Mexico, Problem-Solving, Endurance

The Vocabulary of Bearing It

Aguantar means to bear. The Diccionario del español de México gives, among its senses, to tolerate with patience someone who exasperates, as in aguantar al jefe, to put up with the boss. Aguantar vara or aguantar mecha means “soportar con tranquilidad, buen ánimo o entereza situaciones difíciles, adversas, molestas” (to bear difficult, adverse or annoying situations calmly, in good spirits or with fortitude).

In 2019, the linguist Carmen Teresa Fajardo Rojas of El Colegio de México studied the variants aguantar bala, aguantar mecha and aguantar vara in the journal Lingüística Mexicana. She found that aguantar vara is the most vital of the variants that carry this meaning.

Tree of Hope

In 1944, Frida Kahlo painted La columna rota, The Broken Column. Her chest is split open to show a crumbling spinal column. The painting is in the Dolores Olmedo Patiño collection. (Video in Spanish.)

In 1946, Kahlo traveled to New York for a spinal fusion. Afterward she painted a double self-portrait. One of the two figures holds a banner that reads Árbol de la esperanza, mantente firme, “Tree of hope, stand firm.” The words of the banner serve as the painting’s title.

The Trackers of El Fuerte

In 2014, Mirna Nereida Medina Quiñónez began to search for her missing son, Roberto Corrales. In El Fuerte, Sinaloa, she led a group of searchers called Las Rastreadoras, the trackers. In September 2016, La Jornada reported that the group had grown from about 30 people to almost 300, and that it had found about 60 bodies in at least 50 graves. (Video in Spanish.)

She said: “Me hice rastreadora porque el gobierno no investiga y porque aquí la policía está metida en la mayoría de los casos” (I became a tracker because the government does not investigate, and because here the police are involved in most cases).

In April 2026, Uno TV reported that more than 200 search collectives were registered in 2024. Andrea Horcasitas of the Universidad Iberoamericana called it “una cifra conservadora” (a conservative figure).

Sayings for Hard Times

Al mal tiempo, buena cara. “To bad weather, a good face.”

No hay mal que por bien no venga. “There is no misfortune that does not bring some good.”

Dios aprieta, pero no ahorca. “God squeezes, but he does not strangle.”

Como lo que el viento a Juárez. “Like what the wind did to Juárez.” It is said of something that has no effect on a person.

Don Goyo

The people of Santiago Xalitzintla, San Pedro Benito Juárez and Tochimilco call the Popocatépetl volcano Don Goyo. Every March 12 they celebrate what AFP calls his birthday.

Antonio Analco, the tiempero of Xalitzintla, told N+: “estamos acostumbrados a vivir con él de años, de tiempo” (we have been used to living with him for years, for a long time).

A resident, Juana Pérez, said: “Estamos en las manos del Señor, si nos va a llevar, nos va a llevar, y si no, pues qué vamos a hacer” (We are in the Lord’s hands. If he is going to take us, he will take us, and if not, well, what are we going to do).

Sing and Do Not Cry

Quirino Mendoza y Cortés composed Cielito lindo in 1882. Its chorus says: “Ay, ay, ay, ay, canta y no llores” (sing and do not cry). Excélsior notes that its first verse is very similar to an old Andalusian song.

Mexican fans sing it at sporting events. Vanguardia called it the most representative song of Mexico at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. According to Por Esto!, the phrase represents for many people “una forma de enfrentar las dificultades con optimismo” (a way to face difficulties with optimism).

No Way Around It

Ni modo is one of the most common expressions in Mexican Spanish. It means roughly “no way around it” or “oh well.” The dictionary of the Spanish Academy marks it as colloquial and Mexican. It is used “to indicate that something no longer has a remedy.”

People say it when a bus is missed, a deal falls through or a plan fails, and the conversation moves on.