Back home, it was never common for people to ask me if I was married.
Granted, I was pretty young when I left to begin traveling to and/or living in Latin America.
But, even when I do visit home, nobody asks "are you married?"
However, when you live in Latin America long enough, you might realize that quite a few Latin Americans are inquisitive about the gringo's martial status.
"Tienes esposa aqui?" they ask.
It's an odd question to be asked as a man.
Perhaps it's more common for women back home to be asked this by strange men hoping to get a ring on that hand.
I'm sure women all around the world have been asked odd questions by odd men that want to fuck them.
But to be asked this question as a foreign man? Never happened elsewhere.
Except in Latin America.
And I emphasize the word "foreign" within the context of living in Latin America because, though I could be wrong, I don't think locals ask other local men if they are married.
Never seen or heard that.
And also the contexts in which I see this asked are very specific and one of them at the very least is one in which only a foreign man would find himself in.
Let's get to that.
"Why Do You Live Here?"
This is the most common situation in which I find my martial status questioned.
On my last day living in Milpa Alta of Mexico City, I was actually asked this question twice.
On both occasions were by taxi drivers.
I was spending some time in Villa Milpa Alta to see some tourism bus and took a taxi back to my building in Santa Ana.
On the other occasion, I took a taxi from the center of Santa Ana up hill to the building because I didn't want to carry 20 liters of water up hill.
On both occasions, I got asked "are you married?" by the local taxi driver.
But I was also asked, at least from my memory, one other occasion when I was traveling from the town of San Antonio Tecomitl to Santa Ana late at night.
And the taxi driver on that occasion asked "are you married?"
There might have been other occasions where I've been asked that in Mexico City or Latin America but I don't remember them all right now outside of a few.
What I can say though is that I've never been asked so frequently in one place about my martial status.
Milpa Alta definitely takes the cake for asking about my martial status compared to any other part of Latin America or anywhere on the planet.
The part of the world where the most people per capita in such a short time of 1 month were so curious about my martial status.
And, in the context of those 3 cases, it was with a line of questioning about my reasoning for living in Mexico.
As I wrote here, Mexicans and Latin Americans broadly can sometimes be bewildered by your decision to live in Latin America.
This bewilderment doesn't exist though in areas full of gringos because they usually just assume you are 1) a tourist, 2) a sex tourist or 3) a gentrifying digital nomad/expat.
But go into the areas with no gringos like Milpa Alta?
Or especially the shitholes that have absolutely no reason for a gringo to be in?
And you'll find bewilderment very fucking fast.
It's never hostile though.
Just a curiosity about why you chose to live there.
And the Number 1 explanation that they come up with internally is that you must be married!
It was love that brought you to their corner of the world.
You somehow found a beautiful woman of Milpa Alta who fucks you 10 times a day, cooks you 5 meals a day and you doesn't forget to clean your underwear (just like mom used to do).
"It is for this reason you live here" they think.
And then they ask.
But when I say "no, not married," they then ask "well, you got a girlfriend, right?"
I say no.
Then you see the look on their face.
It is a confused look.
"Why the fuck else would he live here?"
They might then turn to "well, what do you like about Mexico?" as a question.
And your response to that question will then be used a partial answer to the question in his head about why you'd choose to live there.
If you answer though "yes" to either having a girlfriend or wife though, he'll just assume that's why you are there like I said.
Like when I lived in a Colombian city called Quilla and I remember having a similar conversation there with some taxi drivers and, at the time, I did have a local girlfriend named Marcela.
At that point, they might still ask about your opinion on the women since you seem to be such a conquistador of them by stealing one of his.
Like mentioned in this article here and its comment section, it's not uncommon for Latin Americans to wonder what you think about their women.
Your best bet is not be a dick about it saying "haha haha I'm a sex tourist and I came to fuck all your women. THEY'RE WHORES!!"
Said Latin American no like that answer.
Even though, for some gringos, it actually legit might be their reason for living here and their opinion of Latin American women.
Still, answer the question with some respect.
I'm sure those with an IQ below 50 needed that advice.
That's free.
At any rate, that's the most common situation you might find yourself in when asked about your martial status down here in my experience.
There's another situation though.
"Want to Fuck My Daughter?"
This is again something you'll only see in areas with no gringos and where your gringo ass is exotic as fuck to the locals.
Where a local is seemingly -- perhaps jokingly but not always -- trying to set you up with the daughter or some female family member.
I know I wrote about it elsewhere but my first experience with this was when some fat middle aged dude was trying to tell me that "this girl" likes me in some Guatemalan computer cafe of Xela.
The most recent experience that I can remember was when I last lived in a Mexican neighborhood called Pedregal de Santo Domingo.
There was a lady cutting my hair in some haircut place.
She had her place close to where I was living at the time.
Had photos of her family in there.
Including a pic of her daughter.
And the woman made a comment -- perhaps jokingly -- about how "she's looking for a boyfriend JAJAjajaJAJAjajaJAJAjaja."
Asked me too if "I am married or got a girlfriend."
"I do not" I replied.
And the woman mentioned something about how her daughter is learning English.
"Hm. OK then" I thought.
The woman didn't push the topic too hard though.
Conversation went onto whatever else.
And, truth be told, don't think these people are legit trying to push too hard for you to fuck their daughter.
It's not like they're going to ask you for your number to give to her and set up for a date later.
Unless you're Guatemalan, I guess.
Anyway, it's the only other situation where I can think of locals in Latin America oddly asking me about my martial status.
Anything to Add?
That's all for now.
Maybe there are other circumstances where you get asked your martial status down here but I've either never encountered them or have forgotten about them.
If you got anything to add, drop a comment below.
And follow my Twitter here.
Thanks for reading.
Best regards,
Matt