Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Does this Mexican Phenomena have a Name?

There is a phenomena, or at least I am using that term for the lack of a better one, that we experience in Merida over and over. I have never experienced it in the U.S. I don't know what to call it so if anybody has a name for it, let me know.

It goes something like this - 
You decide you are in need of something but you don't know where to find the item you need. The first thing you do is ask your neighbor or another Mexican friend or you casually make a comment that you are in search of something. On the other end, they either agree to go with you and help you locate it, or tell you where to go to find what you are looking for. It never seems like the first place you are directed to or even the second place has what you are looking for - but as you wander, ask questions, and go off in another direction you ALWAYS eventually are lead to what you were originally looking for. 
Terry and I just had a conversation concerning our experiences with this. Here are some examples of what I am talking about - 
  1. When we were looking for the tile mosaico of the Virgen of Guadalupe, Carlos drove us around for several hours to no avail. But, he didn't give up and asked one of his work associates who told him exactly where to go. "The man here makes them on the spot". We got up early in the morning and headed to the address given, with Carlos at the wheel. We arrived before opening time and sat on the curb waiting for the shopkeeper to arrive. The place had samples of tiles and signs of work on the outside wall of the location. This had to mean we hit pay dirt.  In the meantime a random passerby drives up and Carlos casually inquires about the shop. He is told it is permanently closed but the random passerby knows somebody that makes the mosaicos. He thumbs through his Rolo-dex and gives Carlos the address, we eventually find it, and get the tile mosaico exactly as we wanted. What if we wouldn't have met the random person? He had the name and address in his Rolo-dex...for what purpose?
  2.  
    When Tisha and Lisa came to visit, and Tisha "thought" she needed a plunger for the bathroom we went off in search of a plunger. I wasn't sure if Boxito would have a plunger, but they have plumbing supplies so it was a good place to start, and close to the house. When we asked about a plunger (along with some mighty fine charades) we were told they didn't have plungers but go check with Poblano's at the end of the block and across the street. When we asked about a plunger at Poblano's, the lady sitting at her small desk recording long strings of numbers on a piece of paper as if doing some type of inventory, literally threw her arm back behind her, never looked up, and produced a plunger out of nowhere. Seriously? What if we had asked for a pack of razor blades? Could she have miracously produced that too without ever looking up or skipping a beat?
  3. Before Terry and I ever left for this past trip to Merida, we were hoping to get some things done to the house. We weren't sure what all we could get accomplished and had no plans or expectations at all. We were at the casa about 2 weeks when we peeked in the open door of the house next door to admire the pasta tiles that had been laid in the parlor area. That's when we met Carlos. In a few days he was constructing our stairs and macetera...like he just fell out of the sky and into our needy arms.
  4. To celebrate New Year's Eve last year, I had wanted sparklers. I didn't care anything about firecrackers or bottlerockets. I just wanted sparklers. I inquired in the neighborhood and the response was a long pause with the location of a place not too far away that may carry them. They didn't. Each time we asked somebody, we were met with the same puzzled look. It was like we were asking for something that didn't exist. Were we going to have to go directly to China for this one? But the puzzled looks and pauses were always followed by directions to a place that may have them. I kid you not, we went to no less than 10 locations looking for sparklers. Finally, one of the shopkeepers told us the exact calle to go to, next to the big mercado. EVERY shop on the street had fireworks and sparklers! That was all they had to sell at this particular time of year. Did all those other people we asked not know about this street at all? Did we just happen to find that one person that knows every thing there is to know about who sells sparklers?
  5. One of the things Terry wanted me to do when I was in Merida after his departure was to find somebody to put a strip under the front door so bugs and larger creatures couldn't sneak in under the gap. I didn't really know how to go about describing this in English, much less Spanish, to any of the supplies shopkeepers. It was even beyond my playing charades to get the point across. I procrastinated and procrastinated until I was at the casa in the finals days. While sitting on the front porch, a man came sauntering by with a few tools and strips of metal slung over his back. He stopped and asked if I need a strip under my door to keep rodents away. Was this really happening to me? In took him about 15 minutes to plug his electric drill (yes, he had one) into the outlet and make the strip and install it. It took me about 15 seconds to pull out the 100 pesos to pay him. Has this ever happened to you while sitting on your porch in the U.S.? 
Terry and I just get the sensation that you never find what you're looking for at the place you think you're going to find it...but you ALWAYS find what you're looking for in Mexico. 
 
 It isn't just luck and it isn't just persistence...it's something else.
 I don't know what to call this phenomena.