I lived in New York for 10 years, and it was always noisy there, but
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  it wasn't the same kind of noisy.
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  Here, it's just like, you know, Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Um, so how have you seen the city change since you… I mean, you've
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  been here most of your life, so how have you seen the city change?
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  That's a great question, honestly, because, you know, it, it changes so fast.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  And you actually feel like- It's been growing and changing so
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  fast that you don't even notice.
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  Right.
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  Right.
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  You know?
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  So one day you wake up, and you're living in a totally different city-
• 5:48
  Huh … but it's the same one- Sure … but you've been there
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  for- Sure … many years, you know?
• 5:52
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  So, like, I don't know, back in the day- Mm-hmm … uh, there was a lot of chaos.
• 5:57
  Yeah, there was.
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  What kind of chaos?
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  Like, you know, always a traffic chaos and all those kind of things,
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  but I, I feel like people, they are always gonna find something
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  to complain or something to blame.
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  Well, sure.
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  I mean, that's human nature, right?
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  Yeah.
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  Right.
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  Back in the day, they were complaining about insecurity.
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  They were complaining about many other things, and now they complain about, you
• 6:21
  know, um, people, foreigners living here.
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  Right.
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  You know?
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  Right.
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  And, and tomorrow they, they will find something else to complain about.
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  Sure, unless the foreigner thing continues, right?
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  Which it's- Well, it's, it's gonna continue because- I, I don't know if you
• 6:35
  remember this chat that we had, uh, that night, but I was saying that big cities
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  like, like Mexico City, like New York City- Yeah, yeah, yeah … they're totally
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  exposed to these kind of things, you know?
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  Like, people from different cultures, different, uh,
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  places- Yeah … moving there.
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  Yeah.
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  And it's just, like, part of, like, the natural tendency of
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  the, of the world right now.
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  Yeah, although I think in the case of Mexico and Mexico City, particularly
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  with expats from the US, I think it's often a financial incentive as well.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  Whereas if, like, New York City, I lived there for 10 years, it's
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  way… I mean, it's crazy expensive.
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  It's, like, three times as much as anything here.
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  So I think that, I would imagine anyway, I'm not speaking for Mexicans of course,
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  but I would imagine that a lot of the, uh, negative sentiment towards expats comes
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  from the fact that there's a feeling that they are coming in here with all their
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  American money and make- raising the rents and, and making everything more expensive.
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  Well, I mean, if you put it that way, yeah, but that maybe i-
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  that's kind of what it's going on.
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  Yeah.
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  You know?
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  Yeah.
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  But at the same time, um, I think economy is just going bad for everyone.
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  It doesn't matter where.
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  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  And i- if, if I had a chance, for example, to go and live in another country where
• 7:49
  I can have a better quality of life- Yeah
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  we would probably do it as well.
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  Right.
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  I think most people would.
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  I think that's gonna be the story of, like, the 21st century is, um…
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  Like, the 20th century was often, like, gentrification in their own
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  country, but now I think it's gonna be international gentrification in a way.
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  Like, people going from one country to another to live because of
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  more opportunities and so forth.
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  And actually, now that we s- we're talking about this, it came to my mind,
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  one of the common thoughts of, well, people living here in Mexico City-
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  Mm-hmm … because it's a big, big city.
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  It is.
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  And all the opportunities in the country, or the most important ones, are here.
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  Same.
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  Whether it's, uh, f- for a good college- Mm-hmm
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  or a good job.
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  Yeah.
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  So people from different parts of the c- of the country, they
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  all move in here, you know?
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  Mm-hmm.
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  Doesn't matter if you're living in, like, Quintana Roo, Veracruz.
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  Right, right, right.
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  Like, moving to Mexico City, it's always one of the possibilities, you know?
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  Right, right.
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  A- and these people from Mexico City, they're always mad at them a- as well.
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  You know, it's like- Oh, I see … "Oh, go back to your state," you know?
• 8:50
  Oh, I see.
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  So it's like - Right … people from Mexico City, they just wanna have, like,
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  people from the same city living here.
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  Right.
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  Right, right.
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  The only difference with- Right … Americans and Europeans is that of
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  course they have, like, a better, uh, a better payment- Right, right, right
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  more money, and it increases pri- prices.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  And I think that's why they're a little bit more mad to them
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  than- No, it makes sense.
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  Yeah.
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  It makes sense.
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  Yeah, it's a complicated situation.
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  Do you remember- When you were a kid, seeing a lot of gringos or, or, or
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  foreigners around in your neighborhood?
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  Not at all.
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  So when- do you remember when you started to see them around?
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  Hmm.
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  I would say after pandemic.
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  Okay.
• 9:26
  Yeah, that sounds about right.
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  That's about when the, the big, the digital nomad thing started- Exactly
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  … the working remotely thing started, and everybody started to say, "Hey, Mexico
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  City's great." Everybody I talk to who's not from Mexico City, who hasn't
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  visited and visited for the first time, they're always like, "I had no idea."
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  Exactly.
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  "I had no idea." Keep it a secret, though, because we
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  don't want anybody else to know.
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  I mean, my ex-girlfriend, she's from, uh, she's from Maryland.
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  Okay.
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  And she decided to come here and, and live- Mm-hmm … in Mexico.
• 9:54
  Yeah.
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  But once she told me that before that, she never knew that we
• 10:00
  had big cities like Mexico City.
• 10:02
  Oh, wow.
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  Yeah, I mean, I knew you had a big city.
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  I just didn't know it was this pretty.
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  Okay.
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  You know?
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  I think that's most people, because the media in America, or I think
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  in most places, doesn't like to tell positive stories about Mexico.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  Which, you know, uh, sucks, but great for, you know, s- "Don't come.
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  It's dangerous here." It's, you know- Exactly … yeah, yeah.
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  I mean, I know, like, the security here in, in Mexico in terms of, like,
• 10:24
  uh, narco, those kind of things.
• 10:26
  Yeah, yeah.
• 10:27
  Well, that's true.
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  I mean- Yeah … it, it happens in the country, but they think that we
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  live in, like, uh, shootings the whole day here- Yeah, yeah … or something
• 10:34
  like that, which is not true at all.
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  Which is the way it's portrayed, though, in the news.
• 10:37
  Exactly.
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  And, like, the new- people e- e- mail me news stories or text me or whatever news
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  stories about Mexico, and it's always something that's somehow negative, right?
• 10:46
  Like, the last one was the city sinking 12 inches a year or something, and, you know.
• 10:50
  It happens.
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  Which is exciting.
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  I can't… I wish you could feel it sink.
• 10:53
  You know?
• 10:53
  If you could actually- Yeah … oh, there's another drop.
• 10:55
  Um, so you dated… How long did you date the woman from America?
• 10:58
  Uh, we, we were together for, like, almost two years.
• 11:01
  Y- you met here, I imagine.
• 11:02
  Yeah, we met here.
• 11:04
  W- did she speak Mex- Spanish Spanish?
• 11:06
  Uh, no.
• 11:07
  I mean, just, uh, a little bit.
• 11:09
  Yeah, si.
• 11:10
  I mean, for example, when we were going to restaurants- Uh-huh … she
• 11:13
  liked to order her own stuff.
• 11:15
  Oh, that's good.
• 11:15
  Yeah.
• 11:16
  Um, but I needed to help her with a lot of things.
• 11:20
  Right.
• 11:21
  Right, right, right, right.
• 11:22
  Yeah.
• 11:22
  Were there any big cu- cultural differences you noticed that, of dating
• 11:25
  a person from the States as opposed to dating fr- somebody from Mexico, that is?
• 11:29
  I would say, um, that probably we have like a different kind of
• 11:34
  love language- Uh-huh … between Latin Americans and Americans.
• 11:37
  For sure.
• 11:38
  Because it feels to me like we're, the Latin Americans,
• 11:42
  we're a little bit more warm.
• 11:44
  Oh, yeah.
• 11:44
  For a little, yeah, definitely.
• 11:46
  And Americans are a little bit colder, you know?
• 11:49
  Yeah, yeah.
• 11:49
  So- No, you can take out the little bit.
• 11:52
  So at the, uh, when we were just starting this, it, it felt strange to me, you
• 11:57
  know, because it's like I, I have a feeling like I ki- she kind of likes me.
• 12:02
  Yeah.
• 12:02
  But at the same time she acts like I don't fucking care.
• 12:06
  Right.
• 12:07
  Or like I don't exist, you know?
• 12:08
  Right.
• 12:08
  Right.
• 12:09
  And eventually I just, um, I was just getting used to it and- Mm … I
• 12:14
  started to, to know a little bit about her and- Right … the way she laughs
• 12:17
  and the way she expresses herself.
• 12:19
  Right, right, right, right, right.
• 12:20
  So.
• 12:20
  Yeah.
• 12:21
  But yeah, I mean, that was kind of the first thing that I could tell.
• 12:24
  Huh.
• 12:24
  Um- That's interesting.
• 12:26
  Yeah.
• 12:26
  And I don't think we ever finished the question, when did you start…
• 12:29
  Oh, COVID, you started seeing the, the expats start to, start to come in.
• 12:33
  Exactly.
• 12:34
  How did that change the city?
• 12:36
  Do you, do you have any thoughts about… I mean, 'cause that's been
• 12:39
  a profound t- in my mind anyway, I, I don't know how Mexicans feel about it,
• 12:43
  but that's been a pretty profound change having all these, you know, Westerners
• 12:47
  come in, or Americans and Europeans.
• 12:50
  I think Mexico's a Western country, so my bad.
• 12:53
  But, uh, you know, all these people from other countries coming in to, and
• 12:56
  just raising their, Condesa and Roma Norte basically is where they're going.
• 13:00
  Were people talking about it?
• 13:01
  Do you remember anything about when that first started happening?
• 13:05
  It's just that it started really suddenly- Right
• 13:08
  you know?
• 13:09
  Right.
• 13:09
  Like, you started to hear about like, "Oh, like I heard that many Americans
• 13:15
  are starting to move here," you know?
• 13:16
  Right, right.
• 13:16
  But like something very casual.
• 13:18
  Right.
• 13:18
  Something like, it's like no one's really talking about that till the
• 13:22
  point that it was really happening.
• 13:24
  Right.
• 13:24
  You know?
• 13:24
  And then you, you saw them in your neighborhood and stuff, right?
• 13:27
  Exactly.
• 13:27
  So I remember once I, I went to, uh, run, uh, on a Sunday morning to Condesa.
• 13:31
  Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
• 13:33
  Uh, and after that I just, uh, stopped at a coffee shop just to grab some coffee.
• 13:37
  I was sitting there.
• 13:38
  Uh, I was listening to the conversation right next to me, and they were speaking
• 13:41
  English- Yeah … uh, on the right.
• 13:43
  And on the left- Oh … they were speaking English too.
• 13:45
  Yeah.
• 13:45
  And then just a, a few guys were just passing by speaking English.
• 13:49
  Yeah.
• 13:49
  And I was like, "Oh my God, no one's speaking Spanish here anymore," right?
• 13:52
  Yeah.
• 13:53
  It's kinda crazy.
• 13:53
  That's kinda why I don't live in Condesa because it's just like I
• 13:57
  don't… I left America to You know?
• 13:59
  You know what I mean?
• 14:00
  Do you know people who are profoundly against this, this thing going
• 14:05
  on, like your parents or somebody?
• 14:06
  Are they… Is, do anybody… Are the, I guess, like the older
• 14:08
  generation more against this than, than the younger generation?
• 14:12
  Well, for example, I mean, not, at least not my family- Okay
• 14:15
  because when they met my ex- Oh, right … uh, they actually like her a lot.
• 14:19
  I'm sure.
• 14:20
  But I remember that I had a really, really big problem with one of my friends.
• 14:24
  Mm-hmm.
• 14:24
  Because when I was celebrating my last birthday, I decided to throw a party.
• 14:31
  Right.
• 14:31
  And I invited a few friends and everything.
• 14:34
  Mm-hmm.
• 14:34
  My ex invited one of her, of her best friends- Okay
• 14:37
  who's also from America.
• 14:38
  Mm-hmm.
• 14:38
  They were there.
• 14:39
  Right.
• 14:40
  And my friend, she, she got there.
• 14:43
  She was just starting to meet them.
• 14:45
  Mm-hmm.
• 14:45
  And she threw a comment that I couldn't tolerate at all.
• 14:49
  Uh-huh.
• 14:49
  What was that?
• 14:49
  Because she was like, "I don't like these, these guys because they Americans." Oh,
• 14:53
  well, that's pretty straightforward.
• 14:55
  And I was like All right.
• 14:57
  Uh, I mean, I respect your opinion.
• 14:59
  However, A, she's my girlfriend, and B, that guy's also my friend.
• 15:04
  Right.
• 15:04
  Right.
• 15:04
  And you didn't even have the chance to get to meet them.
• 15:07
  Right.
• 15:07
  Right, right.
• 15:08
  Disliking people simply because of the country they come from is
• 15:10
  ridiculous in my mind, without even getting to know them, right?
• 15:13
  Of course.
• 15:13
  Right.
• 15:14
  And it's just because she's, like, very, uh… With these, like, national
• 15:18
  thoughts, like defend the, uh- Right, right, right … patriotism.
• 15:21
  Keep it homogenous, and it's- Exactly … But I think that's
• 15:23
  a, that's a losing battle really.
• 15:25
  And it's a complicated issue because, you know, in one sense it is
• 15:29
  making money for the city of Mexico C- for, for Mexico City, right?
• 15:34
  And there's more businesses opening up, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 15:37
  On the other side of the coin, housing prices have gone up.
• 15:39
  Even in the year since I first came here, they've gone up a quite a bit.
• 15:42
  So I don't know what I would do if I was the mayor.
• 15:44
  Yeah.
• 15:45
  Yeah.
• 15:45
  But at the same time, I w- I wouldn't like to be hated if I
• 15:49
  decide to move somewhere else.
• 15:50
  Yeah, no, it is a weird… I haven't felt anything.
• 15:52
  The only time I ever saw anti-gringo sentiment was when I was here in
• 15:56
  December, and it was right after there was some protests, so there was
• 15:58
  some graffiti that said, "Gringos go home" and around Condesa and stuff.
• 16:00
  Mm-hmm.
• 16:02
  But since I've lived here, I've had, like, nothing.
• 16:04
  No, no anti… Like, not that I'm aware of anyway.
• 16:07
  Maybe they were saying things behind my back and I didn't understand,
• 16:09
  which is fine with me, 'cause I don't understand Spanish anyway,
• 16:11
  so what do I- Good, good try.
• 16:14
  I mean, if anything, I've been, like, welcomed as warmly, w- more warmly
• 16:18
  than I've been welcomed to most places in the States, to be honest.
• 16:20
  Yeah, I mean, my ex, she, she faced a couple situations- Mm-hmm … living here.
• 16:26
  Sh- once she wanted to go to a Zumba class or something like
• 16:29
  that- Yeah … to start dancing.
• 16:31
  Yeah, yeah.
• 16:32
  And a random woman from the academy, she asked the teacher, like, the,
• 16:37
  like something like, "Oh, I thought we were keeping it local, right?"
• 16:40
  Huh.
• 16:41
  So- Little subtle little things like that.
• 16:44
  Exactly- Yeah, yeah, yeah … you know?
• 16:44
  And she, of course, is like, "Why are you saying this, like,
• 16:47
  right in front of me?" You know?
• 16:49
  Right, and it's ironic in a way, because I'm sure Mexicans are
• 16:53
  probably pretty upset with what's going on in America about how the
• 16:56
  Mexicans are being treated there.
• 16:57
  Exactly, yeah.
• 16:57
  So it's ironic that they would treat the Americans coming here,
• 17:00
  although I do understand because it's a completely different situation.
• 17:02
  Oftentimes Mexicans are going to America to, you know, make money
• 17:06
  and so forth and so on, whereas here we're coming oftentimes because,
• 17:09
  you know, it's pretty and we can afford it, and all that kinda thing.
• 17:11
  Yeah, but I think that w- another mistake that we're committing right
• 17:15
  now is that we think that you guys are just living here because wanna
• 17:19
  have, like, a rich life or something.
• 17:21
  And- Yeah, I think some people are for sure, but some are not.
• 17:23
  Exactly.
• 17:24
  I mean, for example, one thing that my, my ex told me, sh- she said like, "You
• 17:29
  know, they think that I'm just coming here because I wanna save money, but the truth
• 17:33
  is that I cannot pay America anymore."
• 17:35
  And honestly, it's not that… I mean, it's gotten much more expensive,
• 17:38
  so it's not that cheap anymore.
• 17:40
  No.
• 17:40
  So it's not even like… Yeah.
• 17:41
  Uh, like, I know that- I don't know.
• 17:44
  I feel like there's two different kinds of gringos.
• 17:47
  Um, there's the gringos that are trying to actually integrate and learn the
• 17:51
  language and be a part of the culture and understand the country, and there's
• 17:55
  the gringos that just want it to be like little America there in Condesa,
• 18:00
  and just wanna speak English and don't even make an effort to do anything.
• 18:03
  Correct.
• 18:03
  Those are the ones that make us all look bad.
• 18:05
  Um- But, but you're gonna find these kind of people, like, all the time.
• 18:08
  Of course.
• 18:08
  All the time.
• 18:09
  Of course.
• 18:09
  Everywhere.
• 18:09
  And I think we are always talking just about the gringos- Yeah … but we're
• 18:13
  never talking about the guys from Europe- Right, and there's a lot of-
• 18:16
  that are coming to live here.
• 18:16
  Right.
• 18:16
  Lot of Koreans too, right?
• 18:17
  Exactly.
• 18:18
  Right.
• 18:18
  And there's a big community.
• 18:20
  If you go to this place called Santa Rosa- Mm … that, that
• 18:23
  place is full of Koreans.
• 18:24
  Right.
• 18:24
  But no one's talking about them.
• 18:26
  Right.
• 18:26
  You know?
• 18:26
  Right.
• 18:27
  Well, I mean, I think that it's very easy to hate on the United States right now.
• 18:30
  Well- You know what I mean?
• 18:31
  Yeah.
• 18:31
  I mean, I could even do it, so, uh, I think it's really easy.
• 18:34
  Anti-American sentiment is, I think, highest that it's been in
• 18:37
  my entire life, which- Ugh, yeah.
• 18:40
  Uh- And I, I like to say that I'm not, like, a pro of a country or another
• 18:44
  country, but I just believe in equality.
• 18:47
  That's, that's- Sure
• 18:48
  I say.
• 18:48
  Like, before I decide to hate someone or to actually like
• 18:52
  someone, I would like to have the chance to get to know this people.
• 18:55
  Sure.
• 18:55
  Of course, right.
• 18:56
  Right.
• 18:56
  And I think that's kind of the most fair thing to do.
• 18:59
  That kind of feels like the way that most Mexicans kind of deal with people.
• 19:04
  It's somewhat ti- it's sometimes even off-putting how friendly people I
• 19:08
  barely know or don't even know are.
• 19:10
  For example, when I met you, uh, and this has happened more than once, we
• 19:13
  talked for maybe a half an hour, right?
• 19:15
  Yeah.
• 19:15
  And then I got, we got each other's f- uh, WhatsApp number, and then, you
• 19:19
  know, you texted me on my way home, and you're like, "If you ever need
• 19:22
  anything, let me know." I've heard that from so many people that I barely know.
• 19:25
  Like, "If you ever need anything, let me know," and I believe it's, like, sincere.
• 19:28
  And, like, in the, the United States, there's so much fear of strangers
• 19:32
  and so forth and so on that's kind of ingrained in you from the media and all
• 19:35
  that- Yeah … that you just don't, you just don't have that kind of warmth.
• 19:38
  Even in going into stores saying, like, "Buenos dias,"
• 19:40
  like, that just doesn't happen.
• 19:42
  Exactly.
• 19:42
  Like, I tell people who visit, you, you know, you say, you know,
• 19:45
  "Buenos dias" when you go into a store just because that's expected,
• 19:47
  and you're a dick if you don't.
• 19:48
  And, and that's kind of what I was talking about when I said about
• 19:51
  the cultural difference- For sure … between my ex-partner and I. Yeah.
• 19:54
  Because, for example, here in Mexico, you finish eating at a restaurant, and
• 19:58
  it's, uh, something traditional that you just look at the other, uh, the
• 20:01
  other people- Mm-hmm … in the next table and say, "Provecho," which is,
• 20:04
  like, "Enjoy your meal," you know?
• 20:05
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 20:06
  And, and that's something that I've never seen in another country- No, no
• 20:09
  honestly.
• 20:09
  To strangers, yeah, no.
• 20:10
  Exactly.
• 20:10
  Yeah.
• 20:10
  And here in Mexico, sometimes it's kind of easy to make some friends.
• 20:14
  I mean even if you're, like, clubbing- Mm … and you are drunk, it's very
• 20:20
  common that you eventually make a, a friend, like, in the bathroom- Right.
• 20:24
  Right, right … just because he's drunk, too.
• 20:25
  Right, right, right.
• 20:26
  And it's like, "Yeah, man, I, I love you, man," you know?
• 20:29
  Yeah, I see this a lot.
• 20:30
  Um, I see this a lot.
• 20:31
  What are your thoughts on United States?
• 20:33
  You've been there, I imagine, a few times.
• 20:35
  Yeah, I've been there in the United States.
• 20:37
  Um- And you can be honest with me, 'cause I don't really like
• 20:40
  the United States anymore either, so it's totally fine with me.
• 20:42
  No, I think that United States is an interesting country.
• 20:46
  For sure.
• 20:46
  You guys have, like, a lot of things there, of course.
• 20:49
  Mm. But me personally, I don't know if I could be able to handle,
• 20:55
  uh, living in one of the cities.
• 20:57
  No.
• 20:57
  Because one thing that I like, for example, about Mexico City,
• 21:01
  it's that it's really walkable.
• 21:03
  It is.
• 21:04
  It- Although dangerously walkable, let's be clear.
• 21:05
  Yeah, sometimes.
• 21:07
  Yeah.
• 21:07
  But I've noticed- Not, not cartels, just, like, the
• 21:10
  sidewalks and the- Yeah, exactly.
• 21:11
  I've noticed that in America you always have to drive everywhere.
• 21:14
  You- In most cities.
• 21:15
  I mean, in, like, New York City, no, I never had a car there.
• 21:17
  Chicago, I don't think.
• 21:19
  Oh, well.
• 21:19
  The bigger cities- Yeah … but not very many of the, like, very few.
• 21:21
  I love Chicago.
• 21:22
  I think it's an amazing city.
• 21:24
  Yeah, I haven't spent much time there.
• 21:25
  I just, it's just too cold for me.
• 21:26
  I can't do the cold anymore.
• 21:27
  Yeah.
• 21:28
  Like, I grew up in Ohio, so it's just, like, cold there, snow.
• 21:30
  I just don't, no more, no mas.
• 21:32
  Yeah, yeah.
• 21:33
  But yeah, the other thing that I would like to say is that I would miss, like,
• 21:38
  this, um, warm thing with people- For sure … because here in Mexico it feels,
• 21:43
  like, a little bit more social, you know?
• 21:45
  Yeah.
• 21:46
  And I have a feeling that living there I would be a little bit more alone.
• 21:50
  For sure.
• 21:51
  For sure.
• 21:51
  Yeah.
• 21:52
  And I would be, I wouldn't be as social as I'm here.
• 21:55
  Yeah, no.
• 21:56
  All those things are true.
• 21:57
  It's, it's, um… I think that competitiveness and,
• 22:00
  like- You know, go get it.
• 22:03
  Go get whatever you want.
• 22:05
  Go work hard, and you'll win.
• 22:07
  That is kind of bred into us from childhood in the States, so
• 22:10
  as a result, it's an extremely competitive country- Mm-hmm
• 22:13
  with, that everybody just wants to g- get more money and yada, yada, yada.
• 22:17
  Yeah.
• 22:17
  And I, and I think that's a shame, really.
• 22:19
  But, you know, what, what are you gonna do?
• 22:21
  I can't change that.
• 22:22
  Um, do you, do you think there's anything that you wish that expats would
• 22:26
  learn or change about their behavior?
• 22:28
  Is there anything that you notice expats doing all the time that you're
• 22:30
  like, "Oh, uh, they're always…"
• 22:32
  Uh, it's obnoxious or whatever it is?
• 22:34
  I think the most important thing is to be aware of your surroundings.
• 22:38
  Yeah.
• 22:38
  Which means that I'm not gonna say, like, "Oh, you should learn Spanish
• 22:43
  immediately," or like, "You should, uh, act this way or that way"-
• 22:46
  Right … because at the end of the day- Right … diversity is one of the
• 22:49
  biggest things that humanity could have.
• 22:51
  True.
• 22:52
  Yeah.
• 22:52
  But at least what I would do in another country is that I would like
• 22:57
  to stick to the traditions at least- For sure … a little bit more.
• 23:02
  Yeah, at least try to adapt.
• 23:03
  Exactly.
• 23:03
  Like, learn the culture, learn exactly what… Yeah, yeah.
• 23:06
  So I think that sometimes these people, A, they might not be aware of the way we do
• 23:12
  things here, or B, they just don't care.
• 23:14
  Yeah.
• 23:15
  And, and unfortunately, I've known, uh, a few guys that think that they're
• 23:19
  superior- Of course … you know?
• 23:21
  Of course, 'cause they're from America.
• 23:23
  And, and I, I get it, okay?
• 23:24
  I, I mean, I, I get where you're coming from, but the thing is that
• 23:28
  if, if you wanna come here, it's because probably you like the, the
• 23:31
  social scene here or something.
• 23:33
  Whatever, yeah, the food or yeah.
• 23:34
  So just be kind to the people, like, because we're kind
• 23:38
  of welcoming you, you know?
• 23:39
  Yeah, you're a guest.
• 23:41
  Exactly.
• 23:41
  Yeah.
• 23:42
  Yeah, that shit pisses me off.
• 23:44
  It makes it bad for everybody, this whole, like, holier than thou attitude
• 23:47
  just because of the place you were born.
• 23:48
  Give me a break.
• 23:49
  Yeah.
• 23:50
  Have you ever thought about leaving this, uh, Mexico yourself?
• 23:52
  Actually, I've been thinking of it, like, these days.
• 23:56
  Mm-hmm.
• 23:56
  Because, I mean, I love Mexico.
• 23:59
  Sure.
• 23:59
  And I'm pretty sure that if I leave, I'm gonna miss my culture.
• 24:02
  I'm gonna miss my food.
• 24:04
  You, you will.
• 24:05
  Uh, specifically tacos and salsa.
• 24:06
  That's- Yeah
• 24:07
  what I'm gonna miss a lot.
• 24:08
  But then, but then, you know, you'll, you'll be back at some point, and it's
• 24:11
  good to miss things sometimes, you know?
• 24:13
  Exactly.
• 24:13
  Yeah.
• 24:13
  So I, um, I'm thinking about probably starting to have, like,
• 24:18
  a South American experience- Oh, yeah, yeah … as a digital nomad.
• 24:21
  Where are you thinking in South America?
• 24:23
  Well, probably my first stop would be Bogotá.
• 24:26
  Sure.
• 24:27
  But I would like to try different countries and see
• 24:30
  which one I like the most.
• 24:31
  Uh-huh, uh-huh.
• 24:31
  I mean, I've been in Santiago de Chile- Yeah … and I, I love the culture.
• 24:35
  I love the people.
• 24:36
  I love everything from that place.
• 24:37
  Right.
• 24:38
  But kind of my top three are, um, Colombia, Chile, and I would like
• 24:43
  to ch- try, uh- Argentina as well.
• 24:46
  Oh, right on.
• 24:46
  Yeah.
• 24:47
  I've only been to Colombia.
• 24:48
  Okay.
• 24:49
  Bogotá.
• 24:49
  It was all right.
• 24:50
  It was very… It was, the traffic was like- You know- … nightmarish.
• 24:53
  Mount Bogotá is very, very similar to Mexico City.
• 24:56
  I think so.
• 24:57
  I think Mexico City is way more attractive, though.
• 24:59
  Bogotá did not seem to spend any effort to plan the city out at all.
• 25:03
  It's just, like, a bunch of buildings just put wherever they were put.
• 25:06
  Yeah.
• 25:06
  And there's… It's not really that aesthetically pleasing
• 25:08
  aside from the street art.
• 25:10
  Whereas Mexico has this architecture that's just kind of mind-blowing
• 25:13
  all over the place, you know?
• 25:14
  Y- and something that I like about Mexico is that I think
• 25:18
  it's, it's like working on sales.
• 25:20
  You never know what's gonna happen, you know?
• 25:21
  Right.
• 25:22
  Right, right.
• 25:22
  For sure, for sure.
• 25:24
  And you never know what you're gonna see around the… Like,
• 25:26
  like, what I love about it is just the way the buildings look.
• 25:29
  You can walk down one street, turn a corner, and have a totally different
• 25:32
  kind of architecture on the next street.
• 25:34
  Mm-hmm.
• 25:34
  It's kind of amazing.
• 25:35
  But yeah, just for experience, I would like to live somewhere else.
• 25:38
  Yeah, you absolutely should.
• 25:39
  It's, it's hard to even know, have perspective on your own home
• 25:42
  unless you've lived in another place to compare it, right?
• 25:45
  Yeah.
• 25:45
  Right.
• 25:45
  And, and probably I can start loving my, my city from different angles- Yeah
• 25:49
  if I live out of it.
• 25:50
  Yeah, yeah.
• 25:51
  There'll be things you'll miss about it and things that you'll be like,
• 25:53
  "Oh, it's way better here." Yeah.
• 25:55
  But definitely cheaper in Colombia than it is here.
• 25:56
  It's cheaper.
• 25:57
  Yeah.
• 25:57
  Yeah.
• 25:58
  Way cheaper.
• 25:59
  Is there a lot of gentrification in your neighborhood?
• 26:02
  Not yet It's starting to creep, though?
• 26:04
  A little bit.
• 26:05
  Yeah, yeah.
• 26:05
  I mean, recently I've noticed a lot of people, like, a little
• 26:09
  bit more people speaking English.
• 26:11
  Mm-hmm.
• 26:12
  But still pretty local, though.
• 26:14
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 26:15
  Still, my guess it's a, it's just a matter of time.
• 26:18
  Probably, yeah.
• 26:19
  I mean, even there's a little neighborhood right next to Condesa that they're
• 26:22
  calling, like, Little Condesa now.
• 26:23
  I don't know what it's called, but there was, like, a nickname.
• 26:26
  Okay.
• 26:26
  Yeah, like, you know, Pequeño.
• 26:28
  Oh, I know, I know which one you're talking about.
• 26:29
  You know what I'm talking about?
• 26:30
  Yeah.
• 26:30
  Yeah.
• 26:31
  It's, it's actually, uh, Tacubaya?
• 26:33
  Maybe.
• 26:34
  I, yeah, that sounds maybe right.
• 26:36
  Yeah, that sounds- Or Escandon.
• 26:37
  Escandon, probably.
• 26:37
  Uh, one of, either one of them sounds right.
• 26:39
  Anywhere, whatever, it borders Condesa, and a lot of people are … But
• 26:42
  for example, Escandon is a great example- Right … because when I
• 26:46
  was a teenager- Mm-hmm … my mom had an apartment there in Escandon.
• 26:49
  Yep.
• 26:50
  So I was there, and it was really, really local.
• 26:53
  Mm-hmm.
• 26:53
  But if you go to Escandon these days, it's not local anymore.
• 26:57
  Right.
• 26:57
  It is not.
• 26:58
  Right.
• 26:58
  You hear, like, a lot of languages there, and sometimes even, like,
• 27:02
  the Spanish you hear, like, but not the Mexican s- uh, accent.
• 27:06
  It's, like, the Spanish accent.
• 27:07
  Right.
• 27:08
  You know?
• 27:08
  Right, right, right, right, right.
• 27:09
  So it's definitely happening.
• 27:11
  It's so interesting the more I think about it, though, in the sense that there's
• 27:16
  almost a human instinct to be suspicious of foreigners, 'cause it happens, like,
• 27:22
  it's happening in the United States with all the, the Latin, you know, people from
• 27:26
  Central America, Mexico coming into there.
• 27:28
  These people, a lot of people are like, "Oh, I don't want
• 27:30
  these," you know, "people.
• 27:31
  Speak the language.
• 27:31
  Get out of the…" And now it's happening here, when you get more im-
• 27:34
  you know, people immigrating or migrating or, you know, expatriating here.
• 27:38
  Uh, there's the same kind of reaction to… And I think it may be it's
• 27:41
  just human nature in a way, right?
• 27:43
  Mm-hmm.
• 27:44
  But I would think that it would be a more interesting city if
• 27:47
  it's more multicultural, right?
• 27:49
  I mean, that's what make New- makes New York kind of an amazing
• 27:51
  city is there's people from all over the world there, right?
• 27:53
  Yeah.
• 27:53
  I mean, honestly, I like that it's multicultural.
• 27:57
  Right.
• 27:57
  Like, uh, this Saturday I went to a meetup.
• 28:00
  Mm-hmm.
• 28:01
  Um, and I've met people from different parts of the world.
• 28:04
  Right, right, right.
• 28:04
  Like, a, a couple coming from the UK.
• 28:07
  Right.
• 28:07
  I met a guy from Spain- Mm-hmm … who's now working here
• 28:11
  at the HR. And a German girl who came here to start teaching German.
• 28:17
  Oh, wow.
• 28:18
  And she speaks, uh, Spanish really well.
• 28:21
  Yeah.
• 28:21
  And she's gonna stay here for at least two years.
• 28:23
  Yeah.
• 28:24
  And if you ask me, I really like the fact that we're getting people
• 28:27
  from many parts of the world.
• 28:29
  Yeah, I mean, interesting people that generally add something, I would hope,
• 28:32
  to, you know, the, the g- multicultural element of the city, which, I mean,
• 28:37
  it's, it's… hasn't really been a multicultural city before the last
• 28:41
  10, 20 years, I would imagine, right?
• 28:42
  It was pretty homogenous most- mostly all entire- Yeah Yeah.
• 28:45
  And but now that we were talking about this, especially when you
• 28:49
  mentioned people from Central America, it made me realize something.
• 28:54
  Probably it's just because I already told you that people in Mexico City, they're
• 28:58
  kind of mad at Americans, but they also kind of mad at people from another states.
• 29:02
  Right.
• 29:02
  But now here in Mexico, we are also getting a lot of people
• 29:06
  coming from Colombia and Venezuela.
• 29:07
  Right, migrants, yeah.
• 29:08
  And let me tell you something.
• 29:10
  People from Mexico City, they all mad at them, too.
• 29:12
  Of course.
• 29:13
  So it's like basically we're mad at anyone who's, uh, willing to live in this city.
• 29:18
  Right.
• 29:18
  You know?
• 29:18
  Well, people are afraid of change, too.
• 29:20
  It's, it's that and, well, for example, f- from Americans living here, you can see
• 29:27
  it from the angle of pricing, you know, and rise- Yeah … and the pricing rises.
• 29:31
  Yeah.
• 29:32
  Uh, but from, um, uh, people from South America, people see it as, uh,
• 29:37
  dangerous- Yeah … because some- Right … of them are stealing or
• 29:41
  are- It's the same exact thing as…
• 29:42
  that we get in America from people coming through the Mexican border.
• 29:46
  It's, "They're dangerous, they're gonna…" You know.
• 29:48
  Yeah.
• 29:48
  Uh, even though there's not a lot of evidence that suggests they're any more
• 29:50
  dangerous than the average American.
• 29:52
  But who cares about statistics, right?
• 29:54
  Yeah.
• 29:54
  Um, I feel like in the next hundred years, you're gonna have all sorts of
• 29:58
  different migration patterns happening because of lack of resources, water, food.
• 30:02
  People are gonna be- Yeah … and most of their people, reason people are coming
• 30:05
  to, immigrating to America legally or illegally is because of issues that
• 30:09
  America caused in those countries.
• 30:11
  Like, you know, you look at most of these Central American countries, America's
• 30:14
  intervention has caused the problems that these people are fleeing from.
• 30:17
  So that's also ironic, right?
• 30:19
  Yeah.
• 30:20
  Um, yeah, yeah.
• 30:21
  And, um, one other thing that I would like to say is- Sure … probably we're
• 30:25
  just mad at that because living here in this city, it's pretty chaotic.
• 30:30
  Sure.
• 30:31
  So I'm pretty sure that the stress levels here are way to higher than
• 30:36
  in other parts of the country.
• 30:38
  Right.
• 30:38
  Um, and therefore, when you say, "And more people are coming, and more
• 30:43
  people are coming"- Yeah … we're like, "We're already enough.
• 30:45
  We, we don't even have"- It's a- "… enough space for, for us." It's, it's
• 30:48
  pretty… Yeah, it's a pretty big city.
• 30:48
  So- A lot of people, yeah … yeah, so that's wh- I guess that's why
• 30:51
  we're stressed the whole time maybe.
• 30:54
  Yeah.
• 30:54
  I mean, it's funny you say stressed because I feel like m- My brain chemistry
• 30:59
  always makes me feel like I'm, I'm in a hurry, you know, to get somewhere.
• 31:03
  My brain's always, like, hurrying.
• 31:05
  And I think being in Mexico City, even though you, I'm sure compared to the
• 31:09
  rest of Mexico it's much more stressful and whatever, but to me it's like I'm
• 31:14
  learning how to be relaxed and chill here.
• 31:16
  Okay.
• 31:16
  You know what I mean?
• 31:17
  Wow.
• 31:17
  Yeah.
• 31:17
  It's kinda nice, actually, 'cause people just kind of walk slower.
• 31:21
  You know, a harita.
• 31:22
  You know, when you get there, you get there.
• 31:23
  The whole, like, you have dinner and then you sit and, and talk for an hour
• 31:27
  or two after you have dinner usually.
• 31:29
  I didn't even know about that, but I was out with a friend of mine and she's like,
• 31:31
  "Why are we leaving right after we ate?"
• 31:33
  Yeah.
• 31:34
  It's like therapy for me.
• 31:35
  Okay.
• 31:35
  Teaching me to slow the fuck down.
• 31:37
  That's definitely- You know what I mean?
• 31:38
  … interesting.
• 31:38
  I mean- Yeah … you, you're coming from New York City, so I get it.
• 31:40
  Well, no, I moved from Ohio- Oh … but still, I did live in New York.
• 31:43
  Right, right.
• 31:43
  Well, I was in New York City and then Ohio for seven years or so.
• 31:45
  Yeah, yeah.
• 31:46
  And, yeah, but I grew up in Ohio.
• 31:47
  But it's very interesting that you find it more relaxing here than in Ohio.
• 31:50
  Yeah.
• 31:51
  I just don't… I feel like just the general vibe of this city is just
• 31:55
  generally more chill than- Okay … like, I never see people… I've said this
• 32:00
  story before on the podcast, but a f- when I was here visiting for,
• 32:03
  like, a month and a half last year, a friend of mine came to visit me.
• 32:06
  We're- I was staying in Juarez, and a friend of mine came from New York.
• 32:09
  He was living in New York at the time.
• 32:10
  Mm-hmm.
• 32:11
  And he told me one day, he's like, "You know, I, I… When I walk around
• 32:13
  New York, every time I walk around, there's always somebody either, like,
• 32:17
  screaming or, like, looking scary or, like, a homeless person or whatever
• 32:20
  that I'm kind of freaked out by."
• 32:21
  He's like, "I've not had that once since I've been here. Even the
• 32:24
  homeless people are chill." Yeah.
• 32:26
  You know?
• 32:27
  Yeah.
• 32:27
  Um, and I was like, "Yeah, you know what?
• 32:29
  You're right.
• 32:29
  You really don't." And I haven't even seen, like… I've only been
• 32:32
  here two months and change, but I haven't seen people, like… Uh, I, I,
• 32:36
  actually, last night I saw a couple, like, breaking up in the street or
• 32:39
  something, but it was the first time I'd seen anybody, like, visibly, like,
• 32:42
  yelling at each other in the streets.
• 32:43
  Whereas everywhere I've been in the States you almost always see people
• 32:46
  yelling at each other in the streets.
• 32:47
  Mm-hmm.
• 32:47
  There's always screaming and yeah.
• 32:48
  Very, very interesting.
• 32:49
  Or a bar fight or something or whatever it is.
• 32:51
  Yeah, yeah.
• 32:51
  Yeah.
• 32:52
  I guess it's just kind of, like, that you come into to Mexico City,
• 32:55
  of course, a different culture than the US, and that's why you find
• 32:58
  it, like, more, like, different.
• 33:00
  Yeah.
• 33:00
  But for example, me, that I've been growing here my entire life- Yeah … when
• 33:04
  I decided to go with my mom and, and live in, in Querétaro, I was, like, 17.
• 33:09
  Yeah.
• 33:09
  And I guess I was just, like, pretty used to this kind of, uh,
• 33:12
  rhythm, stress- Mm-hmm … whatever.
• 33:14
  So I got there, and life was just so much slower.
• 33:18
  So f- here in Mexico City, you never have enough hours
• 33:21
  for everything you have to do.
• 33:23
  Right.
• 33:23
  And in Querétaro, I was done for the day and it was only, like, 5:30, 6:00 PM.
• 33:29
  Right.
• 33:29
  I had enough time to watch the sunset.
• 33:31
  Oh, okay.
• 33:31
  And I was like, "What, what else should I do now?" You know?
• 33:34
  So, and you can see it- … like, wow, that's way too nice, but
• 33:38
  for me, that I was coming from this chaos and everything- Right
• 33:41
  eventually I, I even felt depressed.
• 33:44
  Oh.
• 33:44
  You know?
• 33:44
  Well, maybe you need to learn how to slow down, too.
• 33:46
  It's… No.
• 33:46
  Right?
• 33:47
  That's, that's something- Right … that I need to.
• 33:48
  Right.
• 33:48
  Uh, of course.
• 33:50
  Yeah.
• 33:51
  Because y- living in the city, uh, by being a guy who wor- grew up
• 33:55
  here- Yeah It's just like you're very used to this, this pace.
• 33:59
  Sure.
• 34:00
  Sure, sure.
• 34:00
  Right.
• 34:00
  Um, yeah.
• 34:01
  I mean, compared to, I mean, again, only two and a half months, two, I think
• 34:05
  two months and a week or something.
• 34:07
  But, like, living in New York for 10 years,
• 34:10
  that I felt much more stressed out living there than I do living here.
• 34:16
  And there's m- many reasons for that, but I think the biggest part
• 34:19
  is, like There's like greenery.
• 34:23
  The weather's always wonderful.
• 34:25
  And like I can't, I can't get enough of the weather.
• 34:28
  Uh, yeah.
• 34:31
  Now that you're talking about New York City, for example, we, we know that
• 34:34
  prices are increasing here in Mexico City.
• 34:36
  Oh, New York City- But it was- … is crazy … it was happening anyway, uh,
• 34:40
  because, you know, it's just pricing.
• 34:42
  It's just economy worldwide.
• 34:43
  Also I've read they're not building enough low-income housing at all.
• 34:46
  Well, here in Mexico we don't have enough houses for everyone.
• 34:48
  Right.
• 34:49
  That's true.
• 34:50
  And the other thing that I s- read the other day is for 2050 we're not even
• 34:55
  gonna have enough jobs for everyone who's getting graduated from college.
• 34:58
  Hooray.
• 34:59
  Yeah, so, um- Well, we'll also be probably sunken to the, sunken to the
• 35:03
  ground by canals again- … probably.
• 35:05
  Maybe the canals will come back.
• 35:06
  Yeah, maybe.
• 35:08
  Uh, but you know, gasoline is just way too expensive here.
• 35:12
  Yeah.
• 35:13
  And therefore all the other things are increasing as well- Yeah, yeah
• 35:16
  … such as like food and everything.
• 35:18
  Yeah.
• 35:19
  Thanks, America.
• 35:19
  But it's, uh, it's something that it's happening with
• 35:22
  the big cities in the world.
• 35:23
  Like New York City it's like three times more expensive- Oh … than here, right?
• 35:27
  Yeah, yeah.
• 35:29
  E- easy, easy.
• 35:30
  And if you go to another big city in the south like Buenos Aires in
• 35:33
  Argentina or Santiago, Chile- Yep … or Colombia in Bogotá, I've heard people
• 35:38
  complaining about kind of the same things.
• 35:39
  Like, you know, everything is getting so expensive.
• 35:41
  Rent is getting so expensive.
• 35:43
  So- Yeah … it's just something that it's happening- Yeah … in big cities.
• 35:47
  Yeah, and yet income inequality keeps getting bigger as well, you know.
• 35:51
  Um, because I mean even in Mexico City the, the divide between the,
• 35:55
  the wealthiest and the poorest is, is, is seems pretty large here.
• 35:59
  It is.
• 36:00
  Um, to the, to the point where like I'm always struck by how
• 36:03
  inexpensive Ubers are here.
• 36:05
  Like I don't know if you've taken an Uber anywhere in like the United
• 36:08
  States, but like a ride here that'll cost literally like $3, like what?
• 36:12
  I don't know.
• 36:12
  Um… Like 60 pesos.
• 36:15
  Yeah, 60, 60, 80 pesos, something like that- Mm-hmm
• 36:18
  would cost $20- Yeah, I know … in the States, $30.
• 36:22
  Yeah.
• 36:22
  I just don't understand how anybody can even afford to drive an Uber here.
• 36:27
  'Cause like just to pay for gas, like I just don't… Yeah,
• 36:30
  but it's not for me to wonder.
• 36:32
  Uh, is there like one thing as a lifelong Mexican for the most part, um, I mean
• 36:36
  lifelong Mexican but not Mex- whatever, that you would recommend, that you would
• 36:40
  say, "Oh, uh, expats, this is a thing that you probably don't know about.
• 36:43
  You should go to this thing"?
• 36:45
  Oof.
• 36:45
  Okay.
• 36:46
  I wasn't really prepared for that question.
• 36:47
  It's okay.
• 36:49
  Me personally- Yeah … I am a guy of art.
• 36:52
  Mm-hmm.
• 36:53
  So one thing that I recommend to all the people coming here is that
• 36:57
  you guys should visit Cineteca.
• 36:59
  Okay.
• 36:59
  I haven't been there yet.
• 37:00
  I gotta go.
• 37:00
  It's kind, like getting to C- uh, Coyoacán.
• 37:03
  Yeah.
• 37:04
  Um, and I like it because, I mean, that's how I fell in love
• 37:08
  with, with films- Oh, I didn't know … before- You randomly dug films.
• 37:11
  Yeah.
• 37:11
  Do we talk about that?
• 37:11
  I forget.
• 37:12
  No, but- Yeah … I went to film school.
• 37:14
  Oh, me too.
• 37:14
  Oh, really?
• 37:15
  Yeah, yeah.
• 37:15
  Yeah, so I went to film school, but I had no idea about films.
• 37:18
  I was never, like, a guy who's totally in love with film.
• 37:21
  Right.
• 37:21
  I realized in middle school that I had a big passion for photography- Mm-hmm
• 37:25
  … and I wanted to be a photographer.
• 37:27
  Yeah.
• 37:27
  And eventually I started having this idea of like, what if I start doing
• 37:30
  more films or something like that?
• 37:32
  Sure, sure.
• 37:33
  So I was going to Cineteca just a random Saturday, like- Oh, that's fun
• 37:37
  2:00, 3:00 PM.
• 37:37
  Seeing some old film they haven't seen in forever, yeah.
• 37:39
  Exactly, and I was like, I have no idea about, like, what,
• 37:41
  what should I start watching.
• 37:43
  Yeah.
• 37:43
  So I was just like, I'll, I'll, I'll watch whatever it's available right now.
• 37:46
  Watch anything, yeah.
• 37:46
  Exactly, and sometimes I didn't know, even understand it, or I
• 37:49
  didn't know how to evaluate a film, whatever, but I appreciate it- Yeah
• 37:54
  you know?
• 37:54
  And they have peop- uh, they have these movies from different parts of the world-
• 37:59
  Yeah, yeah, yeah … like Europe- Yeah … and South America, sometimes from America.
• 38:02
  Yeah, yeah.
• 38:03
  And there's a whole, a whole variety of films that you could watch there,
• 38:08
  and a lot of things that you can do.
• 38:09
  Sometimes I was going there and I wasn't even watching any movie.
• 38:12
  I was just laying down on the, on the grass, uh, reading my book for hours.
• 38:16
  It, it looks like a beautiful building.
• 38:18
  Yeah.
• 38:18
  Right?
• 38:18
  And they also have, like, a bar, um- Oh, do they really?
• 38:20
  And you can- Of course, yeah … sometimes they have jazz.
• 38:23
  Oh, nice.
• 38:23
  And they have, like, uh- Yeah, I gotta go there … beers.
• 38:26
  Yeah.
• 38:26
  I feel bad for not having gone there yet.
• 38:27
  As a film person, I'm ashamed.
• 38:29
  There's a theater, right, Cineteatolo, right down the street.
• 38:30
  Oh, Cineteatolo, yeah.
• 38:31
  I haven't, I haven't, I've only gone there to, like, get dinner and, like, drinks.
• 38:34
  Yeah.
• 38:34
  I've, I haven't seen a movie there yet.
• 38:35
  Any movie in particular that st- was like, "Ah, I love this movie"?
• 38:38
  Is there a movie that you're like, "Oh, this is, like, a fantastic film"?
• 38:42
  Well, I have my top three.
• 38:43
  All right.
• 38:43
  What do you got?
• 38:44
  It's from France.
• 38:45
  Okay.
• 38:45
  Uh, it's called F- The 400 Blows in English.
• 38:50
  Oh, see, yeah, yeah, Truffaut, right?
• 38:51
  Yeah.
• 38:51
  Yeah, yeah.
• 38:52
  I, I love that film.
• 38:53
  Yeah.
• 38:53
  I love that film, and I feel, like, so close to this guy.
• 38:56
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 38:57
  Always in chaos.
• 38:58
  I feel like that's kind of my life.
• 39:00
  Yeah, the French New Wave was fun.
• 39:01
  Yeah.
• 39:02
  Yeah.
• 39:02
  I have this other movie, also from France, by the way.
• 39:05
  It's called Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
• 39:08
  Haven't seen that one, but I know of it.
• 39:09
  Yes.
• 39:09
  It's more recent, right?
• 39:10
  It's more recent.
• 39:11
  Yeah.
• 39:11
  And it tells a story about two, two women falling in love.
• 39:15
  Mm-hmm.
• 39:15
  But that was not something that could happen.
• 39:18
  Right.
• 39:18
  Right, right.
• 39:18
  Forbidden love.
• 39:19
  Exactly.
• 39:20
  Yeah, yeah.
• 39:21
  And I don't know why, but I felt touched by this film.
• 39:24
  Huh.
• 39:24
  So when I saw it, when I watch it- I went to the Cineteca just to watch it
• 39:30
  over and over again for a whole week.
• 39:32
  Oh, wow.
• 39:32
  I was watching it every day.
• 39:33
  How many times did you see it?
• 39:34
  I saw it, like, six times.
• 39:36
  Huh.
• 39:36
  Huh.
• 39:37
  Yeah.
• 39:38
  And my other one- I'll have to see that … it's, it's, it's from Ingmar Bergman.
• 39:43
  Okay, which one?
• 39:44
  It's Sonata, Autumn Sonata.
• 39:45
  Oh, I haven't seen that one.
• 39:47
  It's amazing.
• 39:48
  Yeah.
• 39:48
  It touches my heart- Mm-hmm … because it can, it talks about, like,
• 39:52
  this, a conflict between a daughter and her mother- Okay … and the
• 39:55
  things that she never told- Mm-hmm
• 39:58
  that made her feel awful.
• 40:00
  Oh, right, and her mother dies or whatever, and she- No, she doesn't die.
• 40:04
  Okay.
• 40:04
  Good to know.
• 40:05
  But, which- No spoilers here.
• 40:06
  Well, no spoilers, but I think you should watch it.
• 40:09
  Yeah, yeah.
• 40:09
  I'll check it out.
• 40:10
  Uh, I love, uh, Portrait of a Marriage, which is from great Bergman.
• 40:14
  Okay.
• 40:14
  Uh, it was originally on TV, but it's just about, uh, like marriages kind
• 40:17
  of falling apart and the difficulty of romantic love and all that kind of thing.
• 40:21
  And Faces too.
• 40:22
  It's r- is it Faces?
• 40:23
  No.
• 40:24
  Faces.
• 40:24
  Anyway.
• 40:25
  I never watch it.
• 40:26
  I watch Persona.
• 40:27
  Persona's really… That's, that, that's the one.
• 40:28
  That's what I'm thinking of.
• 40:29
  That's with the two women in the, yeah.
• 40:31
  Yeah.
• 40:31
  Yeah, that's a great one.
• 40:32
  That's an incredible film.
• 40:34
  Totally.
• 40:34
  What food should I eat that I've, I probably haven't eaten yet?
• 40:36
  Me personally, I would say tacos are just never enough.
• 40:40
  Right, but of course I've had tacos.
• 40:41
  So, well, what else you got?
• 40:42
  What else do I got?
• 40:43
  Or what kind of taco?
• 40:44
  I love the suaderos.
• 40:45
  I like those.
• 40:46
  Well, I mean, I'm a big fan of gringa.
• 40:49
  Okay.
• 40:49
  And gringa is the, with the cheese?
• 40:52
  Is that what that is, or- It's cheese, it's pastor.
• 40:54
  Pastor with cheese, basically.
• 40:54
  And it also has, like, but the, the tortilla, it's made
• 40:57
  of flour instead of, of corn.
• 40:58
  Oh, interesting.
• 40:59
  I didn't know that.
• 40:59
  I knew that there was cheese, and I've had them, but I didn't know
• 41:01
  that there was a flour tortilla.
• 41:03
  Yeah.
• 41:03
  Huh.
• 41:03
  My, my favorite taqueria, it's in, uh, Narvarte.
• 41:07
  It's called Vilsito.
• 41:08
  Okay.
• 41:09
  And that's the one that I like.
• 41:10
  It's also part of the Michelin guide.
• 41:12
  Oh, I think I've heard of this one, yeah.
• 41:14
  Yeah.
• 41:14
  Is that the one that just has, like, it's just n- uh, like beef- Next to… Yeah.
• 41:19
  No, no, no, it's… No, but it's one that it's, like, next to a, a body shop.
• 41:23
  Okay.
• 41:24
  And it's, like, open all night.
• 41:26
  So if you're- Oh, that's cool
• 41:28
  going out with your friends or- Right … something like that, it's like 4:00
• 41:30
  AM in the morning, what should I do?
• 41:31
  Night tacos.
• 41:32
  Let's go to Vilsito, and it's packed- I'm sure … at 4:00 AM.
• 41:34
  I'm sure.
• 41:35
  Yeah.
• 41:35
  So, uh, I love it.
• 41:37
  I go there at least once per week.
• 41:39
  And I don't know if you ever tried cochinita pibil Que es?
• 41:43
  Cochinita pibil, it's basically another kind of taco that it's, uh,
• 41:47
  it's pork as well- Uh-huh … but it's marinated in a different way.
• 41:51
  It's- Okay … it's, uh, very typical from Yucatan.
• 41:54
  Okay.
• 41:54
  And we have some nice restaurants here in Mexico City- Oh, for sure … like
• 41:59
  Yucatan Mex- Yucatan places.
• 42:00
  Right, right, right, right.
• 42:01
  But of course, it's always better to eat it in Yucatan, right?
• 42:04
  Of course.
• 42:04
  Someday I'll get there, yeah.
• 42:05
  Yeah.
• 42:05
  Yeah, yeah.
• 42:06
  Yeah, I think I have had those.
• 42:07
  I kind of lose track.
• 42:08
  I do remember having a tongue taco at one point.
• 42:11
  A friend of mine took me, and that was not my favorite thing.
• 42:14
  Um, but you know, you gotta try everything once, right?
• 42:16
  Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're gonna like cochinita pibil, and just
• 42:19
  don't try the one from Casa Antonia because I don't, I think that's very
• 42:22
  industrial- No … and I don't like it.
• 42:24
  Noted.
• 42:24
  Um- And- But people's opinions about tacos in this city are, like, legit.
• 42:28
  Everybody has got strong opinions about tacos here.
• 42:31
  Yeah, we do.
• 42:31
  We do.
• 42:32
  It's something really important.
• 42:34
  Some, those kind of question that you should ask on a first date, right?
• 42:37
  Oh, really?
• 42:37
  What's, what's your kind of taco?
• 42:38
  Good to know.
• 42:39
  Good to know.
• 42:40
  No, I'm just kidding, but- I mean, I had no idea what you could do with
• 42:42
  tacos until… I mean, tacos in the States, it's, uh, like hamburger tacos.
• 42:46
  You c- don't even get me started.
• 42:48
  But, uh, but yeah, you come here and you're like, "I had no idea what a
• 42:50
  taco was until you…" Yeah, yeah.
• 42:53
  Amazing.
• 42:53
  And, and enchiladas suizas.
• 42:55
  Yeah.
• 42:55
  You heard of them?
• 42:56
  Uh-huh.
• 42:56
  I- I like enchiladas sometimes.
• 43:01
  Okay.
• 43:02
  Yeah.
• 43:02
  What's the Suiza part?
• 43:04
  I don't know what that- Suiza, it's another … It's, it's because it
• 43:07
  has another kind of salsa- Okay
• 43:09
  which is more creamy.
• 43:10
  Oh, all right.
• 43:11
  Based on, like, how they prepare it.
• 43:13
  Uh-huh.
• 43:13
  And the fact that it's also fully covered with manchego on top.
• 43:17
  Oh, yeah.
• 43:18
  So that's why I like it a lot.
• 43:19
  You guys love the cheese here.
• 43:20
  Oh, yeah.
• 43:20
  Big cheese fans here, yeah.
• 43:22
  Of course.
• 43:22
  Uh, of course.
• 43:24
  I mean, yeah, I'm with you.
• 43:25
  Uh, anything else that you'd like to, uh, to share about, uh,
• 43:29
  anything, anything at all, really.
• 43:31
  I mean, if you wanna … Well, I would say, uh, Mexico City is one of
• 43:35
  those things that you sh- you should try at least once in your life- For
• 43:38
  sure … if you're not from here.
• 43:39
  Yeah.
• 43:39
  I think we as Mexicans, we should just, uh, chill down
• 43:44
  a little bit more sometimes.
• 43:46
  Even more than you already are?
• 43:47
  Yep.
• 43:47
  Yeah.
• 43:48
  Even more.
• 43:48
  Yeah.
• 43:48
  Even more.
• 43:49
  Even more, trust me.
• 43:50
  And I don't think that gentrification should be one of those big problems
• 43:55
  because, like I said, I, I am totally aware of, you know, the society, the
• 44:01
  pricing incremental, and how, uh, is every- how is everyone struggling.
• 44:05
  Because let me tell you something, the minimum salary here is, like,
• 44:10
  uh, I don't know, $600 a month.
• 44:12
  Yeah.
• 44:13
  And- Yeah … 80% of the population is making that money.
• 44:17
  Yeah.
• 44:17
  So only, like, 3 or, or 2% of, of Mexicans are making above $2,000 a month.
• 44:24
  Yep.
• 44:25
  And if you sum it that prices are increasing, of course
• 44:28
  they have a reason to be mad.
• 44:30
  Uh-huh.
• 44:30
  You know?
• 44:31
  I'm mad, too.
• 44:32
  Yeah.
• 44:32
  Yeah, totally.
• 44:33
  But the thing is that if you ask me, I don't think that's on,
• 44:38
  like, citizens' responsibilities.
• 44:40
  Like, or, or not even, like, foreigners or expats coming here.
• 44:43
  Mm-hmm.
• 44:44
  That should be something regulated by our, our government.
• 44:46
  It should, and yeah.
• 44:47
  So if you have someone to blame, that's the government.
• 44:50
  For sure.
• 44:51
  But even the regulations that they supposedly put in place
• 44:53
  don't get enforced, like the Airbnb thing, yada, yada, yada.
• 44:56
  Yeah.
• 44:56
  They're not enforcing them, so I don't know.
• 44:59
  Okay, and the last question I ask everybody who comes on the podcast,
• 45:02
  kind of a left turn here, but what do you think happens when we die?
• 45:07
  Hopefully, hopefully, um, we would have, like, eternal life as they portray it.
• 45:13
  But As who portrays it?
• 45:16
  Like, you know, the books and the religion.
• 45:19
  Sure, sure, sure.
• 45:20
  Like, we, I mean, I, I was growing up on a Catholic family.
• 45:23
  Uh-huh, me too.
• 45:24
  So basically they say, like, be good and, you know- Right, then you go
• 45:27
  live on a cloud with God … and do the right thing- Yeah, yeah … and
• 45:29
  you're gonna live forever- Right … and you're gonna be happy.
• 45:31
  Right.
• 45:31
  Otherwise, you, you're gonna live forever but in hell, and you don't like that.
• 45:34
  Right, right, right.
• 45:35
  So I hope there's actually a heaven.
• 45:38
  Yeah.
• 45:38
  Uh, some other people think that they are gonna m- move or live in
• 45:43
  another life, probably as a- Right, right … as a dog or whatever.
• 45:45
  Reincarnation and so forth, yeah.
• 45:47
  Yeah.
• 45:47
  Uh, I wouldn't like that.
• 45:48
  Well, it depends on what you got reincarnated as probably, right?
• 45:51
  I mean, if you got reincarnated as, like, a- Still if I were rich,
• 45:54
  I think that I already had enough with just one life, honestly.
• 45:57
  Yeah, it is a lot, yeah.
• 45:59
  I do wonder that w- when it, gonna get to be, like, 70 or 80 or if I'm just gonna
• 46:02
  be like, "All right, I'm tired." Yeah.
• 46:04
  "I gotta, I gotta take, go to bed." Yeah, exactly.
• 46:06
  Uh, yeah, yeah.
• 46:08
  Yeah.
• 46:08
  So I don't know.
• 46:09
  Hopefully there's a heaven.
• 46:11
  Yeah, hopefully there's some version of, like, a great thing.
• 46:14
  I think that this is just, like, a crossing point.
• 46:16
  I think we're going from, like, you know, we w- when we were,
• 46:19
  before we were born, we were joined, we were joined in some way.
• 46:22
  After we die, we get rejoined.
• 46:24
  And w- in between, we're all just kind of flailing around because we
• 46:27
  don't know what to do 'cause we're not joined, if that makes sense.
• 46:30
  Yeah.
• 46:31
  I don't know.
• 46:31
  I mean, but something that I can just finish, uh, just to frame what
• 46:35
  I just said- Yep … is that we're energy, and energy isn't destroyed.
• 46:41
  I know.
• 46:41
  That's what I was thinking when my dad died.
• 46:43
  It, it just ch- it just changes.
• 46:45
  I know.
• 46:45
  So definitely there's something happening with us after we die.
• 46:50
  Yeah.
• 46:51
  But maybe I'm just, uh, too ignorant to know what, what's-
• 46:54
  I don't think it's ignorance.
• 46:55
  I just think we don't have the science.
• 46:56
  We have no idea, no way of knowing.
• 46:58
  You just gotta either, you know, you gotta speculate.
• 47:00
  I mean, there's, and consciousness, it's all very… Yeah, I could go
• 47:03
  on for a long time about that one, but we don't need to do that today.
• 47:07
  Uh, Fernando Marques, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
• 47:10
  I really appreciate.
• 47:10
  It was great to meet you.
• 47:11
  Absolutely.
• 47:11
  Uh, and, uh, yeah, I really appreciate you coming on.
• 47:14
  Thank you so much for the invite.
• 47:15
  Good talking to you.
• 47:16
  I actually enjoyed that a lot.
• 47:17
  Yeah.
• 47:17
  No, it's fun, right?
• 47:18
  Yeah, it is.
• 47:19
  It's my excuse to get to know people.
• 47:22
  Absolutely.
• 47:22
  All right.
• 47:22
  Thanks, bro.
• 47:22
  All right.
• 47:26
  And there you go.
• 47:27
  That was Fernando Marquez.
• 47:30
  Thank you once again for coming on the podcast, Fernando.
• 47:34
  You're a gentleman and a scholar.
• 47:37
  You can follow the podcast on Instagram at onefjefpod.
• 47:41
  That's at O-N-E-F-J-E-F-P-O-D.
• 47:47
  I'm also on TikTok at
• 47:51
  onefjefpodcast.
• 47:51
  Just add cast to the end.
• 47:53
  Very simple.
• 47:54
  And I'm on Substack at onefjef, I think.
• 47:59
  I think it's just onefjef on Substack.
• 48:01
  I should check, but I'm not going to do it.
• 48:03
  You can find me, Jeff Taylor, whatever.
• 48:05
  Just search for all the terms, you'll find me.
• 48:08
  And then you'll follow me, and you will be happy.
• 48:12
  If you have any complaints, concerns, confusion, if you'd like to be a
• 48:15
  guest, if you know somebody who should be a guest, you can email
• 48:19
  the podcast at onefjefpod@gmail.com.
• 48:22
  You sensing a theme?
• 48:23
  onefjefpod@gmail.com.
• 48:27
  And if you would like to call and complain and vent, whatever you wanna do about
• 48:32
  the podcast, you can leave a voicemail message for the podcast at 1-669-241-5882.
• 48:42
  I don't have a song in me today.
• 48:44
  I'm very sorry.
• 48:45
  1-669-241-5882. Leave a message, and I might just play it on the air.
• 48:51
  I will play it on the air unless you ask me not to.
• 48:54
  Otherwise, it's fair game.
• 48:58
  And please do like, rate, subscribe, and review on whatever
• 49:04
  platform you're listening on.
• 49:05
  Just give it a quick click, click, click, click, click, type, type, type, type,
• 49:09
  type, love, love, love, yay, yay, yay, go, go, go, and then click enter or whatever.
• 49:16
  You know, whatever.
• 49:18
  It does help, and it makes me feel joyful.
• 49:23
  It makes me feel like somebody is listening
• 49:28
  I know there are people listening.
• 49:29
  I know you're listening.
• 49:31
  But sometimes I feel like I'm screaming into the void here.
• 49:35
  And I'm not suggesting you're a void.
• 49:37
  I'm making it like a metaphorical void.
• 49:40
  Oh, I dug myself a hole here.
• 49:42
  I'm just gonna walk right away from that.
• 49:46
  I'm gonna end this episode with a quote from Carlos Castaneda
• 49:55
  We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong.
• 50:00
  The amount of work is the same
• 50:04
  I'll see you next week
• 50:08
  Very good, Jeffrey