Mexican Cities/American Cities
The Working Gringos have been traveling in the Estados Unidos for the last week, taking care of family and other business. We are poised on the border, getting ready to cross back into Mexico tomorrow morning.
As we sit here, balanced between two homelands, we have been playing this game of comparing places in the U.S. with places in Mexico. Here's our first take on a list of Mexican cities as compared to American cities. Join us and play along!!
Morelia is to Mexico as Boston is to the United States
Merida is the New Orleans of Mexico
Monterrey is the Chicago of Mexico
Guadalajara is the Los Angeles of Mexico
Mexico City is, of course, the New York City AND Washington DC of Mexico combined
Cancun is the Las Vegas of Mexico
Puerto Vallarta is the San Diego of Mexico
Veracruz is the Houston of Mexico
Guanajuato is the Boulder of Mexico....?
Villahermosa is the Jersey City of Mexico
Tulum is the Big Sur California of Mexico
San Miguel Allende is the Aspen of Mexico
Tijuana is Tijuana :-) for both Mexico and the United States.
Isn't this fun???
Here's a few we've had a hard time with:
San Cristobal in Chiapas....? We can't think of a correlation in the United States.
Maybe Portland Oregon?? San Francisco California?? The Appalachians?
Mazatlan? Queretero? San Luis Potosi??
Help us out here. What do you think?
Comments
Luis 17 years ago
Villahermosa is called in a fun way "the two lies city", because is neither a "Villa" (a Small town) nor "Hermosa" (Pretty, beauty).
Villahermosa translated to English means, "the beauty small town"
This is my first comment here (april 16, 2008)
BTW - I live in Mérida, and this is a great website.
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Sam 17 years ago
I was in a car accident 3 years ago that left me paralyzed and I live off of my disability. I am looking for a city in Mexico where my dollar will last long and I feel safe in the city. Anybody has any suggestion would be welcomed.
Thanks,
Sam
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John Condatore 17 years ago
My first impression
of st. Luis Potosi was Pittsburgh, Very industrialized not much social life.
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Alan 17 years ago
RE: New Orleans and Merida...my wife and I lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, for 21 years prior to Hurricane katrina; we loved it intensely (the architecture, food, music, warmth of the people, carnival, the sheer visual beauty and sensual richness) and for all these reasons never intended to live anywhere else.
Then...we were wiped out by Katrina, and relocated to a middle class suburb in Michigan (where my wife is from.) We have a nice house in an interesting older town (by U.S. standards!) good friends and family, and we absolutely love the long, cool summers when the northern sun doesn't completely set until almost 11:00 p.m. For all those reasons, we intend to make our lives here--for part of each year--for the rest of our lives.
However, with all its plusses, where we are now lacks some important elements which make life worth living, and they all boil down to qualities of passion, excitement, sensuality and waking up each day knowing that you are likely to be both surprised by something unexpected and charmed by the people and poetic beauty of the place where you live. We miss all that and want to bring it back into our lives, but, for us, for a variety of reasons New Orleans is no longer an option.
Recently we visted Merida, where friends from New Orleans relocated after the storm, and we both felt as if we had come home to a place we had never before even seen. The similarities between Merida and pre-Katrina New Orleans are uncanny, almost as if they are manifestations of the same place but in parallel universes. Substitute Mayan influence for Afro-Caribbean, change English to Spanish, and the two are almost identical, with a few important exceptions; Merida feels safer, and at least in the time we were there we never witnessed the out-of-control public behavior which is all too common in New Orleans. But...in both places people are friendly and warm, there is an ever present sense of life-as-celebration (music, art, dancing, carnival) and in both places the entire environment is a complex stimulation of the senses of the sort we currently miss so much. So...we will eventually be back, if only for part of the year each year, because the positives that Merida offers feed our souls, much in the way that New Orleans once did.
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Saray 17 years ago
Mmmm I am wondering what Mexican city would match for Marfa, Texas...
Greetings to everybody!
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Tito 17 years ago
Torreón: Pueblo, CO
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Working Gringos 18 years ago
Somewhere we have seen that Merida and New Orleans are actually official "sister" cities. Similarities that come to mind are:
-they share the same climate
-they both hold big Carnaval/Mardi Gras celebrations
-they both have French-influenced architecture and culture
-they both are cultural centers for their part of the world, with unique cultural influences (Maya for Merida, Creole for New Orleans)
Can anyone suggest other similarities?
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Ryan 18 years ago
I'm just wondering why Merida=New Orleans. What are the similarities?
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Anny 18 years ago
San Cristobal is a piece of cake...it's Gatlinberg, Tennessee. You even have the Indian Reservation nearby where you can go see the natives doing what they used to do (except in Chiapas the natives don't go home to their pcs, dvds and microwaves at 5 pm).
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Chris 18 years ago
San Cristobal is definitely the Appalachians, not the San Francisco/Portland: quaint, time-worn, surrounded by desperate poverty.
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Working Gringos 18 years ago
We've been to Xalapa...I think you might be right!
We arrived back in the Yucatan late last night. It's good to be home, thank you!
More Yucatan Living coming up soon!!
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