Mexico, Processes, Resourcefulness

The Stone on His Back

On September 28, 1810, the insurgents attacked the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato, where royalist troops had taken shelter. According to the traditional account, a former miner known as El Pípila “cargó encima de su espalda una gran roca como escudo” (carried a large stone on his back as a shield) against the bullets. He set fire to the door and waited until it gave way. (Video in Spanish.)

The story is recorded in Carlos María de Bustamante’s Cuadro Histórico, published in 1843. The historian Lucas Alamán disputed that such a man existed. Historians still disagree about whether he lived and whether the story is true.

If Aristotle Had Cooked

In her Respuesta a sor Filotea of 1691, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz recalled a prioress who believed that study was a matter for the Inquisition. “Me mandó que no estudiase” (She ordered me not to study), Sor Juana wrote. She went on studying what was around her, such as the figures that girls made with pins in a game.

“¿Qué podemos saber las mujeres sino filosofías de cocina?” (What can we women know but kitchen philosophies?), she asked. “Si Aristóteles hubiera guisado, mucho más hubiera escrito” (If Aristotle had cooked, he would have written much more).

Finding a Way

Ingeniárselas means to manage to get something done. The Diccionario del español de México of El Colegio de México gives this example: “Si no sabes cómo hacerlo, pues te las ingenias y ya, pero no vuelvas con las manos vacías” (If you do not know how to do it, then find a way, and that is that, but do not come back empty-handed).

Como Dios le da a entender, “as God gives one to understand,” means with nothing but one’s own skills and resources. The dictionary’s example: “Arreglé mi coche como Dios me dio a entender” (I fixed my car as God gave me to understand).

The Vocabulary of Getting By

Arreglárselas, to manage. The Diccionario del español de México of El Colegio de México defines it as finding a way to solve a problem “improvisando los medios o recursos que para ello se requieren” (improvising the means or resources that it requires). Salir del paso, to get out of a tight spot. The dictionary defines it as resolving a situation “a veces improvisadamente” (sometimes in an improvised way).

Áhi se va, “there it goes,” is a colloquial way of saying that something will do as it is. The dictionary’s example is Entrégalo, áhi se va, “Hand it in, it will do.” Hechizo, as an adjective, describes something made “improvisadamente, sin ajustarse a las reglas o a los procedimientos genuinos” (in an improvised way, without following the rules or the genuine procedures), as in una turbina hechiza, a makeshift turbine.

Mexican Ingenuity in the Headlines

On June 15, 2025, the newspaper El Imparcial published a story under the headline “Ingenio mexicano” about a woman who used the rain to fill the water tank on her roof. She went viral.

On May 4, 2026, the same newspaper reported that a taxi driver “se vuelve viral en redes por su ingenio mexicano” (goes viral on social media for his Mexican ingenuity) after he adapted a ventilation system with PVC pipes.

They Did Not Count on My Cunning

In Roberto Gómez Bolaños’s television comedy El Chapulín Colorado, one of the hero’s catchphrases is “¡No contaban con mi astucia!” (They did not count on my cunning!). His weapon is the chipote chillón, a squeaky toy mallet.

The show ran from 1973 to 1979. The character kept appearing in sketches until 1992.