Although borders around the world are tightening, more and more people of different nationalities and separated by international borders are mating. These couples have overcome different kinds of differences, be they economic, social class, cultural or family.
Globalization has brought people of different nationalities and cultures face to face in common geographic spaces. Citizens of southern countries leave their places of origin for northern countries, both to seek better living conditions and to escape violence and natural disasters. Some undertake the journey with the aim of reuniting with their relatives, others do so for the simple feeling of adventure.
People from more economically developed countries come to the south in search of warmer climates, for economic benefits or for a simple change of routine.
Mazatlan is one of those spaces in which the effects of globalization and human mobility are felt and observed. We see people who come from Central and South America and who go to the United States, although many have also stayed here. To get to Sinaloa they have already gone through many complications that the government has placed on the southern border, and throughout the journey through Mexican territory.
But we also see people who come from the United States and live here for long periods. In this case they are welcome because they carry a US passport and dollars to spend.
With all of them and them we often live; we see them on the streets of the city, in restaurants, squares, shopping centers and on the beaches. Social coexistence obviously takes place between people of different sexes. And in that scenario, loving encounters are inevitable.
What borders divide man, love with its threads unites them in its name
Although borders around the world are tightening, more and more people of different nationalities and separated by international borders are mating. These couples have overcome different kinds of differences, be they economic, social class, cultural or family. And Mazatlan is no exception, thousands of Americans have married Sinaloans.
The state civil registry documented a total of 2,026 American-Sinaloan marriages in the years 2015 to 2021. Of that total, 1,039 are made up of an American man-Sinaloan woman and 987 are made up of an American woman-Sinaloan man. Most of them are couples who formed in Mazatlan.
He went on vacation without suspecting that he would find love in that place
Intercultural couples between Americans and Mazatlans almost always agree that they started their relationship in a space of coexistence that has to do with tourism: gyms, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and bars within the tourist area.
In most cases, the meeting point where the relationship begins is the man who occupies a position of power, being a customer of the establishment or even the owner.
The beak does not stop, he says speak softly
According to a previous study conducted at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, we found that only 14% of US residents in Mazatlan speak the Spanish language. We interpret this general lack of language in the fact that they are not inserted in the local labor market, due to their retirement status and the difficulty of learning a new language in old age.
But even with little knowledge of the language, few US immigrants report having difficulty communicating with the local community. Only 8% of them say they have difficulty communicating. This is because in the places they frequent someone speaks English.
In intercultural couples, the most common thing is that it is she who communicates with him in English from the first opportunity, and this continues when a marriage is already formed.
May Ricardo Arjona forgive me for inspiring me in his song “She and he”, but here I would also like to ask myself: what do Biden and AMLO know about love?
And how much…
