What is a trait you have that is more Hispanic than American?

[RagingInMiami]

I am pretty Americanized when it comes to many things, especially language, music, sports, etc.

I am more comfortable speaking English, but I speak Spanish if I am talking to someone who doesn't speak English. Or I like Latin music, but my favorite all-time band is the Rolling Stones and I love Frank Sinatra as well as blues and jazz. Or I can appreciate futbol, but it doesn't compare to football.

But when it comes to food, I definitely lean towards Latin America; whether it be Mexican, Cuban, Colombian, Brazilian or Argentine food. Especially steaks. I prefer my steaks lean, thin and well-done, which is a common trait throughout Latin America, while many Americans prefer thick, fatty steaks that's red in middle.

I prefer Latin American pollo asado over American rotisserie or fried chicken. It just has more flavor. Give me tortilla chips over potato chips any day. And give me flan over custard and Cuban espresso over Maxwell House.

Another trait I have is that I am always running late. It used to be a problem when I lived in Arizona and worked as a reporter and the Anglos ran everything, meaning that if they set up a press conference for 2 pm, that press conference was going to begin at 2 pm.

In Miami, if they set up a press conference at 2 pm, I don't have to be in a panic when I realize it's 1:50 pm and I still have to drive clear across a traffic-congested city. Because I know everybody else is running late too. It's what we call arriving on "Latin time". In Miami, the Anglos have learned to adjust.

I also prefer Latinas over gringas, but I prefer Americanized Latinas over Latina immigrants. It's that dual culture thing.

[Cleita]

1. I'd rather listen to Latin American music than the popular

American music, although for some strange reason I like Country and Western. :shrug: I used to love to dance when I was young. I prefer the Latino approach to drinking, meaning that you take your alcohol with your meals, not go to a saloon and drink until you are blotto. If you go to a club, you are expected to dance more than drink, hence, working off the alcohol and really not having that much time to drink too many drinks.

I really miss the sociability of tea time where you went to a tea shop, or you went to someone's house, or they came to yours. I don't ever remember not having tea without friends and family around.

I also still prefer to have a meal at noon, although it's really hard to do that here in the states.

[calico1]

2. I would say probably my love of bright colors.

I don't do "pastels." I like bright, jewel toned colors, also wear a lot of black. Not a trait but I also cook a lot of Puerto Rican food, and some Cuban dishes too that I learned. Not very good with Mexican but I do attempt it from time to time. Oh, and I love spicy food and any kind of hot sauce or hot peppers! :-)

[Cybergata]

5. Here, here!!

Bright colors, lots of embroidery, lace and lots of jewelry! Also I love carne adovada and New Mexican food, which is really a mixture of Spanish and Indian food. I've eaten food in Spain, and it is bland, bland bland. It is the Native Americans who gave us the spicy hot peppers. In other Latino areas, is carne adovada pork marinated in red chile? I'm usually a vegetarian, but I can't say no to carne adovada. In fact I've eaten twice this past week.

I'm a Buddhist which is a long distance from my ancestral roots of being Catholic. All my Hispanic New Mexican ancestors were Catholics all the way back to when the only Christian church was the Catholic church. How many of you Latinos have wander away from the mother church, maybe not as far as I have, but none the less wondered?

[alarcojon]

10. Love Latin food, futbol, Latin women

and the language itself is more beautiful and expressive than English.

I responded to you, Cybergata, because I have also strayed from my Catholic roots and embraced Buddhism.

[Cybergata]

15. I follow a Buddhist path,

but that doesn't mean I don't adore Our Lady of Guadalupe. I wasn't raided in the Catholic church, so I learned to adore her later in my life. I guess the fact that she showed herself as an Indian, and this lead the Spanish to reevaluate their position on the Indians souls, is why her story appeals to me the most. Plus she is loved by people in the southwest, especially in New Mexico. I love what she stands for.

I was raised in the Presbyterian faith. I think it was somewhat of a half point between the Catholicism my father was raised with the Church of Christ my mother was raised with. It just was that my mother gave me books on Buddhism when I was 15, and everything I read seemed like what I already felt and believed. In fact, a lot of the beliefs weren't too different from what my Hispanic lapsed-Catholic father had taught me about living life.

[Cleita]

17. Also, the place where the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared

was formerly a shrine to one of the Aztec mother goddesses. I saw a Mexican movie about it when I was a child. First it showed the daughter of Montezuma taking offerings of flowers to the goddess of the shrine. Then they did a little history about the arrival of Cortez and how it had been fortold by the shamans. After that they proceeded with the story of the peasant seeing the Virgin on the same spot as the shrine to the old goddess. I think Guadalupe is a very old diety.

[Cybergata]

19. I didn't not realize that...

there was a tie to between Guadalupe and an Aztec goddess. This is something I should know, so I blush, and thank you for pointing this out to me. BUT of course, it makes so much sense. I know the Catholic version of the story, which I assume leaves the Aztec goddess tie out.

The pre-columbian people of the Valley of Mexico had a legend about their god Quetzalcoatl. He was supposedly once a king who stopped human sacrifices, so the other gods drove him or tricked him out of Mexico. He vowed to return on a specific year, which just happened to be the same year that Cortes arrived in Mexico. This was a very old myth that ran through all the religions of Meso-America. The Mayans even had a version of this myth. See, I know a bit about the Aztec gods, so I should know about the Guadalupe tie in. Shame on me.



One of the many sites that I have used over the years dealing with Quetalcoastl:
http://www.rjames.com/Toltec/myth2.htm

[Cleita]

12. Oh I have wandered from mother church all the way to almost

being a pagan. But when I think about it, the elemental spirits have always been in our form of Catholicism. Didn't your mother always tell you about your fairy godmother or la viejita? Mine did.

[RagingInMiami]

13. I rejected all religion outright

I'm a hell-raising agnostic who will go to heaven when he dies.

[EFerrari]

3. Chile and chocolate. I can't palm a tortilla to save my life

but I can make good black bean tamales. Food, definitely.

I expect to greet my neighbors. When I was a kid, my 16 year old uncle would take me on walks and he always greeted people as we walked by. They were surprised but in general, they liked it. I do the same thing. So, community is important to me right down to this simple gesture.

There are other things -- enjoying and accepting children and their foibles in a way that isn't North American -- maybe, enjoying and accepting people in general that is different in quality from "American" culture. (You can notice that in the way Hispanic people say "the little dead guy" or "the little old lady" or "that little crazy guy" such that "little" really is an endearment, not a put down.)

And lately, that "finding a way" thing. I notice when I hire Anglo handymen they seem very "by the book", more prone to find obstacles, less apt to think outside the box to get a job done. Lots of examples. Yesterday, I called a printer guy to come and tighten up some wires on my printer and he said, "Oh, no. Just throw it way." Instead, I found a different way to connect the printer. The last electrician said he couldn't do what I asked him to do until I spent an hour explaining to him why he could. The guy that came to fix the mailboxes said we had to buy new ones because he couldn't fix them. I fixed them with a hammer and a pair of pliers after he left because I pulled them out of the wall and LOOKED at the panel to see what was wrong. lol

Each time, I wished my friend Sergio was in town, because in all the years we worked together, he probably only said, "that can't be done" twice. And, he was right both times. I don't know what that's about except maybe a difference in resources resulting in a different valuation of the resources in hand (or, between your ears).

[Cleita]

4. Wow, I never thought of finding a way to do it as a Latino trait,

but I'm very much that way. I used to exasperate my late husband because I wouldn't give up on a project. He often called me the most stubborn woman he ever met because of this. LOL

[Cybergata]

6. I just thought I inherited this trait from my father,

and never considered it a trait that comes with him being a Latino. He was stubborn. The best part being that he never gave up on people.

[EFerrari]

8. Maybe this is part of the different sense of time.

I have a lot of the "time urgency" that is part of Anglo culture but, apparently, not enough to be in tune with my handymen.

And, this is the upside of being "late" aka, being in the moment?

[Cybergata]

14. Hey, we call New Mexico...

the land of manaña. I'm always late. Anyway, in the summer when the temps are in the high 90s, who wants to run anyway! ;-)

[RagingInMiami]

16. I spent almost two years in the Land of Enchantment

I lived in a little town called Deming. I used to write for the Las Cruces Sun-News. I really enjoyed New Mexico. Being from Miami, it taught me to fully appreciate Mexican food. I love green chile.

[Cleita]

18. You didn't go far enough north.

Be prepared to be really enchanted when you hit Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos as well as many of the little pueblos in between. My late husband and I always made a point of spending a couple of weeks in NM after Labor Day in the fall when everything is luscious with fall color and the temperatures are pleasant.

[EFerrari]

23. I started drawing when I was in my 30s after driving to and from

the Southwest. It was like a light bath. When I came home, checked out Gorman and Vigil, others and it's been a mess around here ever since. There's something that's tangibly other worldly (or, MORE this - worldly about NM) -- and we only got as far as Albuquerque.

Gorman:



Vigil:

[EFerrari]

7. Cleita! We're in a club!

lol

[RagingInMiami]

9. I totally know what you mean by "finding a way"

It's how the Cubans in Havana keep their 1950s cars running. It's what keeps the Miami economy going.

[EFerrari]

11. Oh, good! Then I may only be among the millions of

stubbornest women in the world. :rofl:

[Seabiscuit]

20. I've learned to operate on Latin Time ...

I'm married to a latina and I love everything about her culture. She's Peruvian. However, one thing this gringo had to get used to is Latin Time. When we were dating she'd show up an hour or more late, since we got married she's gotten better but members of her family always arrive late. I don't sweat it anymore. I love the way Latinos view life! Good food, good music, family involvement and a spice for life that is never ending. One thing though that I love about my wife is her latin temper there is always a fire that will never burn out and its a part of her that attracted me to her in the first place.

Nice thread and I hope that this forum stays for a long time.
:)

[RagingInMiami]

21. That Latin Passion

Can be a double-edged sword. My last girlfriend was from Acapulco and we usually got along, but every once in a while, we would get into some vicious arguments. Both of us were stubborn with quick tempers.

But making up was always great.

That's the secret about Latin Time. You can't sweat it. You just have to go with it. Black people have the same thing. They call it Colored Time.

[EFerrari]

22. Hey, Seabiscuit. Those are all the things I love about our family

too.

:)

[Cleita]

24. LOL! When I lived in Chile, in the mining camp, there were

of course a lot of Americans, British and other Europeans because it was an American company that ran it at the time.

When someone had a party or event, you always asked if the time was "hora Chilena", or "hora norteamericano". It avoided embarrassment. Many a yank showed up at 8 p.m. on time to a party to find his hostess still in curlers and a bathrobe, and many a yank who threw a dinner party fumed while the meal got cold because no one showed up at the time the party was supposed to start but an hour or so later.

[flordehinojos]

25. i don't know.

my mother was american from mississippi. my father was cuban from santiago. they met in new orleans AND After they married they went to live in santiago where i was born ...so, i grew up being not fully cuban and not fully american. i learned to love both cultures: the cuban one as well as my mother's southern culture, and i loved both foods, from fried chicken to frijoles colorados, as well as both kinds of music, from the cuban danzón to american rock-and-roll. the elian gonzalez saga made me turn off emotionally from much of my cuban roots. it was the beginning for me of a taste of the deep divisions which now permeate our country. as far as our foods are concerned, i am also on a diet now and cannot eat the foods that i used to love. i don't even want to think about them. the music that is most soothing to me at this time is classical, chopin for the most part and perhaps some instrumental, almost classical, cuban music. most people have a hard time placing me for they think of me as neither american nor cuban, and most think i am from somewhere in europe. i suppose both cultures have blended pretty much in me.

[Maestro]

26. I love to have a good conversation while eating.

I prefer to family to friends although friends are important to me. I love music. And I love Latinas! I also think Spanish is much prettier language than English. I have also fought hard for langauge right here especially in schools and properly teaching those that are learning English. Here is my old website (no longer updated.) Having said that I am completely Anglo, but I share what I have learned through my grandfather and Hispanic friends.

[Xipe Totec]

27. A lot of Spanish Proverbs

That I blurt out from time to time.

(translated for the benefit of my English speaking friends)

Mostly learned from my mother, such as:

Thou seest the tempest approach and still you do not kneel?

[judaspriestess]

28. I would say my trait is the classic Latina figure and my embrace

for it. It has taken me a long time to get there but I have finally accepted my coke bottle figure and I love it. I love my shaply butt, my ample breast, my small waist, my dark hair and dark eyes. and I have NO trouble in the romance dept
:smoke:

[RagingInMiami]

29. Well I think this calls for a photo