Latest / onefjef / From Hollywood to Mexico City

Transcript

From Hollywood to Mexico City · onefjef

0:01
Who's the biggest celebrity you think you've met?
0:03
Take your pick.
0:04
All of them.
0:04
Elizabeth Taylor, uh, Tim Robbins, Mel Gibson, Brad Pitt, a- a- any of them.
0:09
George Clooney.
0:10
A- all of them.
0:11
But, you know, it's really impolite to drop names.
0:13
Uh, Robert De Niro told me that.
0:16
This is episode 64 of onefjef.
0:31
Hola mis amigos.
0:32
Hello, my friends.
0:34
How are we doing?
0:35
I know I ask that every week, but I'm genuinely curious
0:38
to know how you're doing.
0:39
So if you feel like telling me, onefjefpod@gmail.com or 669-241-5882.
0:48
I'd love to hear from you.
0:50
In the last month and a half, this podcast has just about doubled its listenership.
0:58
I'm not entirely sure what to attribute this to.
1:01
I mean, I've been upping my marketing game a little bit and doing some
1:05
better promos and so forth, but I don't attribute all of it to that.
1:08
I'm just not sure.
1:09
Maybe consistency is the thing, but I'm happy to have found so many new listeners.
1:16
And if you are a new listener, welcome.
1:18
Welcome to onefjef Nation.
1:22
I'm glad you're here.
1:23
We all are.
1:25
We're all happy you're here, and we all hope that you are thriving.
1:30
It's starting to get cooler here in Mexico City, which is very nice.
1:34
I will take it.
1:36
My apartment is on the top floor of my building, and as such, it
1:41
gets quite warm even when it's not terrifically warm outside.
1:45
I would prefer to sleep in, like, a, um, a meat freezer if I could.
1:52
I really like to have it cold when I sleep, and it's been a
1:55
real adjustment to not be cold when I sleep here in Mexico City.
2:00
I'm starting to kind of get used to it, but, mm, fifty-two
2:04
years, it's a lot of adjustment.
2:07
So I'm very glad that the temperature is starting to moderate down.
2:13
Keep going.
2:16
About six months ago, when I was fresh off the boat here in Mexico City, I
2:22
put a post on Facebook saying that I had a podcast about expats/immigrant
2:28
things, and I was looking for people who'd like to be on the show.
2:32
It was the first time that I had done an outreach like this, 'cause
2:36
all the guests that I've had on the show before have been people that
2:40
I've kind of known or known well.
2:43
Like, there was no complete strangers walking into my house
2:46
in Columbus coming on the podcast.
2:50
But I didn't know a lot of people in Mexico City, and I needed to find
2:53
guests, so I put a post on Facebook, and I got quite a few responses.
2:58
And I ended up having a few of the people over to do some interviews.
3:03
A lot of them didn't go great.
3:04
Nothing personal against anybody, but not everybody is good content.
3:09
But my guest today is good content.
3:12
He was one of the first people to reach out, and I believe he reached out
3:15
and said something about how he moved here because of the film industry.
3:18
He lived in Hollywood and worked in Hollywood for years, and
3:21
then he moved to Mexico City.
3:23
I was like, Oh, I work in film and video stuff.
3:26
This will be interesting.
3:28
So one day, about five and a half months ago, Frank Dutro, who is my guest
3:33
today, came over to my apartment in Roma Sur, and, uh, we had a conversation.
3:40
But before I get to that interview, might I ask you for a favor?
3:44
Please like, rate, subscribe, and review this podcast on whatever
3:49
platform you are listening to it on.
3:51
And after you do that, send it to a friend of yours or a family member, someone
3:57
you love, even, even someone you hate.
4:00
Everyone is welcome in onefjef Nation.
4:02
onefjef Nation has open borders.
4:06
Come on in.
4:07
So please do share it.
4:09
I would really appreciate it.
4:09
It helps grow this podcast, 'cause it takes a village, or in this
4:13
case, a nation, onefjef Nation.
4:16
But above all, thank you for listening.
4:22
Thank you for being here.
4:24
Here is my conversation with Frank Dutro from the corner
4:28
of Tonalá y Aguascalientes.
4:34
In Los Angeles, I was working with the American Film Institute for what we built
4:39
there, the AFI Apple Computer Center.
4:41
Okay.
4:42
The AFI had certain students that had gone there, graduated, who were
4:46
from Mexico, who worked at Televisa.
4:49
Okay.
4:49
When this center started, this was back in 1990, '91, they said, "Hey,
4:54
there's new technologies coming for television production, you know,
4:57
that are gonna impact everything we do. We should go visit AFI." And
5:02
so a group from Televisa came up.
5:04
I don't remember all their names.
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One was a producer, the other was the guy who was the head of all
5:08
the computer stuff for Televisa.
5:11
What year is this?
5:12
Around 92 or late 91- Okay … when they first came up.
5:18
And so I was there, and we did a full demonstration of everything, explained
5:21
everything, and they said, "Holy schmoly. We'd like you to come down to, um,
5:26
Televisa and do a seminar and introduce people to the t- what's going to be the
5:31
new technology for television production."
5:33
Was it com- just computers, basically?
5:35
Most- yeah, digital.
5:36
Right, digital.
5:37
D- everything is going digital.
5:38
Mm-hmm.
5:38
No more videotape.
5:40
Right.
5:40
Right, right.
5:41
And editing systems and, uh, scriptwriting, everything.
5:44
Everything changes.
5:45
And, um, I said, "That'd be great, be happy to help you out." It took
5:49
a year to, for this all to happen.
5:52
John Serrano was my main contact there.
5:54
Mm-hmm.
5:55
That's who I was just with.
5:56
Right.
5:57
So I came down there with my buddy Cody.
5:59
Cody ended up working at Pixar- Okay … doing animation work for them.
6:02
But we did a two-week seminar for Televisa, and as the students
6:06
walked into the room, we would videotape them digi- digitally- Right
6:11
and capture their images and then create a whole show right on the spot.
6:16
Hmm.
6:16
So during the three hours we were there, we would go through
6:20
the entire production process, budgeting, scheduling, scriptwriting,
6:23
previsualization, set design, and then all the graphics and everything that
6:27
Cody would do, so they could see how everything was done on a computer.
6:31
Right.
6:32
And then we would edit everything together and create a show, a very
6:36
short show- Sure … starring them- Hmm … the people in the class.
6:40
Probably blew their minds.
6:41
It did.
6:41
Yeah.
6:42
It changed… It, and this was for two weeks, so two, two
6:45
seminars every day for two weeks.
6:47
Uh-huh.
6:48
And everything started to shift at Televisa- Hmm
6:52
and into the, into the world of digital.
6:54
There, there were other people here already living in Mexico who were digital
6:59
experts who were gonna guide Televisa down this path over the next several years,
7:03
new, you know, Avid editing systems- Right, right, right … everything.
7:07
So you introduced Mexico to digital television production- Yes
7:11
in a degree.
7:12
To a very large extent, the same thing me and many and a few other
7:16
people were doing in Hollywood, to bring technology into Hollywood.
7:20
As we say, it's a very creative industry.
7:22
Right.
7:22
It's also a very technologically intensive industry.
7:25
For sure, the more every year, yeah.
7:26
And so we were focused on the tech stuff.
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People like James Cameron were around, and other people that liked to talk
7:32
about these things and see what was going on- Right … and figure out what
7:34
they could possibly use- Right, right, right … for their future projects.
7:37
So was it, like, the CGI stuff, or was it kind of anything?
7:41
It was anything.
7:42
Anything.
7:42
Just saying, "You can use these thing, these computer things
7:45
to do your filmmaking stuff.
7:47
Here's how." Yeah.
7:48
Right To, to bring, to- bring something good to the whole filmmaking process.
7:53
Right.
7:53
The last project I worked on, um, in 1993 was the Addams Family Values project.
7:58
Oh, right, right, right.
7:59
Um, and I got to work with Ken Adams, who was an Academy Award winning set designer.
8:05
Uh-huh.
8:05
007 and- Oh, right, yeah
8:07
a whole bunch of other good movies Right And he loved it, 'cause he, 'cause
8:10
I could print these images out with this, this beautiful color stuff that
8:13
he gave to all the people building the sets and- Right … painting the sets.
8:17
And for that movie, that year, he was nominated again for an Academy Award- Huh.
8:22
Huh
8:22
for, for that movie.
8:23
He was so happy with it, with everything.
8:25
That's nuts.
8:25
What was your most, like, um, surreal moment in Hollywood, working in Hollywood?
8:30
Well, as I mentioned earlier, the thing I loved the most was
8:34
attending the Academy Awards.
8:35
Oh, right.
8:36
How was that?
8:36
How did you end up going?
8:37
You just… Did you get invited if you work on the- No.
8:42
I don't get invited.
8:43
But I had friends who were members of the Academy.
8:45
Oh, right, and they invited you.
8:46
And I would say, "Can you help me get a ticket?" "Oh, yeah, sure.
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We, we… There's plenty of tickets, just, yeah, I have to
8:51
pay for them, of course." Right.
8:52
Right, right.
8:53
And back in the day, before I was married, of course, it was surprisingly easy to
8:58
get a date to go with you to that- Huh
9:00
show.
9:00
I, I don't know.
9:01
What a surprise.
9:01
Yeah.
9:01
Weird.
9:02
Yeah, weird.
9:02
Yeah, I imagine that's not the case anymore.
9:03
Yeah, not, no, not anymore.
9:04
Nobody wants to go to those Academy Awards anymore.
9:06
Yeah.
9:06
So- But it was nice, 'cause I love cinema, that's why I was- Sure … in
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Hollywood, and it was nice to be around these people who acted in
9:12
the movies, produced them- Of, yeah
9:14
directed them- Yeah, yeah, yeah … wrote them- Yeah … and so forth.
9:16
Yeah.
9:16
I mean, it'd be amazing.
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And the music, of course, was just huge for me.
9:20
Yeah, it'd be amazing to go to the Academy Awards.
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The music side of things.
9:22
Are you sitting on, like… Is there, like, a, a upper deck that
9:24
you're sitting on, or are you sitting on the floor with everybody?
9:26
I'm sitting on the floor with everybody.
9:28
I got the good tickets.
9:29
Wow.
9:29
Are you sitting at, like, a table?
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Or on… Oh, no, there's no tables- No, there were no tables … that's
9:32
the Golden Globes They were just at the- Yeah, yeah, yeah … uh,
9:34
in the auditorium that's there.
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So no, we, we had the good- Wow … good tickets.
9:37
Wow.
9:37
I paid a little extra for them.
9:39
Eh, it was probably worth it.
9:40
It was worth it.
9:40
Probably worth it.
9:41
So you met… Was there a lo- I mean, you meet celebrities over there?
9:44
Oh, I meet a lot of celebrities over there.
9:46
Yeah.
9:46
Who's the biggest celebrity you think you've met?
9:49
Take your pick.
9:50
All of them.
9:50
Elizabeth Taylor, uh, Tim Robbins, Mel Gibson- Huh
9:54
Brad Pitt.
9:55
A- a- any of them.
9:56
George Clooney.
9:57
You got to know- All, all of them … any of them or- It's really … But, you
9:59
know, it's really impolite to drop names.
10:01
Uh, Robert De Niro told me that.
10:04
But, uh, yeah, you meet everybody, 'cause I'm the computer guy.
10:08
Right.
10:08
And all these guys are asking me about computers- Right
10:12
uh, Tom Cruise, take your pick.
10:14
About what to get, what, how to use it- Yeah, yeah, yeah … different things,
10:17
or I'd meet, come over to wherever they were living and help them with
10:20
different things- Oh, wow … or whatever.
10:22
It's crazy.
10:23
So it was, it was nice.
10:25
So you worked in film, and you went, you came, did the seminars here, um,
10:31
for the, uh, television station here.
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No, not a television station.
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At that time, Televisa was the largest production company
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in the world- Oh, really?
10:41
… for the Spanish-speaking world.
10:42
Oh, wow, I didn't know that.
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Telenovelas and all the stuff that they would produce.
10:46
Right, right, right.
10:46
They were the biggest- Wow … by far.
10:49
Okay.
10:49
So you came down and- For, for all of the Spanish-speaking world.
10:51
Right.
10:52
So you came down and did a demo of all the digital stuff
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for, uh, this enormous company.
10:57
Yeah.
10:57
And, and then you meet your now wife, I mean.
11:00
Yes.
11:01
But you never imagined you'd live in Mexico before?
11:03
No, I'd never been here before.
11:05
Oh, really?
11:05
Not to Mexico City, anyway.
11:07
Right.
11:07
I mean, I'd been to Tijuana before.
11:09
Sure, sure, sure.
11:09
And I was blown away.
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I had no idea what this place was like.
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Nor did … I had the same feeling when I came here for the first time.
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I was like, "Wow, the, the American media does not tell us that this is
11:19
a beautiful, wonderful country." They tell us it's a terrifying country and
11:22
everybody should avoid it at all costs.
11:24
Yeah.
11:25
They think it looks like one of the old Clint Eastwood movies.
11:27
No.
11:28
You know?
11:29
It's- Fists Full of Dollars or something.
11:30
Yeah.
11:30
I just couldn't believe all the beautiful trees and- Yes … I
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mean, it's just beautiful here.
11:35
It is.
11:35
So you meet your wife- Yes … you like her, and you very quickly fa-
11:39
start a relationship with this woman.
11:41
Yes.
11:42
All right.
11:42
And then, I'm just trying to get to how you ended up in Mexico, basically.
11:45
Well, ultimately, she worked in television.
11:48
Okay.
11:48
She worked in television production.
11:50
Right.
11:50
And when we moved to the US, she had, she knew a lot of people in LA.
11:55
Oh, wow.
11:55
And she immediately almost went, almost immediately went to work for ABC- Oh, wow
12:00
for the Academy Awards.
12:03
I got my best tickets from her.
12:06
Stick with that one.
12:06
I got the whole badge and everything.
12:08
Yeah, that's why you're married.
12:08
Yeah.
12:09
And, um, so she was, she was, they, and they liked her.
12:13
They kept her very busy.
12:15
Right, right, right.
12:15
For sure.
12:15
Until we started having kids, and then she said, "Okay, I'm gonna
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s- be a stay-at-home mom now."
12:20
Right.
12:20
So you got married and moved back to the States?
12:22
Correct.
12:22
Okay.
12:23
But you were still going back and forth quite a bit.
12:25
With the family stuff and everything, we'd shoot back and forth.
12:27
It's a quick flight.
12:29
Did you speak Spanish?
12:31
Before you came here for the first time, or?
12:34
J- very bad.
12:35
Right.
12:35
Very bad.
12:36
Right.
12:36
Including today, I'm not so good, but now- Oh, really?
12:38
Now we have Google Translate.
12:40
Wow.
12:40
Boom.
12:40
I, it makes me feel a little better.
12:42
I'm learning.
12:42
That takes care of things real fast.
12:43
Yeah, yeah.
12:44
I'm trying to learn it, uh, you know, as best I can, and I'm, you know, I
12:47
got a tutor and everything, but it makes me feel a little better that
12:49
you've been here a long time and you still don't speak it very well.
12:51
You have a tutor?
12:51
I have a four-door, so.
12:53
Anyway.
12:54
Sorry, that, um- That's, that's a tutor joke … makes sound effects.
12:56
But, um, the important thing is I can go to restaurants, I can go out in public
13:00
and be very polite- Sure … with people.
13:02
They do appreciate- Yeah … politeness- For sure … and so forth.
13:05
So the basics of those things I can do pretty well.
13:08
Right, right, right.
13:10
It's friendlier.
13:10
Friendlier in many ways.
13:11
Mm-hmm.
13:12
Um- And they do have a good sense of humor Yeah … which is fun.
13:16
What kind of a sense of humor would you say it is?
13:17
Well, it's good, 'cause I'll walk in in the morning and stagger into
13:21
Starbucks or whatever coffee shop and say, "Hola. Buenas noches."
13:26
And they just start cracking up 'cause they know it's a joke.
13:28
Right.
13:29
Right, right.
13:29
You know, which is- They're just like, "Gringo" … things
13:30
like that they, uh- Gringo.
13:32
Yeah.
13:32
Yeah.
13:33
Yeah.
13:33
Yeah.
13:33
I imagine there weren't a lot of gringos here back in the day when
13:37
like in the, you know, '90s, 2000s, you know, there weren't nearly as
13:41
many as there are obviously today.
13:43
Not, not… Especially in Condesa.
13:45
Yeah.
13:45
Condesa was just- I remember … another neighborhood.
13:47
Right.
13:47
I remember- I had friends who lived there.
13:48
Yeah.
13:49
It, it wasn't that populated with much- Yeah, but it's- … of anybody … I've
13:52
heard this and it's very surprising to me.
13:54
In Roma Norte, parts of that were like really seedy.
13:57
I was told, and I'd interviewed a Mexican guy, and he was like, "There were some
14:00
squares in Roma Norte," I forget the square that was where you- people would
14:02
buy drugs, and it was really sketchy.
14:04
Mm-hmm.
14:04
Like this is, you know, 30, 40 years ago now.
14:06
Yeah, you have to go to a different neighborhood now for that.
14:09
And I never go there.
14:10
I don't even remember the name.
14:11
Yeah, no, I- But in, in '93, the other thing that I really
14:14
loved was all the taxis, all the taxis were Volkswagen Beetles.
14:19
Oh, that explains all the Volkswagens.
14:21
R- Does that explain, 'cause I noticed- Built, built over in
14:22
Puebla at the Volkswagen plant.
14:24
Ah, interesting.
14:24
Okay, that explains- And all the Volkswagen buses transporting people.
14:27
Volkswagens, Volkswagens, Volkswagens everywhere.
14:29
Okay, that explains one of my biggest questions.
14:32
Uh, not my biggest, but one of my…
14:33
'Cause I would see, you see Volkswagen Bugs, like vintage Volkswagen Bugs
14:37
and buses everywhere in Mexico City.
14:39
Yeah.
14:39
And I'm like, "I don't see this many in the States." Right.
14:42
And, but they were building them right over there.
14:43
Right.
14:44
Huh.
14:44
Okay.
14:44
So that was kind of fun.
14:45
S- I sort of kind of miss them actually.
14:47
Yeah, for sure.
14:48
Yeah, yeah.
14:48
Now we got the, the Nissan and other- Right … things being used for
14:51
taxis, but the, the Beetles were fun.
14:54
Yeah.
14:54
No, I didn't know that.
14:55
Were they painted yellow or anything or…?
14:57
Yes.
14:57
Oh, that's fun.
14:58
They were painted, yeah, like they are now, but painted.
15:01
I'll have to look up a picture of that.
15:02
Yeah.
15:03
And the other thing, people were a lot skinnier.
15:07
But now, but now they drink a lot of… You know, they started putting, uh,
15:11
high fructose corn syrup in the sodas.
15:12
They drink too many sodas.
15:14
Well, Coke just really, really took advantage of the Mexican market
15:16
in a way that- Junk, junk food and stuff like that, and so now diabetes
15:20
is through the roof, obesity- Yeah
15:22
cancer, all kinds, un- unfortunately, all kinds of things, just like the US.
15:26
So you're going back and forth between Mexico City and LA, but mostly
15:30
you're in LA, I assume, correct?
15:32
Correct.
15:32
Yeah.
15:32
And then the decision to finally move here was, was when?
15:35
Well, we were building this house, and it was getting, getting ready to move into.
15:40
And, um, Leti said, "Let's, let's move." And I said, "Sounds good to
15:45
me." So we moved everything out.
15:46
Our kids were able to finish up high school in California.
15:49
Okay.
15:50
And after that, then they, they came to, uh- Mexico for university Okay … all the
15:55
university stuff, which is actually not a bad way to do it if you can pull it off.
16:00
There's the, the university out by Puebla in Cholula, which
16:03
is the A- American University.
16:05
Mm-hmm.
16:05
They actually have dormitories there and stuff.
16:08
Hmm.
16:08
Because you get a lot more bang for your buck, so it's a good idea to
16:11
do your undergraduate work here, and then go back to the US, or a lot of
16:15
people go to Europe to do graduate work for their master's and PhDs- Right
16:19
and so forth.
16:20
Right.
16:20
And that works out to be, uh, a great way to get the g- education
16:24
you want at a decent price.
16:25
Yeah.
16:26
Yeah, yeah.
16:26
Well, I mean, grad school ain't cheap either.
16:28
Tell me … I can … I mean- … I went to grad school myself, and
16:30
it was- … uh, very expensive.
16:32
So you moved here in what year for permanently?
16:34
2016.
16:35
2016. And was there any … There was nothing in particular that
16:38
made you say, "Well, it's time to get out of the States"?
16:39
It was just like the house was done, time to go?
16:42
Yeah.
16:42
Let's … That's- And you were retired at this point, or you were still working?
16:44
I was pretty retired.
16:45
I'd- Okay … I'd had a company.
16:47
I won't get in all the details.
16:49
W- was it difficult to, in any way, to adapt to living in
16:54
Mexico City versus living in LA?
16:57
Not for me.
16:57
No?
16:58
I'd been here so much.
16:59
Right.
16:59
Right, right.
17:00
With a family here.
17:01
Right.
17:01
I knew where, knew where every place was, every restaurant was, everything.
17:05
I'd been to every place a million times.
17:07
What part of town do you live in?
17:09
Down by … In, in San Ángel.
17:11
Okay.
17:12
I don't know it, but- Which is … San Ángel's right next to Coyoacán.
17:14
Okay.
17:15
Pedregal is right next to it.
17:17
Pedregal simply means lava rock.
17:19
Oh.
17:20
In around AD 200, a little volcano popped up down i- in the south- South of the
17:27
city, and just pumped lava for two, for 70 years- Hmm … day in and day out, so
17:33
that entire area is thick and huge lava.
17:38
Huh.
17:39
Our, our home is built into solid lava rock like everything else around it.
17:42
So it's safer for the earthquakes- So- … I imagine … yeah, it's pretty good
17:45
in- It's not gonna sink into the ground like a lot of these neighborhoods are.
17:48
Right.
17:48
And it's not pumping any more lava, so that's good.
17:50
That is good for now.
17:51
Yeah.
17:52
Yeah, knock on wood.
17:52
Yeah.
17:53
Um, you know, there is a lot of talk about the amount of foreign people
17:58
that are coming in to the country these days, like particularly since
18:00
2020, 'cause and particularly with housing, you know, there's, I see
18:03
Gringos Go Home signs a lot, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and money, right?
18:07
And they raise the rent on everything and so forth and so on.
18:09
Like are there opinions about this?
18:10
Do they, how do people feel about it?
18:12
No issue at all.
18:13
Huh.
18:13
It's gonna be happening I feel like all over the world f- you know, in the next
18:16
century, because people are just gonna, from richer countries, are gonna be
18:19
going to countries where they can, you know, their money goes further and…
18:22
But I feel like with Mexico City it's more than just the financial part.
18:26
I think it's because it's a much more relaxing city to live in, you know?
18:29
There's other options too.
18:30
A lot of people… Yeah, Mexico City's can potentially be a good option for people.
18:35
Yeah.
18:35
A lot of people shoot over to Cuernavaca- Okay
18:38
which can, actually has some pretty good upside to it as well.
18:42
Uh, again, the good weather- Yeah … all year round, and, and many other things,
18:46
so that'd be a good area to kind of… For me, knowing what I know about
18:50
Cuernavaca, it'd be fine with me if it gets a little more gentrified.
18:54
It gets a little more invigorated, start kicking out the bad guys, 'cause
18:58
there's a lot of really good people there, very nice neighborhoods- Right
19:01
very good neighbor, uh, places to live.
19:04
So that's another option.
19:05
There's other areas besides all the beach places . Right.
19:09
As we say in Mexico City, the only thing missing here is the beach.
19:12
Yeah.
19:13
Yeah.
19:14
Because- I do wish the beach was more easily accessible … we
19:16
don't have a, the beach here.
19:18
Yeah.
19:18
But there's a lot going on here, which is, I mean, I, I mean the reason I
19:22
moved here is because, I mean, museums everywhere, always something going on.
19:25
There's museums- I mean, it's- … all the artists of the world- It's
19:27
incredible … come here to perform.
19:28
Yeah, yeah.
19:29
Do you miss anything about the States?
19:31
Oh, sure.
19:32
Number one, Trader Joe's.
19:34
They've never opened a Trader José's here.
19:36
It'd be nice to have a Trader José's here.
19:38
It would be.
19:39
Yeah.
19:39
It's a very good business model.
19:40
It is.
19:41
And, uh, In-N-Out Burger of course- Oh … time to time.
19:45
We didn't have that in Ohio, but I'd had it once.
19:46
And, uh, and then the traffic.
19:49
I hop on a freeway in California, boom, you do 80 miles an
19:52
hour the, the entire way.
19:54
I don't go through toll booths.
19:55
I don't- Right … go through topes- Right … topes, topes.
19:58
Oh, by the way, I wanted to mention that in this pr- podcast,
20:01
is topes are speed bumps.
20:03
Okay.
20:04
This city is filled- I've seen them … with topes.
20:06
Yeah.
20:06
That's why I call Mexico City Tope Town.
20:09
Everybody thinks that's funny.
20:10
But at any rate, 'cause y- you're gonna hit topes everywhere-
20:13
Right … all over the place here.
20:15
And so it's nice when you can, you know, people obey the laws, that
20:19
the police enforce the laws- Right
20:21
in the United States for, for traffic and so forth typically.
20:25
And it's just more organized.
20:26
They pave a road.
20:27
They paint lines down the road for the lanes.
20:29
Yeah.
20:30
Not here.
20:31
Right.
20:31
Right.
20:31
Every now and then- Crosswalks … they sort of kind of do- Yeah … maybe, but.
20:34
I was told there's not even a actual driving test in Mexico
20:38
City to get a driver's license.
20:39
Um- Only, only written, and you have to read a document
20:42
in Spanish- Yeah … to them.
20:44
And I'm reading this … I, and that's kind of funny 'cause I'm reading
20:47
the document at the DMV by our house about all the rules and all the
20:52
things you're supposed to do, and I'm talking, reading it in Spanish,
20:55
and I ask the guy, I said, "Did anybody else ever actually read this?"
20:58
'Cause nobody does these things, you know?
21:01
And he's laughing.
21:01
He goes, "I know. I hear you." It's crazy to me that there's no- But you gotta
21:05
read it and- Yeah … get your license.
21:07
I mean, it's crazy to me that there's no driving test because, like, do
21:10
you have any evidence that you can drive aside from here's … I'm
21:13
re- you know, I'm writing it down.
21:14
I can drive.
21:15
Like, how do they learn to … Are there driving schools, I wonder, you know?
21:17
You can.
21:18
You can take driving lessons.
21:19
But a lot of people probably don't because it costs money, and they can … Your
21:22
mom can just teach you how to drive.
21:24
Possibly, yeah.
21:24
I mean, I've seen some crazy moves here, I'll be honest.
21:26
I've seen some moves- Yeah … that I'm like, this is not … You
21:28
know, you can't cross over three lanes of traffic to turn left.
21:30
That doesn't seem Yeah, when you're in the right lane- Yeah … and you shoot
21:33
over without- Seen a lot of that … any warning that you're gonna turn left.
21:35
Yeah.
21:35
Seen quite a bit of that.
21:36
You gotta be really careful- It's like, mm
21:37
when you're- Yeah … driving.
21:38
I don't have a car.
21:39
God bless it.
21:40
I don't want one.
21:41
And I do, I do use my turn signal.
21:42
I admit I'm a bad Mexican driver.
21:44
Right.
21:45
You're supposed to not use that turn signal.
21:46
I, I tell people what I'm gonna do.
21:48
Yeah, that's ridiculous.
21:49
Sorry about that.
21:49
Yeah, you're wasting all your time, and energy, too, 'cause that
21:52
blinker actually, that's energy.
21:53
You have to replace that blinker light.
21:57
How has, how has the city changed since … I mean, you've
22:00
been here a while on and off.
22:02
How much have you seen the city change?
22:04
Well, cert- certainly the air quality, people ask about that all the time.
22:08
The air quality has improved- Oh, it's improved.
22:10
That's good … a great deal- Yeah
22:11
over the last 30 years.
22:12
Yeah.
22:12
So they got rid of all the cars that were just burning- Right … fuel, and
22:17
now they, you know, they're all unleaded and- Right … that kind of thing.
22:20
We do have a volcano down the street that puffs up every now and then and dumps,
22:25
you know, the, the smoke into the city.
22:26
Oh, that's exciting.
22:27
And that has nothing to do with automobiles or anything.
22:30
Actually, today, for whatever reason, is a restricted driving day for no good reason.
22:36
Uh-huh.
22:36
Certain, certain cars with certain license plates are- Yeah.
22:38
And, and- … not allowed on the roads … then people just get another car.
22:40
But a lot of the air quality sometimes is the result of
22:43
that volcano- Oh, interesting
22:45
pu- puffing smoke into the city.
22:47
I would suggest it's also probably a big part of the fact that
22:49
there's just a lot of cars here.
22:51
And it's- Six million … and it's quite high up, and I think that there's
22:54
kind of a bowl that we're sitting in.
22:56
We sit in a bowl.
22:57
So- Not a valley … I think the pollution just kind of sits there.
22:59
It can get- Yeah … yeah, depending on the, the, the climate,
23:02
it can get locked in and- Yeah.
23:03
I've been here some days and- Yeah … not this trip, but when I was here before
23:07
last, uh, last was Ja- February, March, there were a few days where I
23:11
was, like, noticeably, like … It was like, "The air's not good today." Yeah.
23:15
Um- Yeah.
23:16
But generally, it's not … It hasn't been that bad.
23:18
I haven't noticed it.
23:19
I mean, I have an air purifier, but- In, in general, it's, it's pretty good.
23:22
They did move all the factories out of the city, thank goodness- That's a good plan.
23:25
Yeah … and put them out- Yeah … away from the city.
23:27
Yeah.
23:27
And that's, that's been helpful, too.
23:29
Yeah.
23:29
It seems like they're developing the city quite a bit.
23:31
They keep building new subway lines, or planning to anyway, and building
23:34
new bus lines and stuff, which is They're going vertical What do you mean?
23:39
They put the sub- the bus line up or- No, I mean, you see the, the
23:42
h- all the apartment buildings.
23:43
Yeah These huge apartment buildings- Yeah
23:46
that are being built.
23:46
Yeah.
23:46
Where are they gonna get the water from?
23:49
Yeah.
23:49
I don't know.
23:50
'Cause there is a bit of a water thing here.
23:52
Has that always been the case, or is it just getting worse?
23:54
It's been a thing, as f- from what I've read, since the
23:58
time of the Aztecs till now.
24:00
Huh.
24:01
It's been a issue.
24:02
Strange that they built a city on a lake and still had trouble with water.
24:07
They did.
24:07
The lake, the lake water was not consumable.
24:09
Oh, it wasn't, it wasn't… Yeah.
24:11
All right.
24:11
It was too salty.
24:12
Yeah.
24:12
Oh, I see.
24:13
What do they call that?
24:13
There's a word for that.
24:15
Brackish.
24:16
Brackish.
24:17
Well done.
24:17
Well done.
24:18
You get the prize.
24:18
Yeah.
24:19
What have been the biggest ways that it's changed in your, in your presence?
24:21
Well, there's more people living here.
24:22
You've got, in this general area, about 22 million people, so it's,
24:26
it's- Yeah … it is overpopulated.
24:28
There's too many cars on the road, give or take six million per day-
24:32
Yeah … with one person driving a car.
24:35
That's a lot of people.
24:36
It'd be great if they could- That's a, that's a lot of cars It'd be great if they
24:38
had really good public transportation, not buses, but just rail systems, where people
24:44
could, could move, easily move around all over the city, hopping on and off rails.
24:47
Yeah, yeah Would be nice.
24:49
Yeah.
24:49
But I mean, where, where do you put them, right?
24:51
You, you take lanes of highway away for those, you know?
24:53
It's, that's the difficult part.
24:54
That's always the decision that they have to make is… I saw somewhere-
24:58
Oh, sure … they built, they built a bus line that was elevated, and it's
25:01
just a bus line, but it's elevated, and they did that instead of a subway or
25:05
a, or like a, you know, a, a light rail because it's significantly cheaper to
25:08
just have buses running on a- It is.
25:10
I mean, at least they're trying.
25:11
Exactly.
25:12
Have you traveled around Mexico a lot since you've been here?
25:14
Yes, I have.
25:15
Where's the… What, what, what are the highlights?
25:18
Well, of course, I love the Caribbean.
25:20
I'm not super happy with how things have developed in Cancun,
25:25
Tulum- Right … Playa del Carmen- Right … places like that.
25:28
I've heard Tulum's been kinda destroyed by- Yeah.
25:30
Yeah.
25:31
My most favorite state to go to, of course, is Oaxaca.
25:34
I keep hearing this, yeah.
25:35
And they serve some of the best food in Mexico is there and, and if you
25:39
want you can shoot over to Puerto Escondido, go over to the beach.
25:42
Yeah.
25:42
This is a plan.
25:43
I've heard Puerto Escon- And, uh-
25:44
I, those are the two big ones I hear, Puerto Escondido and, and Oaxaca.
25:47
Yeah.
25:48
Those- And- That's, that is a awfully nice place to, to go.
25:52
Um, maybe we should move there.
25:54
But at any rate- … um, it is, it's, it's such a delight.
25:58
But v- visiting other states like Chiapas, visiting these
26:01
ancient Mayan cities- Mm-hmm
26:02
Palenque.
26:04
Uh, I c- I can only think of the funny name.
26:07
Yeah, the other one.
26:08
The- I know, I know the other one you're talking about, I can't think of it either.
26:10
Well, we call it chicken pizza, but it's called something else.
26:12
Oh, Chichen Itza.
26:13
Chichen Itza.
26:14
There it is, yeah.
26:15
And, um, visiting, you know, places like that.
26:17
Campeche.
26:18
Mm. Love Campeche.
26:19
What an incredible city that is to visit when it's cooler.
26:23
So Christmas time or something, go down to Campeche.
26:25
Mm. Mm. Mm. Right.
26:26
It's in the Yucatan, but on the Gulf side of the Yucatan.
26:29
Oh, nice.
26:29
I wanna- A place wh- a place where pirates used to come in,
26:32
Pirates of the Caribbean- Oh
26:33
would come in to, to rob the place.
26:35
And so they built huge walls around the city.
26:37
Oh, that's cool.
26:38
It's, it is impressive- Yeah … to go visit there, and then visit
26:41
the Mayan areas around it as well.
26:44
The, I don't go up in the northern parts of Mexico- Yeah … the, the desert areas.
26:48
The sketchier areas.
26:49
I don't need to- Yeah
26:50
go visit them.
26:50
I've driven through there, but that was enough to see it.
26:54
And then, um, plenty of places along the coast to go- Yeah … to go visit.
26:59
Yeah.
26:59
I need to beach very soon.
27:00
The places that people love to surf at are very nice.
27:03
Yeah.
27:03
And it's not an expensive flight, which is the nice thing.
27:05
It's a pretty cheap flight from here to kind of anywhere you wanna go in Mexico.
27:09
Where… Yeah, why don't you do that?
27:10
Yeah.
27:11
Yeah.
27:11
When you were growing up, did you ever imagine yourself leaving the United States
27:15
and moving to a place like Mexico City?
27:19
No It was not like, not even on your radar or anything?
27:21
No.
27:22
I d- I do like foreign countries.
27:23
I remember in high school people would come, they'd be foreign exchange students,
27:28
and I just loved talking to them.
27:29
One person was from Spain, very interesting.
27:32
Another w- Sw- Switzerland, I think.
27:35
And it was so interesting.
27:37
Germany, of course.
27:38
I was like, "Wow, I wanna go visit these places- Right … and
27:41
see these places." Did you?
27:43
I've been to Europe- Okay … quite a bit.
27:45
Yeah.
27:45
My, my wife Letty had lived there over a two-year period for two years.
27:49
Oh, right on.
27:50
So she said, "I'm gonna show you around Paris, Italy, Spain-
27:53
Uh-huh … everywhere." Nice.
27:55
And she, she's a good tour guide.
27:56
Good tour guide.
27:56
Yeah.
27:57
Yeah.
27:58
And- I haven't been to Europe in years.
27:59
Well, just a couple c- couple quick things about if people live here, a
28:03
great place to go on the weekends to get away from the city, it's only an
28:07
hour outside the city, is Tapostlan.
28:10
Okay.
28:11
They used to shoot a lot of movies there.
28:12
Take Your Pick, uh, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the 1960 version
28:16
of, of The Magnificent Seven- Oh, yeah … with Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen.
28:20
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
28:21
Um, it's a beautiful, beautiful place.
28:23
There's a m- many boutique hotels there now, very good restaurants, and a lot
28:28
of people just shoot out of the city.
28:30
They mainly just stay at the hotel or in the property or maybe they go down
28:34
to the main, um, town area just to visit the marketplace and so forth.
28:40
Right.
28:41
But it's a very popular place to go hang out on the weekends for people in
28:45
Mexico City just to get out of the city.
28:47
Huh, yeah, yeah.
28:48
It's where I was married in 1993.
28:50
Oh, there you go.
28:51
There you go.
28:52
You know?
28:52
Yeah.
28:52
And, uh, it's just close to the city.
28:55
Mm. So it's easy to shoot out there- Right.
28:56
Right, right … and then come right back.
28:58
Right.
28:58
Right.
28:59
What are differences, uh, in terms of, like, when you first getting to know
29:03
your wife and, like, meeting their family, w- were there any noticeable
29:06
differences between the way that, like, perhaps you relate- laid with
29:08
your family when you were younger or whatever, your, your, your actual
29:11
family, as opposed to, like, the way that you've noticed the family unit here?
29:16
Well, for me, that was a, an incredibly attractive thing, was her family.
29:21
Mm-hmm.
29:21
She has five sisters- Hmm … mother, father, and plus all her cousins-
29:26
Right … aunts, uncles- Big family … all this thing.
29:28
And it was just so nice, where they care, they care about each other-
29:33
Mm-hmm … from, from beginning to end.
29:34
Yeah.
29:34
They will take care of each other, make sure everything's okay, and do everything.
29:39
I visit, uh, other families in the US, and I don't see that at all.
29:44
No, it really- A lot of, like, "Yeah, whatever, big deal," indifference.
29:47
Yeah, yeah.
29:48
And I'm, I'm not gonna say that every family in Mexico- Of course … is
29:52
the same, but with- Generally speaking … with regards to my wife's family-
29:56
Yeah … it was so nice and so impressive.
29:58
And I think this is… I think that's a fair generalization to make as well.
30:02
I think that there's definitely much more of a, um… at least it seems, anyway,
30:05
to be much more of a focus on the family here, as opposed to United States.
30:09
Mm-hmm.
30:09
Um, well, that's nice.
30:10
It was like a warm, happy place to come to with all these people everywhere.
30:14
Yeah.
30:14
Yeah, that's wonderful.
30:15
And it certainly has forced me to expand, you know, take me out
30:19
of my comfort zone, if you will.
30:20
Yeah, well, yeah.
30:20
I mean, I'm from- Sure … from, from the United States.
30:24
I grew up in California.
30:25
It w- things are the way they are.
30:27
Mm-hmm.
30:27
And to come here, you know, to learn the language, learn about a different culture.
30:32
And as we say, you know, in Spain, they h- they were occupied by
30:35
the, the Arabs for 700 years.
30:38
Finally, the Arabs left, and then the Spaniards, however they were
30:42
affected by that, came to this part of the world, to a culture that
30:48
was very different than theirs, and it's all been blended together.
30:51
Yeah.
30:51
This is, by the way, my wife talking, not me.
30:54
Blended together, what could possibly go wrong?
30:59
And we're walk- I remember that day she said that.
31:00
We're walking down the street, and everything was just like,
31:02
"Whee," just crazy, crazy, crazy.
31:05
Everywhere, this, the, the way of thinking about things.
31:09
So there's, there's- Yeah, yeah … that, that here, too.
31:11
It's very interesting to me.
31:13
What's the most… Like you said, you got out of your comfort zone,
31:15
and I, my philosophy is, like, every time I've gotten out of my comfort
31:18
zone, it's been a great thing, right?
31:20
It, all, all the fun stuff seems to happen outside of my comfort zone.
31:23
Mm-hmm.
31:23
Um, what was the most uncomfortable part of getting out of your
31:28
comfort zone and moving here?
31:29
The traffic.
31:30
Right.
31:31
Of course.
31:31
And not only the traffic, just how people think about driving and what they do.
31:35
You gotta be really careful.
31:36
Like you mentioned earlier, a guy in the far right lane is gonna
31:40
suddenly cross over- Right … in front of everybody with no warning-
31:44
Right … to make a left-hand turn.
31:47
And whatever else goes on, things like that is- Yeah, yeah
31:50
is that I have to really be careful of.
31:53
Yeah.
31:54
And also just, and this isn't out of my comfort zone, but yet you do
31:57
have to be polite with people here.
31:59
Yeah.
31:59
Otherwise, they're not gonna- I've noticed that … like you too much.
32:02
Yeah, no, I love that about it actually.
32:03
I've kind of real- like I was saying earlier, you know, whenever you go
32:06
into a store anywhere, there's always like, "Buenos dias, buenas noches,"
32:09
whatever it is, and you, you don't generally have that in the States.
32:12
People aren't welcoming you every time you come into any
32:14
kind of a restaurant or anything.
32:15
Mm-hmm.
32:16
It w- that's actually a good tip for people coming just to visit
32:19
even Mexico City, is to just, like, say buenos dias, right?
32:22
Say, you know, 'cause I feel like a lot of- Yeah … perhaps the anti-gringo
32:26
sentiment comes from a place of, like, well, they come in here and they're
32:29
rude and they don't, you know- Yeah
32:30
they don't even try to speak Spanish or- They're rude, or they don't tip.
32:32
Right.
32:33
So when I shop for groceries, there's always somebody bagging my groceries.
32:36
They don't get paid by the store to work there.
32:38
Oh, is that true?
32:39
And I remember I checked out, this is a while ago, and I checked out,
32:42
there was a American guy checking out.
32:45
He checked out, the woman bagged all his groceries, and he's walked out the door.
32:49
Yeah, I didn't… I've done that, 'cause I didn't know.
32:51
And, and she's like, "He didn't…" And so I said, "I'll, I'll pay you."
32:54
And I- Oh, that's good to know … I paid it, I paid her for him, and I
32:56
paid- How much would you ti- … for myself … what kind of a tip?
32:58
What kind of t- tip do you give?
32:59
Well, I tend to be pretty generous.
33:01
Right.
33:01
Um, so I give them 20 pesos.
33:03
Oh, yeah, that's n- yeah They're used to getting, like, five pesos.
33:06
Oh, yeah, I give the garbage people 20 pesos.
33:08
Well, that's very nice of you.
33:09
Right.
33:10
Because they need it.
33:11
They need to buy food, they need to… And this helps them- Right
33:14
have a little bit better life, and they're less, they're way less likely to say,
33:18
"Keep the Americans out." They're gonna say, "No-" For sure … "bring him.
33:21
Bring a few more." Where else are, should you be ti- should you be
33:24
tipping and I'm not perhaps tipping?
33:26
Oh, I … Just restaurants, of course, we eat 15%.
33:30
15%, all right.
33:31
Can't say poor Santos- I was told 10, but- 10 … but 15 is fair.
33:34
No, 15, 15.
33:36
Oh, all right.
33:36
Yeah, f- stick with 15.
33:38
And then just in general, d- I was walking over here, and there was a woman with two
33:42
little kids selling stuff on the street.
33:44
Yeah.
33:44
I just … I handed them 40 pesos.
33:46
I said- W- right … "I don't want what they're selling."
33:48
I just said, "Keep the money." Right.
33:50
Right.
33:50
I see that a lot over here.
33:51
So I always carry a pocket full of coins with me, 10 peso coins- Right … just to
33:55
make sure I have something to give people.
33:57
Oh, that's a good idea.
33:58
Yeah.
33:58
Because by doing that, it creates a better, a much better relationship between
34:04
us Americans and these people- For sure
34:06
in Mexico.
34:06
They're … You know, if somebody comes along and says, "Oh, we're
34:09
gonna kick out the Americans," or, "This place is being gentrified," or
34:12
blah blah, they're gonna say, "Uh-uh.
34:14
Don't touch them," you know?
34:15
Right.
34:15
Right.
34:16
"Keep them, keep them coming." Right.
34:17
Right.
34:17
And be decent here.
34:18
These people struggle, and giving a couple dollars away- Yeah
34:22
doesn't affect me.
34:23
And do you think you're gonna be here forever, for the rest of your life?
34:26
Well, yeah, possibly.
34:28
I mean, things are going very well.
34:30
Mm-hmm.
34:30
And it's been … Financially, it's been good.
34:32
Right.
34:32
You left right before Trump got elected, which was good.
34:36
And, uh, the state of California unfortunately just
34:39
taxes everybody to death now.
34:40
Yeah.
34:41
And that, that wasn't good.
34:42
Most states do now.
34:43
Yeah.
34:44
And, uh, so we can come here and l- live a, a decent life
34:48
for, at, at a reasonable price.
34:50
The health … People ask me, "Well, how's the healthcare?" Yeah.
34:53
Well, it's freaking state-of-the-art- Yeah, I've
34:54
heard that … is what it's like.
34:55
Yeah.
34:56
So you go to Angeles Hospital or the ABC Hospital, it's like
34:59
walking into a Four Seasons hotel.
35:01
Hmm.
35:02
Beautiful places.
35:03
Not that I ever wanna go to hospitals- Sure … but the family,
35:06
you know, we go there sometimes.
35:08
And the doctors are very well-trained, very well-educated.
35:12
They have state-of-the-art equipment.
35:13
They have e- anything and everything- Right … for a lot less money
35:17
than what it would ever cost you in the US for the same thing.
35:20
What kind of money do you end up pay- I mean, do you have insurance?
35:22
Yes.
35:23
Okay.
35:23
How much is the insurance?
35:25
I don't know, but I did calculate it.
35:28
For the amount of money that I pay per year for- … top-of-the-line
35:32
insurance here- I hate this kind of comparisons, but keep going.
35:35
Uh- Per year is what it would cost me for only two months in the United States.
35:39
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
35:40
So- And then you're still paying your copay … so I pay, I pay about 2,000 a
35:43
year- … for, for the top-of-the-line insurance with a pretty big deductible.
35:46
See, I've heard that number quite a bit.
35:47
Yeah.
35:47
But so how much are you paying, uh, like for kind of a, whatever, a checkup,
35:51
if you're going to the doctor for like a yearly checkup of some sort or
35:53
something, how much does this cost?
35:55
Well, the doctor I see, I go to the really good doctors.
35:58
That's gonna run me 200 bucks.
36:00
Oh.
36:00
I mean, it, it's, it's better on all fronts, 'cause I was paying, what,
36:03
two, 650 a month for health insurance before I left, and it would still
36:07
cost me 50 bucks to go to the doctor.
36:09
And I'm not spending, whatever, I don't know, 650 times 12, somebody do the math.
36:14
But not that much money on, you know.
36:16
It's just in case.
36:17
It's the just in case.
36:18
Um, the doctors that I spend time with whenever I see them, which
36:21
isn't too often- Um, they'll spend well over an hour with me- Oh, see,
36:26
that's nice … going through stuff.
36:27
So yeah, that's why I'm paying the $200.
36:30
Right.
36:31
'Cause we're doing a pretty in-depth analysis- Yeah, which is good at our age.
36:34
Yeah … on a lot of things.
36:35
Yeah.
36:35
And when I need a blood test, I literally just walk around the corner- Yeah … to
36:40
the blood test place, pay them the money, and done, done, done, done.
36:43
Yeah, and a lot of the pharmaceuticals are over the counter.
36:46
Like, there's an inhaler that, like a rescue inhaler that I
36:48
would pay, I don't know, a co-pay of 15, 20 bucks in the States.
36:52
I'm sure they probably charge the, whatever, $200 or something.
36:55
Right.
36:55
That guy always drives by.
36:58
Uh, and here I can get it over the counter for 10 bucks.
37:00
Yeah.
37:01
Yeah.
37:02
And a lot of other medications you don't even need a prescription
37:04
for, which is quite nice.
37:05
Correct.
37:05
Yeah.
37:05
You can get a lot of stuff over the counter that way.
37:07
Yeah, which is nice.
37:08
I mean, United States, I think the numbers are, they pay at least four
37:11
times as much, sometimes eight times as much, as any other country in the world
37:15
for medical care and for medications, which is just criminal, really.
37:20
It's criminal.
37:20
We're paying for the research is what we're doing.
37:22
Oh.
37:23
This isn't a, this isn't a podcast about pharmaceutical research and conspiracy.
37:26
We'll do that one next week.
37:27
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
37:28
We'll do that one next week.
37:29
We'll do that next week.
37:30
Um, do you miss working in Hollywood?
37:33
No.
37:33
These days, no.
37:34
Yeah?
37:35
I'm good to go.
37:36
It was a pleasure working with- All the stuff I did there, I worked at D-
37:41
actually Disneyland for quite a while.
37:43
Moved up to Burbank, Disney, started working with computers,
37:47
then over to Universal.
37:48
Um, and then left that after a while and started just working freelance
37:53
for Warner Brothers, Universal- Mm-hmm … Disney, MGM, Paramount,
37:57
take your pick, Sony, all of them.
37:59
Did you wanna work in film?
38:01
I was working very heavily… I didn't wanna do film production.
38:05
I did those two movies, the one in '85 when I first went there
38:08
with my brother, who's one of the top makeup artists in Hollywood.
38:11
Oh, right on.
38:12
John Blake.
38:13
You can look him up on- Yeah.
38:14
All right … imdb.com.
38:16
And it was very interesting, but it's just too, way too time-consuming for me.
38:20
Yeah.
38:21
Yeah.
38:21
I'd rather go work at the studios and go to the commissary, hang
38:26
out with George Clooney- Right
38:28
whoever's there, and just, it was so nice.
38:30
I remember I, at Warner Brothers when I was working on a big project with
38:33
them, you walk in the commissary, the whole cast of Friends is just
38:36
sitting around a table telling jokes.
38:38
It was so nice, you know?
38:39
Crazy.
38:40
And, um, that I, that I enjoyed- Yeah.
38:45
I'm sure … quite a bit.
38:46
Yeah.
38:46
And that was my interest in film, working with certain directors and
38:51
producers and, and other people, helping them and their families with
38:55
computer stuff, whatever they needed.
38:56
Right.
38:57
Right.
38:57
That was, that was enough for me.
38:59
And it was very much like a, you were into the computer thing before
39:02
a lot of people were, and it was a right place, right time thing.
39:05
Exactamente.
39:06
Right.
39:06
Right, right.
39:06
It's a good way to do things.
39:08
It really is.
39:09
I mean, if you can do it that way, that's the thing.
39:10
You gotta be the one that's, you know, you gotta have the vision to see that
39:13
the computer's gonna be the thing, right?
39:15
Yes.
39:15
Um, like you know, Amazon, like the bookstore idea, it's a genius
39:19
idea, but who would've thought?
39:21
I wish I'd come up with that idea.
39:23
What was it like during COVID here?
39:26
It was so awesome You could drive everywhere.
39:31
Oh, right, 'cause there's nobody on the streets.
39:33
There's nobody on the streets.
39:34
Yeah.
39:34
Everybody's staying at home.
39:35
Everybody's happy.
39:36
Everybody's, you know- Yeah … I, I didn't, I was out in Tepoztlán
39:40
quite a bit at our other house- Yeah
39:42
and just hanging out there 'cause I didn't know how serious this thing really was.
39:46
Yeah, nobody did.
39:47
And, and so it was just nice being so free.
39:51
And just like my friends in LA, I talked to them and say, "Hey,
39:54
I drove someplace in 13 minutes." And they said, "13 minutes?
39:57
That takes, like, two hours." I goes, "Not anymore.
40:00
There's no traffic." Right, right, right, right.
40:01
You know, so it was nice not having all this traffic and all this stuff going on.
40:05
Were there restrictions or anything like in the States?
40:07
There, you know, in the States there was like, you know, you couldn't
40:09
lockdowns and all these kind of things and they couldn't- Oh,
40:12
yeah, they, they did all the stuff.
40:13
All the stuff.
40:13
They just followed the States to a, a certain extent.
40:17
Huh, interesting.
40:18
Did all this, all this stuff.
40:19
And, uh, um- Did they close the schools here?
40:23
Yeah, they did.
40:24
Wow.
40:25
They did, they did a lot of- Yeah … stuff … that was the,
40:27
was the biggest mistake, that one.
40:29
Mm-hmm.
40:30
So what do you do with your time?
40:31
You're a retiree.
40:31
So my time here, thank goodness, we're taking care… My daughter's
40:35
getting married- Okay … in June.
40:36
All right.
40:37
So we're kind of planning that little family get-together.
40:40
Um, our other son's working in Brooklyn, New York.
40:43
Oh, wow.
40:43
Doing, doing really well.
40:44
Charlie's up in California.
40:46
He's, he's doing well.
40:47
So Letty and I are planning where we're gonna go.
40:50
Okay.
40:51
And our, our next trip- Right … Argentina, Patagonia.
40:54
Nice.
40:54
Go see everything.
40:55
Nice.
40:56
That's, she's, her sisters have been there.
40:58
Now she wants to take the time and trouble to go down there.
41:01
I met a guy here last year that was biking from Alaska all the way down
41:06
to the southern tip of Argentina.
41:08
That's impressive.
41:09
It really is.
41:09
That is impressive.
41:10
Yeah, great guy.
41:11
He, take him about two years.
41:13
Wow.
41:13
But he's biked all over the… I mean, he's biked around Australia,
41:15
he's biked through India.
41:16
I mean, he's biked everywhere.
41:16
He's a big interesting guy.
41:19
He was on the podcast, actually.
41:20
Yeah.
41:21
Yeah, I mean, anything else that you would like to, like, for people who
41:24
are thinking about moving to Mexico City or, you know, um, who know people
41:28
who have moved to Mexico City or anything, who have just moved here?
41:31
Well, cert- certainly I've met a lot of people who've moved here years ago.
41:36
They're older, retired people.
41:38
Right.
41:38
There's Lake Chapala, of course, is a popular place for people to retire.
41:41
Pretty good weather.
41:42
Mm. That's out in, by Guadalajara.
41:45
And so there can be some very, very good options where you can get the care that
41:49
you need ultimately, and other things, at a reasonable price, plus have access
41:53
to a nice community of people- Right
41:56
um, and whatever healthcare services you might need down the road.
42:02
Instead of it costing you 25, 20,000 a month, it's gonna
42:05
cost you At $20,000 a month.
42:08
It may cost you 20,000 pesos a month here- Right, right … which
42:12
would be a very high level of care.
42:13
That's $1,000 a month.
42:16
But nonetheless, all these things are available here.
42:18
Yeah.
42:19
And, um, so you have good weather, great food- … nice people.
42:24
I mean, come with you And then just keep in mind, the problem when the
42:27
US invaded Mexico in 1946, '47, as when Polk wanted to push everything-
42:33
Mm-hmm … out to California, um, the soldiers came in to town, to Mexico
42:39
City, and they're like, "Holy schmoly."
42:41
They were from Texas.
42:42
Some of them came in through Veracruz.
42:44
They're like, "Wow, this is a beautiful place.
42:46
Nice people, really good food-" Right "… great weather." The secret.
42:49
"I'm not going back to Texas." "I'm staying here," and they stayed.
42:53
Oh, wow.
42:54
I didn't know that.
42:54
Because it was so nice.
42:55
Sure, yeah.
42:56
I mean- They said, "These people are not our enemy.
42:58
They're very nice.
42:59
They give us good food to eat.
43:00
They give us a place to sleep.
43:02
They could not be kinder." Right.
43:04
Right.
43:05
And Polk's like, "Oh, well, you know…" And Mexico's like- Mm … "You
43:07
know, we got enough to deal with.
43:08
Let's redraw the border, and there you go.
43:10
Now leave us alone." Right.
43:11
"We have enough stuff to deal with."
43:13
Have prices gone up since you've been here?
43:15
Oh, sure.
43:15
A lot, like a decent amount?
43:16
They, I feel like they've gone up since I was here a month, a year ago, rather.
43:19
Yeah.
43:19
Um, it's, it's surprising, um, because I think a lot of the, part of the reason a
43:25
lot of people move here is because of the money part, part of the reason I moved
43:27
here, not by far the whole only reason- Mm
43:29
but one of the reasons for sure, because I don't have to work as much,
43:32
and I can live a more relaxing life.
43:34
Sure.
43:34
It's not about, you know, success, success, success, success.
43:38
Feels like America really pushes that success button pretty hard all the time.
43:43
Well, I think that's why Guadalajara is becoming a popular- Yeah
43:47
area to move into, the Lake Chapala area.
43:49
I mean, the town of Tequila is just a few minutes up the road.
43:53
Huh.
43:53
And the, and the, the Cuervo family's been building a big retirement
43:57
facility- Oh, no kidding … there for people, as well as- Free tequila.
44:00
You have a lot of tequila.
44:02
And, uh, and places like San Miguel de Allende are, they're also building
44:05
places for people to come retire to.
44:07
That's a little more high-end.
44:09
But even in Tepoztlán, there are retirement communities.
44:12
So in these places, it's like they are almost welcoming American tourists,
44:16
not that they aren't welcoming them here, obviously, but I mean, in these
44:19
places, they're actively, like, building places for i- uh, ostensibly American
44:24
people to come, United States- Yes
44:26
Americans to come and- Yes … um, yeah, yeah.
44:29
That's interesting.
44:29
Yeah.
44:30
Because money, I guess too, right?
44:33
Yeah … you know, they want the money.
44:34
Mm-hmm.
44:35
It's a complicated question because you do, you know, rents have gone up.
44:38
A lot of people have had, been, been priced out of neighborhoods like this.
44:41
Mm-hmm.
44:41
Um, and but on the other side of the coin, you've got businesses
44:45
that are doing very well.
44:46
Businesses are blossoming everywhere and doing much better.
44:49
And, uh- In this area they are for sure.
44:51
For sure.
44:51
Yeah.
44:51
Oh, yeah.
44:52
Yeah.
44:52
So it really is a double-edged sword, and then, you know, you
44:55
get tax money from that, I assume.
44:57
Are taxes expensive here?
44:59
No.
44:59
No, not bad?
45:00
No.
45:00
Yeah.
45:00
Do you pay property tax here, or is there no pro- Yeah, I do.
45:03
We do … Oh, there's property tax?
45:04
Yes.
45:04
It's reasonable.
45:05
Yeah, yeah.
45:07
Huh.
45:07
And any thoughts on the cartel stuff?
45:10
'Cause it's a big… That's, that's the only news you s- see
45:12
in the States generally about Mexico is, A, about immigration
45:15
of course, and, B, about horrible car- cartel things going on there.
45:18
I think that's why the impression is generally, oh, it's dangerous
45:21
there, blah, blah, blah.
45:22
You're not gonna have problems with the cartels- Yeah … unless
45:25
you go looking for them.
45:27
Right.
45:27
So don't go anywhere near them or what they're doing or anything.
45:30
Just- Yeah … in these neighborhoods, in Condesa, Roma, Coyoacán,
45:36
Polanco, I mean, you're fine.
45:37
Yeah.
45:38
And there's a huge police- You're just, just having a, just- And they
45:39
kind of ignore Mexico City to a degree too because they- They do
45:42
there could, there's a milit- you know.
45:43
Yeah.
45:44
I mean, I just, I just think it's interesting 'cause my mom texted me when
45:47
there was the Of course, the shooting was, was very much well-publicized in
45:50
the States at the pyramids, and, and it, it was another thing where it's
45:54
just like, "Oh, this is why everybody is worried about me living in Mexico,"
45:57
because the news that they get about Mexico is almost always some sort
46:01
of a negative spin on it, which is unfortunate, or maybe it's fortunate
46:05
because m- less, you know, less people.
46:07
Yeah, it's terribly dangerous here.
46:09
Don't come.
46:09
Yeah, don't come.
46:10
It's not … Yeah, we don't like it here, and- Yeah, right, and we will build the
46:12
wall to keep- … all the Americans out.
46:15
That was chill.
46:15
Try to get in.
46:16
And the other, the other thing I tell people, my friends always ask
46:19
me, "Well, is it dangerous there?" I said, "Yes, Mexico is very dangerous.
46:24
You can get fat-" "… 'cause the food is so good here." It really is.
46:28
What's your favorite, what's your favorite Mexican food?
46:30
Oh, my goodness.
46:30
All the different enchiladas at different- Mm … places, tacos of course.
46:35
Tacos.
46:35
Tacos.
46:36
Uh, all the things my wife … Whenever I go with her to restaurants,
46:40
she always introduces me to- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
46:42
all these new things that I- Yeah, yeah … didn't even know about.
46:44
Yeah, I took a cooking class- So- … and it was actually super fun, with my
46:47
sister and my nephew were visiting, and we took a cooking class, and it was, it
46:50
was actually super … It was a great class, like six people, and we learned
46:52
how to make, how to make tortillas.
46:54
We learned how to make, uh, salsa and everything, and I don't know about
46:56
you, but when I was making salsa, I would just take some tomatoes, fresh
47:00
tomatoes, and just chop them up- Mm-hmm … and put them in, you know,
47:03
in a bowl with some jalapeno, whatever.
47:05
Who knew you can just roast them and then smash it all and together?
47:08
It's much easier.
47:09
Yeah.
47:09
It was a revelation.
47:10
I was like, "Oh, I've been doing it wrong this whole time." Good.
47:13
Yeah.
47:13
So for example, in Tepoztlán, when, which is where we buy our tortillas,
47:18
they are using the same corn that they've been growing for 200 years.
47:23
Huh.
47:24
It's corn.
47:25
Right, but there's many different kinds of corn.
47:27
It's white corn.
47:28
Right.
47:29
It's not GMO.
47:30
It's not Monsanto- Right … or Bayer now.
47:33
It's corn, same one they've been using for 200 years with water, and
47:37
what's the third ingredient, lye?
47:39
I think it's limestone.
47:40
Isn't it lime?
47:41
Limestone or something like that But that's it Yeah And they're so good.
47:44
So we bring them, we- that's what we keep at our house.
47:47
We- Uh-huh … don't buy stuff, you look at the ingredients, and there's
47:49
20 ingredients in it and like, no.
47:52
Am I supposed to refrigerate tortillas?
47:53
Yes, please.
47:54
Okay.
47:54
Noted.
47:55
That explains a lot, actually.
47:58
Refrigerate or f- longer term, freeze them, and then take them out-
48:01
Oh- … bit by bit … that's a good tip.
48:02
Hot tip That's what we do.
48:03
We keep them frozen and then take them out bit by bit to, to use them.
48:06
Yeah, yeah.
48:07
What would you say, if you can even say, what would you say is your
48:10
favorite thing about, about Mexico City?
48:12
What's like your, your, um… People come visit you, and you're
48:15
like, "Well, we're gonna go to this place. I need to show you this."
48:18
The street Francisco Sosa in Coyoacán- Oh, all right … is by far my most favorite
48:24
street to walk up and down, except for the Reforma here, which is also my favorite.
48:29
I like Amsterdam quite a bit as well.
48:30
But, um, and Amsterdam, that's the joke.
48:33
I'll, I'll call you.
48:33
I'm gonna go to Amsterdam, and I'll walk.
48:35
When I get to the End of Amsterdam, I'll call you.
48:37
It never ends.
48:39
As y- as you well know by now- Right, right, right … it's, it's the
48:41
remnants of an old horse race track.
48:42
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
48:44
But Francisco Sosa is a street started by the Spaniards.
48:48
The homes being built there were built by the Spanish, so
48:51
it has a lot of history to it.
48:52
Mm. The rock walkways and everything, it's just beautiful.
48:55
So when you're in Coyoacán- No, I've, I've walked down that street.
48:58
Walked that- I did the whole, uh- Okay … you know, the, the
49:00
Casa Azul and the Trotsky Museum.
49:02
I like the Trotsky Museum better, to be honest.
49:03
I thought that was fascinating.
49:04
I had no idea that Trotsky got assassinated here.
49:07
Yes, he did.
49:07
Um, yeah.
49:08
With an ice pick.
49:09
Yeah.
49:09
Yeah, no, I saw the place where it happened.
49:11
Yeah.
49:11
I saw his toilet for crying out loud.
49:13
Yeah.
49:13
It's just amazing that they have Trotsky's toilet.
49:15
Who would have thought that there was a thing that you could come to
49:17
Mexico City and see Trotsky's toilet?
49:19
Exactly.
49:20
And that he was, might have been having an affair with, uh, Frida Kahlo.
49:23
Apparently, that was the part- Maybe, maybe early on, but they kind
49:26
of, they broke up at some point.
49:27
Yeah, but there was quite a bit of rumors about that.
49:28
That's right.
49:28
At least what we heard in these places.
49:30
Right.
49:30
But, uh, who knows?
49:30
Maybe they're just adding, uh, adding some in- like intrigue.
49:33
I feel like a lot of the-
49:34
the stories about, the stories you get when you take one walking
49:37
tour versus another walking tour are oftentimes very different.
49:40
You know what I mean?
49:41
Well, then there's the Frank tours, and that's- What are the Frank tours?
49:43
Me.
49:43
Oh, your tours.
49:44
When my friends come to visit.
49:46
Yeah, yeah.
49:46
After 30 years of learning and reading- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
49:49
You're probably the best tour guide of all.
49:51
Yeah.
49:51
Uh, one of the funniest, for sure.
49:53
If I do say so myself.
49:55
They, they do like my jokes.
49:56
Um, have you been to that, what's the mariachi square called?
50:00
I always liked that square.
50:01
I take people there.
50:01
I never go there.
50:02
Oh, I take people there.
50:03
It's that restaurant there.
50:04
It's super fun.
50:05
Oh, good.
50:05
Yeah.
50:06
Okay.
50:06
It's like three mariachi bands playing at the same time.
50:08
It's worth a stop.
50:09
It's… And usually we're the only gringos there, which is, I don't think
50:12
a lot of gringos know about the place.
50:14
So whenever we go there, the two or three times I've been there, they give us,
50:17
like, an amazing seat because they want the gringos to have a good time and…
50:21
Mm. Although last time we were there, one of the mariachi bands was singing that
50:23
song that, that, like, one of the lines is, "Chinga tu madre." It's like a- Mm-hmm
50:27
… you know, and, uh, my nephew was there.
50:29
It was funny.
50:29
We had to explain to him what chinga tu madre meant.
50:32
You shouldn't probably say that when you go back to school.
50:35
Right.
50:35
Although you can tell your Spanish teacher you learned some
50:36
new words in Spa- in Mexico.
50:38
Yeah.
50:39
Great.
50:40
Well, the question I usually do ask people at the end of these interviews is,
50:43
what do you think happens when we die?
50:45
Well, number one, you don't die.
50:48
Your body might.
50:49
Okay.
50:50
But we are not bodies.
50:52
Uh-huh.
50:52
We, these are spacesuits for planet Earth that we wear.
50:56
Like it- So we're here, and then we're there.
50:58
We just go home.
51:00
I love that.
51:00
That's like, there, there's a quote, um- Ram Dass, who's a, you know,
51:04
like a Buddhist kinda thing, and he was, his, his quote is, uh, "We're
51:07
all walking each other home." So I, I assume he was a Homo sapien too.
51:11
Indeed.
51:12
Yeah.
51:12
Indeed.
51:13
And so we, we're here.
51:15
Learn as much as you can.
51:16
This is a big school, but remember, schools do have playgrounds.
51:21
Learn as much as you can.
51:22
Learn the language.
51:23
Learn the thing.
51:24
Be kind and loving to anybody and everybody everywhere.
51:28
Feed people tacos.
51:29
Boy, if everybody just served up tacos all over the world,
51:32
we'd never have any problems.
51:33
True story.
51:35
And if these elitists could just make money selling tacos,
51:38
we wouldn't have any more wars.
51:39
We'd just have taco business.
51:40
Well, at a certain point there probably would be a, like a, like
51:43
a- … like too many taco stands.
51:44
If you have, you know, two taco stands for one person- … it's
51:47
gonna, it's gonna be a problem.
51:49
They're gonna start to- But at any rate, um, that's what happens,
51:53
and I've read so many books, watched so many YouTube videos.
51:56
It didn't matter whether you were an atheist or this
52:00
or that or the other thing.
52:01
You were here, and then you were there.
52:03
Mm-hmm.
52:04
Now, you could go to a bad place, but that's your choice.
52:07
So you feel like the, uh- I'm not- It's an energy thing that continues, like a
52:10
consciousness energy thing, or is it a, is it more of a religious thing for you?
52:14
It's an essence.
52:14
I'm not a religious person.
52:16
Okay.
52:17
Um, I'm only, as I explain to people, I'm only as religious as God is.
52:21
So not very religious.
52:22
Quote-unquote God.
52:23
Right.
52:23
Um, I only care about love, 'cause that's the only thing.
52:29
Love is, is, is the light.
52:32
It's the power- Absolutely … in my opinion.
52:34
100%. It's not even an opinion.
52:36
It's the facts.
52:37
Yeah.
52:37
And, uh, it's okay if we're just kind and loving and caring for each other.
52:42
Absolutely.
52:42
100% a- agree.
52:43
The world would be a better place if more people realized this.
52:46
And, and when people come to Mexico and interact with the typi- the
52:51
typical Mexicans, they're gonna get a lot of love, just like those
52:55
soldiers who came in 1846, '47.
52:58
They were loved.
52:58
They were cared for.
53:00
They were … Of course, they liked the weather and the food.
53:03
Right.
53:04
But they didn't wanna leave.
53:06
Yeah.
53:07
Yeah.
53:08
So.
53:08
Well, I don't really wanna leave either, so.
53:11
At least a month and a half in, I don't wanna leave yet, so.
53:13
Okay.
53:14
Anyway, Frank Dutro, I really appreciate you coming in.
53:16
Thanks for coming on the podcast, telling your story.
53:18
It's great to meet you.
53:19
Thank you.
53:19
Great to meet you.
53:20
Have fun editing all this.
53:24
That was fun, right?
53:26
Thank you again to Frank for coming over to my apartment and
53:31
sharing your story on my podcast.
53:33
I really appreciate it.
53:35
Also, thank you for dinner afterwards.
53:37
Frank took me out to dinner afterwards, which was very nice.
53:40
You know what you should do?
53:42
You should follow the podcast on Instagram at onefjefpod.
53:45
That's O-N-E-F-J-E-F-P-O-D.
53:49
Or you can follow the podcast on TikTok at onefjefpodcast.
53:54
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53:55
Try Substack at onefjef.
53:59
You just search for J-E-F Taylor, you'll find all my things.
54:02
There's a few other J-E-F Taylors, but I'm the main one.
54:06
Sorry, other ones.
54:09
If you think that you would be a good guest on this podcast, or if you know
54:13
somebody who you think would be a good guest on this podcast, or if you have any
54:16
questions, concerns, comments, whatever, shoot me an email at onefjefpod@gmail.com.
54:24
Or leave me a voicemail at 1-669-241-5882.
54:40
It's getting hard to come up with new phone number songs.
54:44
I hope you can appreciate that.
54:47
1-669-241-5882. I might play your message on the air.
54:52
Who doesn't want to hear their voice in a podcast?
54:56
Que mas?
54:57
Oh, do you like what you just heard?
55:00
Of course you did.
55:01
You're still listening now, and I appreciate you for that.
55:05
While I've got you here, won't you go to patreon.com/onefjef and sign up for
55:11
a subscription on the Patreon platform?
55:14
You can sign up for free, but what I'd prefer is if you paid $5 a
55:19
month, which is very little money.
55:22
And for $5 a month, you can help support the podcast, make me happy,
55:27
get access to a bunch of extra content and more to come, and sleep well at
55:32
night knowing you're supporting a truly independent podcast, patreon.com/onefjef.
55:38
Thank you to my continuing Patreon subscribers as always.
55:42
God bless you, and God bless baby Jesus.
55:45
Thank you.
55:47
And to conclude this podcast, I'm going to read a poem by Rumi about farts
55:55
The body keeps no secrets, friend.
55:58
What rises, rises.
56:00
Why blush?
56:01
The wind that moves the tulips moved through you first.
56:05
Laugh and let it go.
56:07
God was in the room all along
56:12
I'll see you next week Very good, Jeffrey