Twenty-twenty was basically fine until March. Hell, we even had hopes for a Bernie Sanders presidency that first quarter. Then the virus hit and we started searching around for masks. My first was made by my husband, and looks pretty silly in retrospect. I can't believe I wore it out of the house. We've come so far in that respect. But we didn't think we'd have to at that point. We thought, maybe we'll have a summer, then maybe we'd visit family for Thanksgiving, and now, in 2021, again, maybe we'll have a summer. Time is ticking, and although people are getting vaccinated, a lot of people are still dying.
We also transitioned, awkwardly, from President Trump to President Biden. That is a positive development, even if Trump's horribleness was overstated by liberals and Biden's horribleness understated. For me, the idea was never that we could push Biden to the left, as much as it was that Trump was courting and empowering the right in ways a Biden administration never would. We shouldn't have any illusions about Biden; but even if his victory was not a victory for the left, Trump's loss was clearly a loss for the right.
Post Trump is weird. Liberals can relax again, instead of suffering in (what they imagined was) Trump's totalitarian hellscape. Biden is doing plenty of bad stuff, but he doesn't tweet stupid stuff, or mock anyone. He appears competent, like a CEO of a large corporation, or the author of a book about cars who's independently wealthy. The right turned their bigotry into a festival of rage for a few weeks, then they refused to wear masks in supermarkets, then they disappeared into parlour or something.
Leftists are all over the place. Some have balanced their righteous anti-imperialism and working-class fervor with outrage over "cancel culture" and "wokeness." Mostly, I think, we're all hyper-online; maybe some of us are unemployed. Anyway, that certainly makes it easy to complain. If enough people complain, some companies might decide not to publish something, or may even pressure someone to resign. That is cancel culture. Really nothing new, just amplified by social media and more accessible to ordinary people. Wokeness seems to be, caring about identity-based justice, beyond, simply, condemning obvious bigotry. The problem with the leftists complaining about these concepts is they tend to equate corporations, establishment politicians, prominent universities, and the like, wielding these tools, with ordinary people, poor people, working people, oppressed people, doing the same.
Other leftists are rightly focused on violence inflicted on poor people and people of color by police, the border patrol, and employers like Amazon.com; also growing calls to waive patent rules for vaccines, among other things.
Speaking of vaccines, I realized I've spent more time in Mexico under quarantine than not. My country-specific, quarantine observations are that Americans are more resistant to masks, social distancing, and vaccines than Mexicans. But there was plenty of that here as well, though a lot of Mexicans had no choice but to leave their homes and try to survive. As a much poorer country, Mexico had very high death rates, even when people went to the hospital (some never did). Still, outside of the hospital system, which I've yet to have any experience with, I saw a lot of positives: mask wearing, even outside; schools closed; restaurants, stores, and places of public accommodation imposed limits and requirements; and testing became widely available. Vaccines are being rolled out slower than in the U.S., but more rapidly than in many parts of the world. I'm hoping I'll get my first shot sometime in May.
We were lucky. We brought our car, which is not necessary here as you can get everything you need walking into town, or for certain items, by having them delivered. Our house here also has a decent-sized garden, unlike most homes here. Unlike many similarly sized cities in the U.S., Guanajuato is fairly dense, so for epidemiological purposes, it felt riskier to just take a walk here than it might in the suburban sprawl of many cities up north. But we could always get outside in our garden, or drive to some open space for a hike.
Just before the pandemic, in February of last year, we visited our first archaeological site in Guanajuato: Peralta. Throughout the pandemic, then, we've visited three more. For the most part, you can't get to these places by bus. You might be able to take a taxi or Uber, though it would likely be expensive. If you don't have a car, the best thing might be to hire a guide who could drive you, or find a friend with a car who also wants to go. But with the pandemic, those options also expose you to hours in a car (likely closed in, as it was often warm/hot outside). JC and I could go on a whim.
Most people think of Mayan ruins in the Yucatan, Teotihuacan outside of Mexico City, or possibly Monte Alban in Oaxaca, when they think about archaeological sites in Mexico. However, there are five sites excavated and open to the public within the state of Guanajuato. Incredible to me, because there isn't much of this in the U.S. - maybe they were destroyed, or yet to be uncovered. I visited cliff dwellings as a boy and I've read about the various mounds in the U.S., but pyramids, playing courts, and temples? One of the things I like about Mexico is its celebration of, and close connection to, its indigenous past. Even its flag has its origins in Aztec legend. The U.S., on the other hand, feels much more identified with whiteness. The U.S. is actually a much more diverse country, but institutionally, anything other than white, protestant, ideals register. I think a lot about how brainwashed I was growing up in Texas. The simple truth - that Texas independence was largely, though not entirely, motivated by the desire to own slaves - was never talked about in grade school, and considered almost sacrilegious in college.
Of course, I still feel more American than Mexican (not ethnically, but it still feels more like home up there); and I miss California and Texas. But at the moment, I'm enjoying my time here. Maybe I'll stay forever.
