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Thanks for looking! I’m Robert Baldridge and this is my travel blog.
I myself am a gringo, born in Houston, Texas, and then raised in and around southern California, and I am married to a wonderful Mexican woman, Marisol, who was born and raised in Tlaxcala, Mexico. We’ve been very happily married for over 22 years and have two fantastic young-adult sons, (ages 18 and 20 as of this writing in August 2024).
As noted elsewhere, I’ve travelled extensively throughout North America and Europe, covering 15 countries as well as 26 states in the USA, but I started this travel blog to specifically document my trips around Mexico, with a particular emphasis on Mexico City, aka CDMX (Ciudad de Mexico), which I’ve travelled to a great number of times, whether alone, with my wife, or with the whole family.
The primary reason for so many visits to CDMX, at least initially, was simply a way to join my wife in visiting her family in Tlaxcala, which is about a two-hour drive from CDMX, the main hub for international flights to the region. However, the more time we spent in CDMX, the more I became enamored with it. Consequently, on each trip to visit family I would add more and more days to also spend exploring CDMX. So that’s mostly how this all came to be.
Now, as a gringo with only a rather limited knowledge of the Spanish language, I can’t say that all my adventures have been easy, but I have always found the vast majority of Mexican people to be very warm, friendly, helpful, and patient, particularly if they see you are at least making an effort, (even if that means just using Google Translate).
Hopefully our experiences, photos, tips, and perspectives will inspire you to take a visit to Mexico yourself!
BTW, since this is the “About” section, and I’m telling you about us, I should note that although this website/blog is primarily focused on Mexico City, my wife and I actually met in Tijuana, which is just across the border from San Diego, California in the Mexican state of Baja California. (I’ll blog about my time living in Tijuana at some point, I swear.) The story of how we came to be together has been called such things as “very romantic” and “crazy”, (and probably things like stupid or insane, but thankfully not to our faces)! If for some reason people are interested in knowing that story, let me know in the “Contact” section and I’ll be glad to add a page with some extra information and some photos of the beginning of our journey together.
Oh, and what exactly is a gringo, you ask?
Well, in Mexico it most commonly refers to someone from the U.S., typically white people. It’s not necessarily an insult, though. It’s just that if you’re a white, English-speaking person in Mexico, chances are pretty high that you’re from the U.S., based on the proximity of the two countries. Still, gringo isn’t just used for Americans, as Canadians and Europeans get called this term as well. And it’s not just used to refer to white people. Ultimately, the most popular meaning of gringo across Latin America and Spain is “foreigner”, and is generally used in a neutral way. Even Hispanics can sometimes be called gringos if they are from a different country or don’t speak Spanish.
I’m Robert Baldridge, a gringo from the U.S. happily married for over 22 years to a wonderful Mexican woman. With my extensive travel experience throughout the world, and particularly in Mexico, I’m able to provide a unique perspective to other gringos about travels to Mexico.
© Mexico For Gringos 2024
