Mexico, by any other name

I came to Mexico in October 2019 with only three things I knew about the country: They spoke Spanish, they were a previous colony of Spain, and the street food culture in this country is massive.

The first time I was here, I gave my passport to the border official in Mexico City and his first words to me were: “Ah! Manny Pacquiao!”

The film Coco made me want to come to Mexico for Dia de los Muertos.

This is the holiday they consider as Halloween. Except it’s not Halloween at all. They paint their faces and dress up as catrinas; they spread marigold around their houses and the cemeteries where their loved ones are buried, and they spend time with their families.

Dia de los Muertos is every bit of a family affair, as it is a touristic one. People go to the cemeteries to offer food to their dear departed so that their spirits can take it back with them into the other world.

We do this, too, in the Philippines. We don’t paint our faces all gaunt and bones. But, during Halloween, we also visit our loved ones’ grave, and bond with our living relatives.

Did you know that Mexicans learned the art of tequila-making from the very Filipino art of lambanog? But since they didn’t have palm trees native in Mexico, they used what was natural to them: Agave.

I think, if I said to a Mexican that they learned to make tequila from us, they’ll fight me.

Our food is same-same, but different.

We call things similarly but it’s a completely different food. Our champorado is rice porridge; in Mexico, champurrado is a hot chocolate drink made from corn masa.

Mexicans have tamales, adobo, except they’re slightly different.

When I came to Mexico, I was surprised to see how similar it resembled the Philippines.

Whenever I would write my name, people would look at me funny because I look Asian with my almond eyes, tan skin and broken Spanish. Then again, I have a Spanish name.

“Are you Latina?”

“Not really.”

We have the same names, but some of them look more euro-centric because the Spanish didn’t procreate in the Philippines as much as they did in Mexico.

Some Tagalog words, like nanay, came from the native Mexican language Nahuatl. Because the Mexicans that came here (forced to flee their homeland) settled mostly in Pampanga, hence the city Mexico in Pampanga.

If you traced their roots, some Kapampangans likely have Mexican ancestry.

The two countries have a fairly similar history that Filipinos are often referred to as the Mexicans of Asia.

But unlike most people in Latin America, we went back to speaking our own language.

We’re similar: From having a very rich aboriginal culture (with pyramids in Mexico, and rice terraces in the Philippines) to being colonized by Spanish conquistadors and being forced into Catholicism.

Both countries suffered the same tragedies under Spain and its terrible King Philip.

In the Philippines, we are resilient enough to forget the tragedies we have endured, even though our land bears the name of the person who caused us all of our troubles.

Both countries were forced to forget their native heritage in favor of the more European lifestyle that the Spanish brought with them (think siestas, fiestas).

Mexico has a lot of different varieties of fruits and vegetables that I grew up eating in the Philippines, such as sayote, atis, mangoes and mangosteen.

I read once that all mangoes in Latin America came from the Philippines. The Spanish brought it to Mexico during the galleon trades.

In Manila, we have the walled city of Intramuros, where the Spanish used to reside in Manila. It is filled with cobble stoned roads, old Spanish houses and horse-drawn carriages. Vaguely, it would remind you of Spain or the entirety of Europe.

It reminds me of Mexico. Imagine the whole country is like Intramuros, but cleaner, more well-preserved and just more appreciated by the public.

I often tell my Filipino friends: “If you want to see what it would’ve been like in Manila if we haven’t been bombed during the war, to see great architecture and amazing food, come to Mexico.”

Especially in different Zocalos in different cities, it would remind you of Europe, or in our case, a more beautiful Intramuros.

Walking around the city center is like walking in a cleaner and more preserved version of Vigan.

There are so many museums in Mexico that you can go to one or two every single day for a month and still have enough to see.

Mall culture is not really a thing in Mexico, especially not in Mexico City. People hangout in the park. There are so many parks in Mexico City alone, and people go to parks to hangout, to play football, to train their dogs, to people-watch and to simply bond with friends or family.

Park culture in Mexico is so prominent that, in the neighborhood that I used to live in, there were two parks within 10-minute walking distance from each other.

The art scene in Mexico City thrives, lives and continues to breathe. I hope for the same in Manila.

I think the Philippines has the same potential to be as beautiful as Mexico, culture-wise. When it comes to playas, the Philippines is no contest. But when it comes to culture, hands down it’s Mexico.

Both countries have the same history and I am astounded that the Philippines did not embrace this culture change as much as Mexico did.

When Mexico was liberated in 1821, Mexicans struggled a lot but they eventually found their footing. They, so desperately, wanted to be freed from the bondage of the Spanish Regime that they really fought hard to find their own identity as a free country. From being known as New Spain, to being what we now know as Mexico.

They really put the hard work into obtaining independence and learning who they are as a country and as independent people.