Conversation with Jaime Bustamante

Title

Conversation with Jaime Bustamante

Description

Jaime Bustamante Salazar was born in Sonora, Mexico on March 3rd, 1976. He lived with his family until age fifteen, when he got an opportunity to go abroad as an exchange student in Columbus, Ohio, for a year. When he turned eighteen, Jaime moved to Mexico City, where he studied Industrial Engineering and International Commerce. Following University, he went on to work in Mexico City for a Canadian company that had recently started to operate there. After working for them for 3 years, the company offered him a position in Ottawa. Jaime moved to Ottawa in June of 2005 and has been here ever since. Jaime also celebrates his heritage by cooking, spending time with family, and sharing values such as respect for others, especially elders. Jaime strives to never forget his history and culture.

Date

2025-02-25

Format

MP3, 24 min 32 s

Language

English

Interviewer

Alida Madinger; Emily Young; Katya Romanenko

Interviewee

Jaime Bustamante

Transcription

Jaime: My name is Jaime Bustamante Salazar. I was born in Mexico, in the state of Sonora in the city of Hermosillo, May 3rd 1976. I moved to Mexico city when I was 18 years old and studied industrial engineering and also international commerce. After graduating, I started working for a Canadian company, which recently opened operations in Mexico and headquarters are in Ottawa. And after working for them for 3 years in Mexico, they offered me to come and work for them here in Canada. So I moved to Canada in June of 2005. Excellent month to move into Ottawa, and I've been living here since then.
Katya; We are 3 students from the University of Ottawa, all are studying anthropology and we are here, interviewing
Jaime: today for our Caribbean and Latin American anthropology class. So you talked a bit about your country of origin, what brought you here, and we just want to ask you: do you have any family here in Ottawa specifically, and do you keep contact with them? Do you see them frequently?
Jaime; Yes, when I moved to Ottawa. I moved with my wife and 1 kid at the time that we had a second kid. Then got divorced in 2014, and got remarried 3 years later to another Mexican lady.
Katya; As you mentioned earlier, we don't have any Mexican neighborhoods in Ottawa. Do you find yourself living in an area where there are other Mexicans or other Spanish speaking people? So People can celebrate various occasions with or meet up with?
Jaime; I think Mexicans are scattered around Ottawa in different neighborhoods. There's no Latin neighborhood like other big cities such as Toronto or Montreal, or Vancouver. I don't see that in Ottawa. There are different grocery stores here and there where you can find Latin products and obviously Mexican products. I think a big part of my group of friends, most of them are from Latin America, either Mexico, Central America or South America. And we get together in different parts to do things together. But I don't see the Latin community here, unless there is an event by one of the embassies of the different countries, such as Mexico, Colombia or Peru, or which they organize now and then celebrating either they're independence day or something cultural. It's important for me, for example, Mexico, the day of the dead which, is something that you don't see anywhere else. As far as I know, every Latin community gets together and celebrates that as part of an event organized by either the consulates for the embassy of the country and yeah.
Emily; Speaking of celebrations, what celebrations are most important to you?
Jaime; Well, since I became Canadian. Obviously I celebrate Canadian holidays like Canada day, but if I’m talking about Mexican days that we celebrate or events it would be, dependence day, which is September 16 and day of the dead. Which is October 2nd and then there's one that its celebration that is done everywhere else in the world, but Mexico, which is the La Batalla de Puebla which is the biggest avocado sale in the history and in the year for Mexicans which is February 5th, sorry Cinco de Mayo. And it's a celebration, I don't know why it's so big everywhere else, especially in North America like the United States and Canada. In Mexico, not so much, and the reason why we celebrate that or I don't know why it is celebrated more everywhere else, then Mexico because it's been the only war or battle fought on Mexican soil where Mexico has defeated the country trying to invade Mexico, and that was against the French. Mind you that was only one battle we lost just like every other war we’ve been invaded by other countries, but in the end we maintain our country. Another one would be the revolution, which is November 20th. Not that big, but obviously the embassy and consulates of Mexico do celebrate and try to get people from Mexico. I did find this year there was a celebration by the Mexican embassy based on the state where I grew up, which was I mentioned earlier, which is Sonora. So they have a lot of people from sonora. They had booths with different food from my state and city and different regional dancers. It was cool seeing my hometown celebrated and my home state being celebrated
Katya; I have a question based on that, how do celebrations here like Christmas, New Years compare? If you have anything similar?
Jaime; Mexico is a big country, it is divided between three regions, the north, center and the south. We all speak different, with different accents, from the north, that from the center and from the south. And obviously because of the north being so close to the United states, we have adapted some of their celebrations. In a way that is, it's the same celebration, but instead celebrated the Mexican way it is celebrated in North America way, which is just like Christmas. Even Thanksgiving is celebrated in Mexico right now in the north part of Mexico. So even though it is, a completely different process of colonization and independence. From the north part of Mexico because of its closeness to the United states, we celebrate similar to what they celebrate in the center Mexico has its own traditions. Obviously it’s the most densely populated area of Mexico just between the center states. I would say, sixty to seventy percent of the population is located there and they've had their own traditions also in Mexico. In the center part of Mexico we celebrate Christmas. So you celebrate the three wise men coming on January 6, and the way we celebrate in central Mexico is the reverse. So the food we eat is completely different to, again, the northern part of Mexico, when we're celebrating similar holidays, just like Christmas, we have adapted the way they do in American cities, whereas in Mexico it's more traditional. Obviously we have the piñadas, we have la posadas, which is we organize parties to get together to celebrate religion, in a religious way. As well because of our big religion, specifically the Catholic religion that we have in Mexico, we also celebrate a lot of things based on the Virgin Mary, not just Jesus Christ. So December 12th is also a big celebration, because the day is la Virgen de Guadalupe.
Alida; Can you describe a typical day in your community, or the differences?
Jaime; Well, again, depending on where you live. I lived in the North part of Mexico. In the center of Mexico. I was an exchange student when I was fifteen years old and I went to study for a year in Columbus, Ohio. So I've learned the culture within North America of how they celebrate things and the day-to-day things. Especially Sonora, Baja california, Chihuahua and all those states. The weather is very warm, it's very hot because it's a desert, so sometimes temperatures can reach temperatures of above forty degrees Celsius. You wake up early, you work most of the morning, then you quit around one or two and you take the siesta or a nap then you sleep for a little bit and you wake up until 5, because then by then the sun passed so the temperature has dropped, and we don't sit with sombrero right below a saguaro, we don't do that now. That was back many years. That's an enormous part of Mexico. However, Center of Mexico, the weather's so nice all the time. You don't have those inconveniences. A typical day in Mexico City, working hours would be from 9 in the morning till 8 o'clock the night 9 in the morning until 8 o'clock. Not in Mexico, like in the center part of Mexico you are expected to work, not regular hours you are not paid by the hour you are paid salary. So it's different, and you leave until you finish tasks or work you have to do. Traffic wise, Mexico city it's one of the most dense populations in the world. So traffic takes a long time to get from one point to the other. So in my case, when I used to work in Mexico city, it would take me an hour and a half to get from my house to work. Another hour and a half from work to the house, back to the house, so you lose three hours of your day, which is just driving straight, and you're actually not that far. I was only about ten to twelve km away from my home to the actual place alone because the traffic was bad. And to be honest, about the south of Mexico, where you see a lot more, not the Aztecs side of Mexico. More of the Mayans, which have all the pyramids like all that of the forest, the beautiful Caribbean sea and stuff like that is a different lifestyle completely compared to the center of Mexico and the North of Mexico. My day-to-day here’s pretty awesome. Get here at eight thirty am and I'm only half an hour away from work, although I'm almost 20 kilometres away. You have your one hour lunch twelve to one and then you're off at five. and there's no real expectations. Particularly, in my job, there's no expectation of you staying, extra hours unless it is completely necessary, working on a project or something that you need to deliver in the following day. Then yeah, of course, but you're not expected to do more than what you have to do during today. I think it's more laid back here in Canada. Compared to the pressure that you may feel working in Latin America. In countries, specifically Mexico, because that's my experience. I don't think it's much different South of Mexico. I think, is very similar to the stories I've heard from my friends.
Emily; How do you celebrate your heritage?
Jaime; Well, now that I live here, mostly when there's an event organised by the embassy celebrating some kind of holiday or festive day for Mexico. In terms of me doing specifically things that I would normally do, I would go back to Mexico or where I was born. I think more would have to do more with cooking. There's always tortillas at my house. There's always avocados in my house. You know, there are certain things like spicy sauces, like real spice. Another 1 you find here at the grocery store. Like I try to make my own and bring my own spices and chillies from Mexico to make my own salsas and stuff like any of those, even when they say spicy here, maybe that vietnamese cuisine. Similar to some Indians but it's not the same spice, and I think that's a way of celebrating or just keeping in touch with that part of your world back then. Because other than that, once you're here you’ll rarely find anything like on the tv or anywhere else where they would be doing anything. That has to do with where you came from, especially Mexico. I don't know, for other cultures it's different, but in terms of Mexico unless the embassy or consulate is doing some kind of celebration and we get together with other people that go and celebrate that. I think at home it would have to be celebrating my heritage and has to do more with that cooking. The grocery part.
Emily; What are some values that you hold most dear as a member of the Latino American community?
Jaime; Specifically in my case I would say the family values. I grew up in a religious, I wouldn't say strict, but I would say yeah, religious and strong sense of respect for other people, like my elders. Yeah, I tried to convey that to my daughters to always be like that. Always say, please, thank you. Respect other people, especially those older than you. Make sure that at least you eat together once a day, whether it's during breakfast time or dinner. You know, have that time to spend with the family. I find this more strict. I was raised more strictly as it's also, my friends and other cousins and my brother and we were all raised very strict. You don't raise your voice to your parents, you listen when the first instruction they give you is not, it's not I will do it later that doesn't work. It's only one time, and you do it specific, like at that moment, otherwise you would have been in trouble. That kind of culture and I believe that's how my parents were raised too, so I'd see the same with like. I still keep in touch with all my friends from Mexico and I think they're the way they were raised. It's pretty similar to mine. We all have very similar backgrounds and values and habits.
Alida; What would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people in Canada or just whoever is going to look at this website to know?
Jaime; About me, I'm a very adaptable person, because of the way I was raised and the fact that I was able to leave the house from an early age. I was fifteen like I mentioned. I went to study for one year as an exchange student. I lived with people that I never met that I didn't speak the language. Which one hundred percent, even though I spoke English a little because of the closeness of my hometown in the United states. Yeah, we used to go there when I was little and it was a very common school to teach English, but that opened the door for me. To always think about adapting to whatever environment you're in. I think that helped me a lot while I was there in Ohio for a year. Then when I came back, I came with a different view, whereas I wanted to work and go to school at the same time then. As soon as they finished high school I wanted to leave the house, so I went to Mexico city to live on my own. I only had one cousin living there, no family, no friends and I started from scratch there. Went to school, made friends and the first opportunity I had to move. I consider myself very lucky. That ended after finishing university working for a Canadian company, and so when I got the job offer after three years of working. The first thing I thought was yeah, I don't have a problem adapting to Canada. I lived in the United states. Yeah, it's already, won't be that different, but it is anyway, especially the weather. That's something that there's a lot of meanings. There's a lot of videos, when Latin Americans and other cultures shoveling snow, a snowplow passes and you have to continue. You know what you thought you would do. Those kinds of things I think we all share as immigrants. But I think rather than complain, I see it as a fun exercise because there's nothing you can do about it. It's gonna happen, so you might as well go through it, and I adapted very well to the society here in Canada. Diversity here, that I've seen since I arrived in 2015, inclusiveness. I think most of the Latin community here, especially Mexicans. I don't know other cultures again but I think in terms of Mexicans were pretty adaptable to migrate to other places and adapt.
Alida; Back to the food traditions the question is, what food do you like? Remind yourself from Mexico and like the tradition of that kind of preparation in the groceries you pick and if it's harder to find spices, specific things in grocery stores that you wouldn't see, but there would be in Mexico?
Jaime; So I'm mostly fine with everything I need, the different grocery stores here, some have things that others don't have and when I don't find what I try to go to those Latin small grocery stores. Yeah, around Ottawa there's one in the east, another one, very close here, Mirabell. So in terms of what I look like well cooking Mexican food, I think it's very easy, because all you need is corn tortillas, corn or flour tortilla. And you can make a lot of things. So from a simple quesadilla, to a taco with different things that you can put on it, but it's mostly based on tortillas. Everything has in one way or another, you're using the tortilla to push the food into your fork. So there's a lot of chiles from Mexico that you can find here, the jalapeno or serrano. Mexico when you are grocery buying for them. Terms of fruits, I would say papaya, another fruit that it's normally typically either from central America or Mexico that you find here. Mangos, avocados, obviously those things that are there most of the time, especially avocados. It is always in my house, so you make the guacamole. Not the typical guacamole you find here in any restaurant we make it a little bit different. So the cilantro, I don't remember what's called english, but that's another spicy spice that you put on most of the mexican cuisine.One thing that I do buy that I don't find here are saber powder backs that have different flavors like, for example, pineapple, orange or chop bow or miko Tamaqua, hibiscus. Those kinds of things that you won't find here. Liquor too, you can find those Mexican liquors here in Canada. Not all of them, some are very specific to Mexico. As a Mexican, you start drinking, you develop certain tastes for certain and sometimes those brands that they sell there for different liquors. You don’t find them here.
Alida; How likely would you or your family or whoever you want to show this work be to use the website that we are creating for uploading your stories, and how would you use it and like, would you suggest anything to make sure that, like we tell your story the way that you want to be told.
Jaime; My daughters will see it and don't forget where they are from, even though my second child was born here. Her real culture, I think, is given by parents. Was raised in an American house or Mexican house in a Latin way, and so I think for them not to forget where they came from. Some of the things because they take it for granted. They don't ask the question, they just like if i'm cooking, they don’t experience that process of knowing. This brings me back to memories. So hopefully this kind of interview will help them remember their background. My wife always gets excited when I get an interview. I kind of like it because of the job that I do, the work that I do. I do give a lot of presentations, conferences and interviews. I'm invited to the podcast, I don't do podcasts.
Alida; Any comments or concerns that you want to just ask us or anything?
Jaime; No, I don't have any concerns at all. I think it’s good to be reminded where you are from where you are from and relive those moments when you talk about them. I do wish there was a Latin American community, or neighborhoods more identifiable that would be one thing I think a lot of culture have their own and specifically in Ottawa we are missing that part even though we do get together.

Original Format

In person