Last week we embarked on a new journey, exploring a new country. Every year for our birthdays, my sister and I choose to celebrate by experiencing something we’ve never done before or a place we have never been.
This December we chose Mexico as our last big trip of 2015.
Where?
Mexico City
&
Playa Del Carmen
Many of our friends and family were shocked and surprised; some with excitement and most with curiosity, as to why we would choose Mexico City as a travel destination. The constant negative depictions of Mexico in America such as news reports of jail breaks and gang violence caused many of our friends and family to express their concerns for our safety. They didn’t think it was sensible for women of color, who don’t speak Spanish to travel to non-tourist areas in Mexico City & Playa De Carmen.
But in true NkemLife fashion, we decided to ignore the typical imposed “black ” mindset of being afraid of traveling to the unknown. More so, being afraid of traveling to places that most people of color wouldn’t typically visit; due to lack of exposure or being product’s of selective exposure and retention of the media’s depiction of other countries and cultures.
My sister and I tried our very best to have the most authentic experiences, we made a conscious decision to avoid touristy cities in Mexico like Cancun. We consciously try to experience the world like locals, it truly deepens the experience and consequently shifts your perspective on life in one way or another. For example, learning to speak Spanish rather than asking people if they spoke English or looking for English speaking areas.
When we got to Mexico City, we quickly noticed that many of the local residents were not use to seeing so much melanin all at once. Most people would either stop and stare in fascination or ask to take a picture.
Yet, the locals seemed desensitized to the Anglo Saxon tourists. Their interactions with them appeared mundane, normal and part of their everyday lives. We figured it was because the natives were used to them traveling and roaming around in their country. Compared to the visitors of lighter skin tone, it was hard for us to blend in. Our blackness forced us to stick out. We shortly realized that for many, it was their first time seeing a black person in real life.
My sister and I traveled to Mexico with our good friend from Ghana, Yaa. Between the 3 of us our melanin was on FULL overload. Pedestrians would stop us to take pictures and ask us our names. Men would offer to buy us drinks, ask to cha-cha with us which gave us a chance to talk and connect with people. Every person we met would ask us over and over again where we were from, when they noticed we couldn’t speak fluent Spanish.
When we would respond by saying we are from Africa, their eyes would light up with excitement. Many of them had never met anyone from Africa. However, whenever we would say we were from America, many would dismiss it or ask what part of the U.S with disgust. We quickly noticed a slight disinterest as if we had let them down by our nationality. So we mentally threw out our American passports for the rest of our trip and fully indulged in our African heritage. Lol
We are still trying to figure out what the differences in reactions were about…
From the love we got from the natives of Mexico we realized that being black and dark skin in Mexico was a good thing compared to being black and dark skin in America.
People literally treated us like queens, like actual QUEENS!
Our skin color, hair and sizes, attracted the people of Mexico, which was shocking to us because even within our own “black” culture in America, black is sometimes beautiful as long as you are not dark skin.
For once, being black and traveling black gave us access to people and places that usually reserved for the white, bi racial or high yellow. At first we didn’t know how to accept it but towards the end of our trip we used it to our full advantage…HELLO!
What we will say is , if you’ve got a little melanin, travel Mexico and let us know what you experience.
#MelaninInMexico