Posts tagged Mexico

¿Donde esta el baÃ

 ± o? Como esta usted  ¿? That sums up two years of high school Spanish as a college preparatory course almost 50 years! Sure, why we need to know the Spanish have never met a Mexican, and even fewer thought about it to Mexico? My, how times have changed!

After living in Houston for 25 years, we discovered that Mexico just two hours and had very interesting properties to offer. In 1984 we bought a condo in Mismaloya, south of Puerto Vallarta and carried semi-annual visits to Vallarta for 13 years before buying a villa in the foothills of the Sierra Madre, overlooking the bay Banderas and El Centro, the downtown PV.

When we to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, such as PV or Vallarta by the residents moved known, ten years ago, our Spanish vocabulary consisted of about five words. Fortunately, said to understand a few taxi drivers, restaurant servers more, and some caddies, or at least some English. To survive here, it is essential to understand and speak some Spanish. During our first month Vallarta, we bought books, textbooks, dictionaries, and hired a tutor come to our house twice a week.

We have worked diligently for almost six months to learn Spanish words, paraphrases, time, etc., we should have an opportunity to communicate with the locals. To our learning process was, we saw about five Mexican TV channels, CNN, Mexican shows at the sixth grade and directed American films with Spanish subtitles. We would then cut the volume and try to understand the movies by reading the subtitles. Not much fun, but the price you pay for living in paradise, where the average daily temperature during the â? Season high? November to May 73A ° F with virtually no chance of rain!

We spent the first summer in the States and upon returning to PV, we are lazy and discontinued our studies. Satellite TV is available from Vallarta and we had five channels of Mexico, but has 350 channels with the United States. Fortunately for us, the tourism boom in Vallarta had just happened only ten years ago.

During the last decade, there were thousands of new houses and tens of thousands of new condos, new hospitals, a new campus of the University of Guadalajara, new airport, new Marine Terminal, etc. have been built in Vallarta. As an increase in tourism, as the need to speak English from the local population. If we understand and speak English, they could get better paying jobs, where interaction with tourists is a routine event. Jobs such as waiters, trolley, taxi drivers, police, an internship at receptions in hotels, offices, hospitals, airports, etc. and management positions in stores and pay for other commercial was three times more than the construction work, the daily work, cleaning, etc . where there is no need for English. The salary difference is so obvious and substantial that in the last decade, especially the young generation of people in Vallarta English classes in school, and understand and speak basic English. Even those who haven? T had a day of English classes have a good understanding of the â? Espanglishâ? we have absolutely no problem communicating with anyone in Vallarta.

Almost all educated Mexicans in PV, such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, bankers, nurses, teachers, etc. are fluent in English. In fact, most of these people seem to prefer speaking English with Americans and Canadians. Typical music in restaurants, bars, hotels, offices and even dentistry popular American songs. American magazines, newspapers and books are all over the city, while ten years ago, they were virtually non-existent.

In summary, with the knowledge that excrete Spanish is no longer a prerequisite for a visit or for reasons of age, Vallarta. Most retirees who live in the PV-have little opportunity to speak and understand Spanish well. Most of all tourists by plane or ship have no knowledge of Spanish, and they too have no communication problems.

Obviously, Vallarta is not typical of Mexico, but planning a trip to Vallarta and into retirement without the possibility of the Spanish language should not be a language barrier involved here. Go to price things in PV, who knows, change in English could become the main language in another generation!