Discovering Our Country

When we think about the perfect tourist destination we think about an exotic beach, a European capital or a big, fancy city in the United States. Don’t we? It doesn’t even cross our mind visiting a Mexican town. Last summer, I had a really nice vacation visiting the central part of our country. At the beginning, I didn’t know what to expect from cities I visited. Each city we visited, allowed me to understand another piece of our culture as Mexicans.

First of all, we went to San Luis Potosi to visit my aunt. San Luis Potosi is the beautiful capital of the state of San Luis Potosi. It is a big and industrialised city. Then, we decided to go to Aguascalientes, since it is only a couple of hours away. Did you know it is the cleanest city of the country? Honestly, I didn’t believe it until I got there and I couldn’t find trash on the street or on public places. The government really takes care of the image of the city and tries really hard to promote tourism. Also, people of Aguascalientes feel really proud of their city and take good care of it. Next, we went to Guanajuato. San Miguel de Allende is a small city in Guanajuato. As we arrived, I could see a lot of foreign tourists. At the restaurants and souvenir shops, you could pay with dollars. Most of the signs were in Spanish and in English. This city is full of foreigners because it is really beautiful, it has a colonial style and the government is focused on tourism. The next cities I visited we also focused on this. That’s why they look so nice and clean; to attract foreign tourists and keep the cities growing.

I was positively impressed by this part of the country. It isn’t all poverty and overpopulation. I think that’s the image we sonorenses have of the center and south of Mexico, until we meet those places. I really like getting to know other parts of my country. Most of us aren’t very enthusiastic when we hear of visiting Dolores Hidalgo, Zacatecas, Santa María del Río or Ojuelos. But the truth is that they are places full of culture and traditions. We as Mexicans should be the first ones to appreciate this diversity. Sadly, we are not. I wish hermosillenses could feel so proud of their city as people from these places feel. I do not know why, but we are always complaining about our city instead of taking care of it. If we appreciate Hermosillo, I am sure it could be a lot more beautiful.

I think we’re all a bit Malinchistas. We rather visit cities in other countries like the USA, because we somehow think they are better. There is nothing wrong about going international, but let’s not forget where we come from. Knowing Mexico can be a really positive and fun experience. Getting to know our country is the only way we are going to be able of feeling proud of it and loving it even more.