After living in Mexico for about 4 months now, and experiencing a lot of sweet and bitter adventures on my various trips around I learned Mexicans or at least the ones I came across of have no sense of time and distance. When asking about a direction and length of a destination, I was mislead so many times hearing: "it's just 5 minutes walk, right there" for a 45 minute walk if not more! and passing through back allies, facing different surprises and yet not there at the destination!
Our trip to a swimming pool, which was a 2 and a half hour drive to a city outside of Tuxtla (where I live) was quite an adventure. A hotel receptionist told us the closest swimming pool was about 20 minutes WALK from there. She gave us direction; we rapidly took a taxi imagining to be swimming in 15 minutes, though it did not happen! We passed the streets of Tuxtla; we passed the big sign of "Thanks for visiting Tuxtla" but didn't see any swimming pool. At last the taxi driver delightfully informed that the big pool is very close to get. Guess what! A house with a yard that turned to a restaurant (which is very typical here in Mexico) where people were cooking in one side and washing their clothes in the other side and chickens were walking and enjoying their afternoon snack! In the middle of all these excitements one could barely see a cube filled with water. That was quite a disappointment. We returned home with a long face. Tired and dehydrated. Ever since that experience I don't really trust when Mexicans tell me "it's around the corner". That really could mean anything, or I think I should learn about their culture including timing language.
Last weekend we decided to go to Boca de Cielo, in south of Chiapas; we were told by our friends that it was about 25 to 30 min drive to Boca de Cielo when we get off the bus in Tonala. So here we are at Tonala arrived at night, taxis stop and tell us it's about 1 and a half hour drive. "It's very far". We were so surprised and telling them that it was impossible but with despair we realized that they were right. Anyways with no choice, we just got on a taxi to Boca de Cielo, passing through villages as if there was no end to our trip. Suddenly in 20 minutes we saw the sign of Boca del Cielo, “Bienvenido a Boca de Cielo”.
This could totally be the reason that Mexicans are always late for meetings or gatherings, when you are supposed to meet them up at 6, in Mexican time is 7-ish. No rush to get anywhere on time! Sit and enjoy the journey rather than the destination. The rout will definitely be full of adventures before getting to your actual destination.
