Tuxtla Times

After the long stressful day in Mexico City, we finally caught our flight to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the Capital of the southern Mexican state of Chiapias. Not only were we happy to leave Mexico City (25 million people is just a bit too many to handle on no sleep), but also we were also excited to move on to a place that was we had not been to before.

The flight left on time, and it took about half an hour (by plane) before we were finally free from the tentacles of lights extending out from the Megalopolis and only a half hour more before we landed in Tuxtla. And then I was again singled out as suspicious and granted a brief visit with the Mexican authorities.

After traveling this much, I have been quite accustomed to ‘random’ searches. Accustomed enough to understand that random is just a politically correct way of saying “if you look at all sketchy then we will question and search you.” I am usually the person held over in security or customs, even in Canada. I am also accustomed enough to understand that “looking sketchy” is generally equivalent to having a darker colour skin than the rest of the passengers. Usually, however, the process is well covered up, but in Tuxtla, there was no effort to even pretend it was random. The security guards made a point of calling me out across the room in order to find out what exactly I was up to.

It was not as if this was a customs and immigration check either, the flight was from Mexico City, and the security was there mostly just to make sure that everybody got out of the airport smoothly. But nevertheless, I was threatening enough to be subjected to some questions about where I’d been, where I was going, how long, what for.

The questions themselves were not really a problem. In fact, I felt a certain amount of satisfaction in that I made it through the situation in Spanish with no problems. What sucks is that out of an entire plane of people, both tourists and Mexicans I was the only person to even warrant a second glance.

Another complication to the story is the complex social situation in Chiapas. Historically (my Latin American history prof would be proud) it was one of the last areas to be conquered by the Spanish. Because the way of life of the Mayans in the area, aboriginal settlements in the area lasted, in some cases hundreds of years before being fully subject to domination of Spain or Mexico. This means, that this region, along with Guatemala, is primarily populated by indigenous people. This also means that this is an area often subject to racism from the rest of Mexico, so one might expect a certain amount of understanding.

It was also a little misleading to say that I am singled out because my skin is darker, the situation in much more complicated than that. The security guards questioning me were actually darker than I was. It is a complex system of features, whether they be African, Arabic, Mestiza (defn: Mestixa mixed European and indigenous descent). We like to simplify things using skin colour, but racism in the world now is much more complicated than that.

This also isn’t an attempt to portray evil racist Mexicans, this happens quite often in Canada as well, but they are much more discreet than in Tuxtla. (Is it better to pretend that we as Canadians aren’t racist in such situations? Or to be honest? …but that’s a whole other blog). There are of course the places like Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador and Brazil where I look like a local, and that results in a completely different situation all together.

So that is about race, but what about sex? Kristy was completely ignored in this process, save a couple smirks and sexist comments towards her from the guards. But what if she had been a white guy traveling with me? Then she…or…he would have probably been questioned also for being in my company. Women certainly couldn’t be up to anything suspicious though, could they? Anytime we go through a checkpoint in Latin America, only the men are questioned or searched. I am sure anybody actually up to something in Latin America has probably figured out the system by now, if you get a women to do it, you pretty much get a free ticket through any searches or questions. And really, if one of us, either Kristy or I, was to react and be a danger in that situation, it definitely would be more likely to be Kristy. (haha, that sounds like I’m making a joke, but if you know the two of us well…).

Travelling as “us” creates a very interesting dynamic. At times like this, the racism and sexism can get annoying, but we have to admit, there are many times where it works for us to make our lives easier. But that is for another day.