Thursday,
April 6, 2006, 10:50 pm
Presenting: Andie Grater – From US
Advertising Executive to
Cuernavaca B&B Owner and President of the Newcomers Club
I am currently staying at,
"La Nuestra", a comfortable bed and breakfast with
4 guest rooms, a private swimming pool and an outdoor breakfast
area complete with microwave and fridge, which has a rather interesting
story. It is co-owned by two women, Andie Grater and Nancy Gray,
who are both originally from the United States.
Originally from Brooklyn, Andie had lived in Atlanta for 20 years
and become an expert in advertising production and management while
Nancy, on the other hand, had been involved in the screen printing
business. Nancy represented several American companies in the Latin
American market and spent quite a bit of time in Latin America,
including Cuernavaca, and this was the beginning to their Mexican
adventure.
Andie's comments shed light on the decision to relocate to a foreign
country and the inevitable issues of culture shock and psychological
adjustment that go along with the move to a strange land. Her story
will also illustrate coping mechanisms and the fact that the human
spirit will indeed adjust over time.
A painting of Nancy and Andie
As Nancy had been spending more and more time in Mexico, Andie and
Nancy were starting to think it might actually be nice to live somewhere
else. Cuernavaca might be a good destination since it was close
enough to easily go back and forth. Andie had attended a Spanish
course at the Cetlalic Alternative
Language School and had a chance to meet a lot of people from
Cuernavaca's local gay community and Cuernavaca increasingly looked
like an interesting destination.
Both women thought that it might be a good idea to move to Cuernavaca,
a goal they decided to accomplish in the New Millennium. So Andie
decided to give up her job in advertising which was made easier
by the after-effects of 911 which had severely affected the advertising
industry.
Andie worked for a month with the previous owner of Villa
San Marcos to gain some practical experience running a bed and
breakfast. So the women put their furniture into storage in Atlanta
and after their arrival in Cuernavaca they first lived in a furnished
apartment. They later moved into an unfurnished condo, a rather
bare place, which Andie describes as "graduate student living".
Andie admitted that as you get older these types of transitions get
just a little harder.
Prior to their purchase, their B&B had been empty for five
years. Once they acquired the property, they invested another year
of renovations into La
Nuestra. Building a clientele from scratch is always an issue
for new entrepreneurs and Andie indicated that their clients mostly
find them through the Internet and through word of mouth. In addition,
Andie sent many news releases to independent booksellers and feminist
book stores to request that the information about their B&B
be put on their bulletin boards.
As new B&B owners, Andie and Nancy also decided to advertise
on three web sites, two sites about Mexico and one site dedicated
to gay travelers. Andie stressed, however, that their target market
is not only the gay community, but people from all walks of life.
Travellers come from the United States (California, Minnesota, and
various places in the north), but also from Canada. In addition,
they also host many weekend guests from Mexico City. Many of their
guests don’t even move when they come here, they just relax
in the beautiful garden by the pool and say this place feels just
like home.
My beautiful room at La Nuestra
I asked Andie to elaborate on this process of cultural transition
which they went through after they first relocated to Mexico. At
first they felt excited, the place was new, they were learning the
language, and there was this general feeling of newness that made
everything so interesting.
But as the newness wore off, feelings of culture shock started
to settle in. Andie experienced frustrations as she had to adjust
to the Mexican concepts of time and reliability. Adjusting to the
much more relaxed concept of time was difficult, especially since
Andie had been living her life in Atlanta with a strict agenda. The
unreliability of workmen and repair people was also a frequent source
of frustrations. Andie told me a few stories of her renovation project
and mentioned that workers might show up a day later or sometimes
not at all.
On the other hand she was impressed by the easy-going attitude
of local Mexican people and commented that they are very helpful
when you make an effort to speak Spanish. Traffic can also be quite
bad in this city. On the issue of cultural adjustment Andie said,
that one of her friends commented on how great it must be to live
in this new place while Andie admitted that many times this adjustment
phase was really tough on her, especially at the beginning. She
was missing her friends, her culture, her familiar environment.
Now things are much better. Andie runs an organization called the
Newcomers
Club which is an association of recent, mostly English-speaking
residents, of Cuernavaca. The club had been in existence for 15
years, but had not been very active. Andie became president about
four years ago, and the club now has around 170 members, ranging
in age all the way from their forties and up. The oldest member
is 91 years old.
The beautiful pool area at La
Nuestra
The Cuernavaca Newcomers Club has a number of functions:
- It welcomes new English-speaking residents and helps them find
their way
- It publishes a service directory every 2 years
- It provides a buddy system
- The club hosts a variety of social events throughout the year
- Speakers are invited to the club's meetings and speak on various
topics of interest, such as ecology, globalization, alternative
health, investments and many more.
- The club is involved in a variety of charity projects as well.
The Newcomers Club holds two big social events a year: a cocktail
party in September and a holiday party around Christmas time. Evening
events include guitar concerts, talks on topics of interest and
a "studio crawl" where the group visits different artists'
studios around town. An increasing number of social events will
be held over the summer months as well, which used to be a quieter
time.
One of the Newcomers Club's most important involvements is in philanthropy.
At Christmas members are encouraged to adopt a family in collaboration
with the Episcopal Church. The club itself is non-denominational,
but the church provides a list of 15 of the most needy families.
Then, with the help of donations, the club purchases boxes of basic
items that are given away to these needy families.
The Newcomers Club is also involved with a Mexican Charity called
"Caminamos Juntos" which was founded by Susan Smith, a
Canadian woman. Caminamos
Juntos para la Salud y el Desarollo
dedicates itself to helping one specific Mexican village in
the state of Guerrero. This village has many problems: the water
supply contains a toxic level of arsenic, there is a lot of poverty
and alcohol abuse. Every month Caminamos Juntos asks for
different supplies, e.g. in September the charity requests school
supplies, in December it requests blankets, and at Christmas the
charity request non-battery operated toys.
The garden at La Nuestra
Andie indicated that the average age of newcomers to Cuernavaca
is in their 50s. She added that dollars go a lot further in Cuernavaca
than they would in Florida or the Caribbean.
In addition to volunteering with the Newcomers Club, Andie also
donates her time to a local library called the Guild House. She
volunteers four Friday mornings a months, two in the library, two
with the Newcomers Club. Together with her work as a B&B owner
at La Nuestra this keeps
her busy.
Nowadays she still goes to back home to the United States about
4 to 5 times a year. Nancy and Andie still have a small apartment
in Atlanta where they stay when they go home. Andie and I had a great
conversation about her travel experiences in Israel and Spain, and
about Latin machismo which also manifests itself on the road (a
woman cutting a man off on the road will definitely incur his wrath,
while the opposite is just considered normal).
I am one of these people who thinks that one day in my life I'll
probably try to spend 2 or 3 months of the year in a warm place,
and Andie's experience in Cuernavaca has given me some valuable insights
about the decision-making process, the cultural adjustment phase,
and the rewards of getting involved in a local volunteer organization.
Useful Books:
Related Articles:
Mexico 2006 - My cultural immersion
experiment
Hello from Mexico City - First impressions
Hello from Mexico City - A skyscraper,
a little horse and a government pawn shop
Hello from Mexico City - The Zócalo,
the Cathedral, a healing ritual and a university dedicated to a
16th century female poet
Hello from Mexico City - A relaxing
evening in Coyoacán
Hello from Mexico City - Exploring the
Paseo de la Reforma, de Bosque de Chapúltepec and a nice
evening in San Angel
Hello from Cuernavaca - Arrival and
first impressions
Hello from Cuernavaca - Getting to know
my B&B hostess Marta Elena: A true riches to rags story
Hello from Cuernavaca - My first day
learning Spanish and two local icons: the Robert Brady Museum and
the Jardín Borda
Hello from Cuernavaca - A lovely dinner
in a garden paradise
Hello from Cuernavaca - An excursion
to Las Estacas, checking out orchids and a meeting at El Cafecito
Hello from Cuernavaca - An excursion
to Lake Tequesquitengo and a visit to the doctor
Hello from Cuernavaca - A conversation
with Andie Grater, local B&B owner and President of the Newcomers
Club
Hello from Cuernavaca - A presentation
about ecology at the Newcomers Club Meeting
Hello from Cuernavaca - Opening of a
South African photo exhibition and a visit to the Palacio de Cortés
Hello from Taxco - The city that silver built
Hello from Taxco during Semana Santa - The
famous Palm Sunday Procession
Hello from Cuernavaca - A new language
school, visiting 'Casa Vamos' and an evening with a very sad ending
Hello from Cuernavaca - My most intense
day: more language studies, 3 interviews, a guided eco-hike and
dinner at the Marco Polo
Hello from Cuernavaca - A day outing
to the enchanting mythical village of Tepoztlan
Hello from Cuernavaca - My last day
of school and a visit to Cuernavaca's Spring Fair
Hello from Taxco - An eerie experience: Visiting
Taxco's famous Good Friday procession
Hello from Taxco and Cuernavaca - Interviewing
one of the penitentes and enjoying my last day in Mexico
Related Interviews:
Presenting:
Ruben Córtes from Morelos Trails - Local adventure sports
and cultural guided tour operator, expert on Morelos and Cuernavaca
Presenting: Pablo
Buitrón from Fundacion Comunidad, helping local
women empower themselves
Presenting: Jorge Torres from
the Cetlalic Alternative Language School - Learning Spanish with
cultural, social and political awareness
Presenting: Hermilo Brito
from the Ideal Language School - Making Spanish learning fun
Helpful links:
Mexico
Tourism Information
State
of Morelos Tourism Organization
Official
website of the City of Cuernavaca tourism
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