Mexico is a very different place. Or maybe its not that different from the rest of the world and the U.S. is.
I was sitting in El Mercado where Pepe works yesterday just watching people walk by. There are people here who walk around selling things. I mentioned before the guys who have gum and suckers and single cigarettes for sale like the woman in old movies at gentleman's clubs. They also have people who sell fruits, veggies, prepared foods, art work (for lack of a better term), jewelry, and these things made of wood that look like spoons and spatulas but are more decorative.
Several times I've seen woman and even what I would describe as girls (teenage girls) who have wraps (not unlike that Bjorn thing) with babies in them. They have them like backpacks or purses wrapped over one shoulder while they're working.
It seemed so odd to me to just have your baby there on your back, most of the time not visible to the average onlooker. They are just baby shaped bulges on the backs of these women.
Its odd really, I think in the U.S. people would be appalled by this. But here, the same rules and moral standards don't apply.
It didn't hit me until yesterday though.
I was sitting in the market ad I saw a Mexican woman walk by with a baby in a blanket in her arms (on the front of her), very normal. Until I realized that she was in the process of breast feeding her baby while walking through the market. I didn't see any part of the breast but I'm a woman... we can tell.
This was the oddest of all.
I know that in the U.S. there is a lot of controversy around breast feeding and were its appropriate. Companies have made shawls for women specifically for this reason alone, to hide the breast and the baby during meal times, so as not to offend the public. Many restaurants and the like have put bans on mothers breast feeding.
I personally don't care. I find it awkward simply because I don't know that id be comfortable just whipping out a boob in public to feed my baby, but then I've never had a baby so my opinion could be a little skewed.
Here I don't find it odd or awkward at all. Its just a part of life.
This is why I say Mexico is different. Because it changes the way that we as people view life. Things that normally would seem so horrible or wrong or offensive are just parts of life. I hear old people speaking slang with the Spanish versions of swear words in front of 5 year old kids like its nothing. I would normally be more cautious with my language but here no one cares. Its just the facts of life. And in the infamous words of that beloved shows theme song I leave you with this... "what may be right for you might not be right for some you take the good you take the bad you take it all and there you have the facts of life."
I was sitting in El Mercado where Pepe works yesterday just watching people walk by. There are people here who walk around selling things. I mentioned before the guys who have gum and suckers and single cigarettes for sale like the woman in old movies at gentleman's clubs. They also have people who sell fruits, veggies, prepared foods, art work (for lack of a better term), jewelry, and these things made of wood that look like spoons and spatulas but are more decorative.
Several times I've seen woman and even what I would describe as girls (teenage girls) who have wraps (not unlike that Bjorn thing) with babies in them. They have them like backpacks or purses wrapped over one shoulder while they're working.
It seemed so odd to me to just have your baby there on your back, most of the time not visible to the average onlooker. They are just baby shaped bulges on the backs of these women.
Its odd really, I think in the U.S. people would be appalled by this. But here, the same rules and moral standards don't apply.
It didn't hit me until yesterday though.
I was sitting in the market ad I saw a Mexican woman walk by with a baby in a blanket in her arms (on the front of her), very normal. Until I realized that she was in the process of breast feeding her baby while walking through the market. I didn't see any part of the breast but I'm a woman... we can tell.
This was the oddest of all.
I know that in the U.S. there is a lot of controversy around breast feeding and were its appropriate. Companies have made shawls for women specifically for this reason alone, to hide the breast and the baby during meal times, so as not to offend the public. Many restaurants and the like have put bans on mothers breast feeding.
I personally don't care. I find it awkward simply because I don't know that id be comfortable just whipping out a boob in public to feed my baby, but then I've never had a baby so my opinion could be a little skewed.
Here I don't find it odd or awkward at all. Its just a part of life.
This is why I say Mexico is different. Because it changes the way that we as people view life. Things that normally would seem so horrible or wrong or offensive are just parts of life. I hear old people speaking slang with the Spanish versions of swear words in front of 5 year old kids like its nothing. I would normally be more cautious with my language but here no one cares. Its just the facts of life. And in the infamous words of that beloved shows theme song I leave you with this... "what may be right for you might not be right for some you take the good you take the bad you take it all and there you have the facts of life."
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