Thread: Escape from Oakland

Escape From Oakland -- Vacation in La Palma

YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia, Commentary, Words//Photos: Manuel Mendoza, Posted: Dec 25, 2006

Editor's Note: Every year thousands of young American born Mexicans spend their summers in the land of their ancestors, reconnecting with family and the culture. Manuel Mendoza, 16, is an intern at YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia.

This past summer I went to La Palma, Michoacan in Mexico. Michoacan is one of the central Western states in Mexico, but La Palma is kind of more in the middle of the country. I was glad to get out of Oakland for the summer and excited to spend time with my family that I haven’t seen for eight years. I was also looking forward to just getting out of the United States for a little while because I was getting kind of tired of hearing about the war and all the issues that the U.S. is dealing with.



I didn’t really remember Mexico because I was just a little kid when I went there before. I just barely remembered my cousin’s faces, my grandparents and my aunties. Visiting Mexico was different as a kid because I couldn’t go out as much and I spent my time just playing with my cousins in the house. One thing I remember doing with my cousins is popping fireworks in front of my grandma’s house. Another thing I remember from my last visit is going to play soccer at a nice soccer field two blocks away from my grandma’s house.

This summer, I stayed at my grandparent’s house. The house is about 10,000 square feet and has about seven rooms – including a bunch of bathrooms and two living rooms. The houses in La Palma aren’t that different from Oakland, except most of the houses over there don’t really have grass outside and they are kind of small. My grandparent’s house is really big because my uncles and aunties who live in the United States helped add on several rooms and extended it into the backyard. They also have a bigger backyard than most other people because my grandparent’s wanted a place for my little cousins to play so they will stay out of the streets.

Before I went to Mexico, life was really boring because all I did was sleep and watch TV during the days. Sometimes I went out on the weekends but only somewhere not that fun like the movies. When I am in Oakland my mom has to know who am I with, exactly where am I going and I have to be back at my house at 1 a.m. at the latest. There’s really not that much to do in my neighborhood anyway.

The good thing about being in La Palma is that people don’t have to worry about their kids because it’s pretty safe. Another thing I liked is that everyone there says “hi” to each other in the streets. It seemed like people were friends with – or at least friendly to – people they had never seen in their life. It’s different than Oakland because people don’t go out to fight or start problems. People over there are friendly and the homicide rate is pretty much zero. People just aren’t killing and shooting each other at the rate they are back home.

In La Palma, my family lives in this neighborhood by the club. There is only one club in the whole little city and the neighborhood is very calm and quiet most of the time, but sometimes the club is open and it gets kind of crazy because people are getting really drunk but people aren’t doing sideshows or anything like that. I didn’t see any fights break out even though I saw a few people get into arguments. There are cliques and gangs in La Palma but they don’t start problems – people just learn not to mess with them. People have guns but it is more for self-defense and not to hurt people. I didn’t really hear about people doing drugs, but they might be doing so in the bigger cities. I think people respect the place they live more than the people in Oakland and that’s why there is less violence. People just really seemed to want to have a good time and that was more important than getting crazy and causing problems.



There are a lot of people that go to Mexico during the summer that come from the U.S. They don’t worry about issues that are happening back in the United States because they want to have fun and not worry about political issues. In my opinion, they don’t worry because they see Mexico as a place to have fun and enjoy themselves. People go to Mexico go almost every summer because there are so many things to do that two summers couldn’t cover everything. By going to Mexico a lot, people from La Palma become really close, almost like family.

Two friends that I met there were Fat Willy and German. Fat Willy – who is 14 years old and from Oakland – is very funny and that’s why we started talking. He’s fun to kick it with and is very energetic for a fat guy. I didn’t know him in Oakland but met him because he had been hanging out with my cousins in La Palma. He was spending the summer there too. Another friend I hung out with a lot was German, who was 15 and from Las Vegas. He is one of those people that seem quiet and serious until you get to know him, and then he is pretty crazy. Many of the people I met in La Palma were my cousins. I have no idea how many cousins I have because there are so many. It was cool to make friends there. People don’t really care if you are from Mexico or the United States. They’re just cool with you if you are cool with them.

My little cousins and some of my aunties don’t really care about coming to Oakland because they are used to having a job and not being home. I asked my little cousin named Francisco, who is only 9 years old, if he wanted to come to Oakland. He said: “Hell no, it’s hella boring over there and there isn’t anything to do. I’m used to working and just being on my feet.”

Both of my little cousins, Francisco whose nine and his brother Enrique whose 14, work two jobs. They are working everyday from 10 in the morning to 8 or 9 at night. Most of their work is farm work, like feedings my uncle’s cows. I think it’s good that they are working because they are learning a lot about responsibility and they are not growing up to be spoiled. The bad part about it is that they are working too much for too little money. The big difference between Mexico and the U.S is that you get paid a lot more in the United States for your work. I definitely noticed things like how small the houses were in Mexico compared to the size of the houses back in Oakland. Another big difference is that most of the streets in La Palma are so narrow that only one car can go through the street at a time and when two cars want to go through, one of the cars – the car that got there second – has to back up.

When I was in Mexico, my daily routine was to wake up at noon, eat, take a shower, get ready and then go sightseeing or check out nearby cities. Two places I visited were San Pedro and Sahuayo. San Pedro is kind of like La Palma but it has more clubs and people, but La Palma has better parties. Sahuayo is the big city around La Palma because it has big American stores like Sears, McDonald’s and Domino’s Pizza. The people that live over there don’t really get to shop in these places because these stores are too expensive and people really can’t afford it. McDonald’s is way better over there than in the U.S., in my opinion, because the burgers and the fries have better flavor.

After being out all day, I would get home at about 5 or 6 p.m., eat, take another shower and get ready to go out with my friends and cousins. We would usually go to the club or some parties. One party that I went to that was really fun this summer was one of my cousin’s weddings. Everyone was dancing a lot and having fun. At the clubs, the age doesn’t matter and people at any age can buy drinks or weed. People don’t really believe in weed culture there like they do in California. I think people don’t smoke that much because they are more interested in working and bringing food to the table for their families. They don’t want to mess up their lives by getting caught up. Pretty much every night I was there, I stayed out until 3 or 4 in the morning and finally crashed into bed at 5 a.m. My parents didn’t worry about be staying out so late as long as I got some sleep.

There were a lot of girls out there. The relationships between girls and boys didn’t seem that different than in the States but there they don’t have to sneak out because everyone seemed to stay out until 3 or 4 in the morning. I met girls that were from United States and Mexico and they aren’t really raised differently. One thing I noticed was that girls from United States have fancier clothes.



I didn’t dislike anything about Mexico, but I wouldn’t stay there because I am not used to the poverty. For example, one of my aunties on my dad’s side was sick and she couldn’t afford to go to the doctor. She had to wait until my uncle came from Oakland so he could give her the money.

I was kind of sad to leave Mexico because I wasn’t going to see my family for at least one year and all of my family there has a lot of love for me.

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/vi ... 8458dfe59a

Go back to Mexico and take all of your family in Oakland with you!
Life is grand in mexico for 16 yr olds.. drinking, smoking pot, staying out all night and sleeping all day..

Not sure why I am surprised at this "article"

Mexican not America!

Grits wrote:

Go back to Mexico and take all of your family in Oakland with you!
Life is grand in mexico for 16 yr olds.. drinking, smoking pot, staying out all night and sleeping all day..

Not sure why I am surprised at this "article"

Manuel wrote:

I didn’t dislike anything about Mexico, but I wouldn’t stay there because I am not used to the poverty.

Manuel would probably be there but he does not like the poverty.

It is a look inside an " American Born Mexicans" world and thought process, so it is very enlightening and unsettling as well.