En México, Me Llaman Ana

 My name is Bronwyn.

I'd like to think that, had my parents known how much time I would spend in Spanish-speaking countries, they would have given me a first name that was actually possible for Spanish speakers to pronounce. But they didn't. So, about 90% of the time I spend in Latin America, I go by the Spanish version of my middle name.

So, in Mexico, they call me Ana. Hence the title of the blog.

I should write a long thoughtful explanation here of how I fell in love with Mexico, why I keep going back, and the purpose of this blog. But I'll do that another time because I want to get all my thoughts from this last trip out.

So for now, I'll say this. I love Mexico; I love the country with my whole heart. I am not Latina and I am not a native Spanish speaker. I have struggled to learn Spanish since I was eight years old and am now to the point where I am almost fluent most of the time and fluent after a week of immersion when my brain finally switches over into Spanish. Then of course, I have trouble with English which sounds super pretentious like I'm trying to pretend I only speak Spanish. But it's just that my brain has trouble holding two languages at once.

I am fascinated by Mexican history. It is dramatic and beautiful and tragic with heroes and villains and unlikely leaders and fighters. I love every part of Mexico I've been to—from Reynosa, an industrial city that has no tourism at all and little natural beauty, to the turquoise lagoons of Bacalar and the coral reefs on both coasts. I've never cared about visiting all fifty states in the United States, but I desperately want to visit all 32 states in Mexico (it used to be 31 and a federal district but Mexico City was recently re-classified as a state).

For years, I've been writing long Facebook statuses and emails/texts to friends, so this is putting it all in one place. I keep thinking I'll write a book about my travels but there will always be one more trip I want to take to Mexico so I'm not sure if that will ever happen.

My goal in this blog is to share stories—
sometimes funny, sometimes serious—about my travels in Mexico. I hope to convey my love for the country, talk about someculture shock, discuss how hard it has been to learn a language, and tell about personal connections that happen sometimes in spite of cultural differences. Always respectfully. I don't know if I can live up to all that, but I'm going to try.

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