The Guaymas Chronicles: La Mandadera
by David E. Stuart

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Book Reviews of The Guaymas Chronicles: La Mandadera

Book Review: Mexico, by an outsider looking from within
Summary: 4 Stars

David Stuart chose the right profession when he decided to become an anthropologist - he loves observing his fellow man. For reasons not entirely explained in the book (this is one of the minor deficiencies), he had a rough childhood, leading him to feel alienated from America and its people. Instead, he finds his (apparently) ideal social network among the taxi drivers, bartenders, waitresses, prostitutes and street people of Guaymas. Even though he tries, he can never fully fit in with these people because, as one of his friends tells him, he has too many options and choices in life that they, his Mexican friends, will never have. But that doesn't prevent David Stuart from providing a fairly intimate look at how these people conduct their lives, how they find happiness, and how they respond to the challenges life presents them.

There are many lessons to be learned from TGC. Life is much more fragile in Mexico, due to a poorer health care system. We may complain about the cost of health care here in the U.S., and push health care to a somewhat dubious extreme (cosmetic surgery and botox injections), but this book shows the cost of not having a good health care system. Moral choices do have significant consequences; in TGC, several instances of promiscuity have severe results. And yet, through it all, most all of the Mexicans that David Stuart meets find enjoyment in life, primarily through warm-hearted social interactions and support networks. There are lessons that we in the U.S. can learn from Mexicans.

Summary of The Guaymas Chronicles: La Mandadera

Dubbed El Güero ("Whitey") on the street, Stuart drifts into la movida, the Mexican world of hustlers, politicians, police officials, businessmen, and street urchins. In a 1970 Mexico where a $500 bribe and a two-year wait might get you a telephone, he needs help. A headstrong shoeshine girl, Lupita, becomes his mandadera (messenger) and then his confidante and junior business partner, working her magic by bribing customs officials and making deals for tires, fans, blenders, and other fayuca (contraband). A scrawny eleven-year-old, she is not just street-brilliant but complicated and utterly fascinating.

This vivid, haunting portrait of a world many Americans have visited but few understand, is a unique examination of what Mexico means to one American and what America means to the everyday Mexican people who surround and protect him.

Memoirs Books

• Subjects > Biographies & Memoirs > Memoirs
• Professionals & Academics > Social Scientists & Psychologists
• History > Americas > Mexico
• Social Sciences