Meeting Another American in Latin America

Over the last 4 years of living in Mexico, I rarely have come across another American to talk with.

In the touristy areas of Mexico City, you can spot them easy though.

However, once you go outside of the touristy areas, you rarely if ever see one.

At any rate, I remember when I was living near Metro Cuatro Caminos of Mexico City for a brief period.

While I was over there, I sometimes took trips to other parts of the city for whatever reason.

On one particular day, I felt like taking a trip to El Centro.

As you can read here, it was mostly just to buy a cheap burner phone.

At any rate, I was walking around that part of Mexico City and hadn’t seen another American for maybe a year by that point.

More or less.

I definitely hadn’t talked with one though for quite a while.

Not because I’m trying to avoid them but mostly because I just do my own thing down here.

Got nothing against other Americans.

But I don’t care really to interact with others that much in the grand scheme of things.

If I meet one that is cool, then that’s fine.

Anyway, I’m strolling around El Centro.

And after getting my burner phone, I decide to get some black tea at the Starbucks nearby that is relatively close to that area near Metro Zocalo.

While I’m inside in line, I get to my turn and order a black tea.

And hand the lady behind the counter a 200 peso bill.

I think it was 200 pesos but it was basically some bigger bill.

Where, assumingly she didn’t have enough change, she had to give me a second to go find some.

So I’m standing there as she runs off to find some change for the bill I hand her.

That’s when another dude introduces himself behind me.

“Hey, are you American?” he asks me.

perhaps he recognized my nationality by my accent?

Anyway, we got talking for a minute or two as we are waiting for the lady to come back with the change.

If I remember right, I think his name was Patrick.

Anyway, the dude was from Michigan.

That I do remember more well since that is from the Midwest.

And to find another American from the Midwest is kinda cool to me since most Americans I see down here are not from the same little part of the world that I am.

We got talking anyway.

He was supposedly in Mexico because he is a college student looking to study Spanish.

And it happened to be his first week in the country.

The lady came back by this point with change in hand.

We kept talking as he made his order.

I gave him some minor advice for living in Mexico.

And that was it.

We never met up after that.

But, in the context of having not met another American for maybe more than a year, it was cool to meet one then.

We went our own way and that was it.

Reminds me of a similar situation when I was in Guatemala in my years way back…

Spending Time in Xela

When I was living in Xela, Guatemala for a few months, it was one of my first trips outside of the country.

And my very first one where I ever travelled alone for an extended period of time.

Anyway, Xela isn’t a very touristy city for the most part.

Or at least it didn’t seem so based on my memory.

I lived in a neighbourhood especially that didn’t have any tourists.

So in my first few weeks there, I didn’t see any foreigners really outside of the very few who worked at the same NGO that I was working at back then.

It wasn’t until maybe a few weeks into my trip when another American moved into the same host family that I was living at.

A guy named Adam.

Similar to Patrick, I was in a bit of a relatable situation.

Being the new American in a community that is very foreign to me with no real experience abroad.

Back then, it was especially nice to meet another American just because I had no real experience abroad for the most part.

We got along well.

And so while nowadays I’m not as interested in meeting other Americans…

There is a greater appeal to meeting another American when it is one of your first trips outside of your home country.

But even when you have plenty of experience abroad…

Sometimes, similar to the first scenario above, meeting another American can be cool when you haven’t done so in a while.

Back to Roma Norte

Finally, I had spent maybe a year and a half or whatever without having ever seen another American for the most part in person.

When I moved to Pachuca de Soto in Mexico and, off top of my head, never saw another American.

I did see a Korean woman, an Italian and a German guy…

But can’t remember seeing another American there.

Then moved to Pedregal de Santo Domingo of Mexico City and can’t recall seeing another American there either.

It wasn’t until I moved to Roma Norte where I had another interaction with another American.

Even though I saw some in El Centro when I moved there…

Never had an interaction with one.

Until I moved back to Roma Norte.

There, I eventually met another young American guy named Adam after my first few months living there.

And it was cool.

Hadn’t met one in a long time.

We got along well.

And it was memorable to me to meet another American again.

But why memorable?

The Point

The point in this article isn’t very much.

It’s simply a very basic aspect with living abroad.

Meeting people of the same nationality as you abroad.

As I said, it can sometimes be memorable because you two have more in common and become good friends.

Other times, it might be memorable if you are new to living abroad.

To which meeting another American can be cool in that it gives you familiar company.

Or, in my case sometimes, it can be memorable if you simply haven’t taken the time to meet other Americans ever in some odd years.

Just recently, I joined some expats in Mexico City group in hopes of meeting more foreigners.

Granted, I’ve been very lazy on that and haven’t gotten around to it.

But I think I’ll get around to it again.

Anyway, like I said, this is simply just a minor aspect of living abroad that has come to my attention.

And it came to my attention from having seen a funny video I saw recently.

Inspiration for this Article

Just the other day, I was watching some stand up comedy on Youtube.

And I like a bit the comedy from Doug Stanhope.

Anyway, I was watching this clip below here where he was doing a bit about different topics.

Anyway, for those too lazy to watch the clip, the quote that I found funny relevant to this article was this:

“Did ever go to another country and meet another American when you didn’t expect to? You’re down in Costa Rica, up in the jungle, trying to fuck a monkey so you have a friend, a story to tell your buddy… And you wind up meeting another American and you didn’t expect it, and you always talk to him, just on the trivia…”

“Hey you’re from America! I’m from America, where are you from?” And there’s never more then three sentences before you realize “If I a was in America, I wouldn’t talk to this douche-bag if my air was on fire and he held the monopoly on liquid.”

At any rate, I thought it was funny.

Enjoy the video here anyway for the longer clip of his stand up.

If you have any relevant comments or questions, drop it below in the comment section.

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Thanks for reading.

Best regards,

Matt