Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl00252)

This is off-topic, but does relate to an occult mystery.  I'm
about to get my plane tickets for this year's vacation, which
will be my first trip to the Dominican Republic.  As I brush up
on Spanish, am wondering if the same weird phenomenon will
occur as has popped up in France, England, India and Mexico.

First, for the great majority of you who've never seen me, I'm
an ordinary looking middle-aged white guy, with dark hair and
eyes but not black-- and rather pale sking.  Never, in over 40
years of living in the southern US, has anyone ever taken me
for anything but a local yokel.  And yet-- there is something
weird and unnerving about the way I pass for a local when I go
somewhere else.

In France, it was definitely the rule rather than the exception
for people to take me for a Frenchman.  In Paris, little old
ladies would ask for directions; in Pondicherry a young
Frenchman hailed me from across the road, speaking in French
and asking directions; etc. etc.  The accent was a dead
giveaway, but otherwise on looks alone, I "passed"
continually.  Indeed, felt that I blended in on the street more
than in the US.

That's not so strange, given the similarity of coloring.  But
more strange is that I'm apparently just dark enough to confuse
even Mexicans and Indians.  Remember an experience in
Guadalajara of being taken for local and having a kid ask
me directions.  Even in Bombay, when I was out with a group of
obvious foreigners (one black, one tall and fair, one very
English-complected) an Indian came over to our table and asked
me "You're not Indian, are you?"  The range of Indians' looks
is wider than most Americans would think, but this was still a shock.  Anyway,
same thing in London-- a fairly steady stream of people taking
me for a local and asking directions.

As I head off to Santo Domingo, I'll be wondering whether or
not I can "pass" there.  Here are some theories about why this
happens so consistently:
1) It happens to everyone, and I just notice it cause it's me.
2) There's something peculiarly protean about my appearance, so
that wherever I go people think I'm one of them.  (Well, not in
Ecuador, or Italy, or Germany.)
3) It's more an inner thing.  People pick up vibes from the way
one walks down the street, and I apparently look like I know
where I'm going and feel like I belong there.  Maybe there's
some unconscious mimicry involved.

Has anyone else had this kind of experience, or known anyone
who does?  One thing that's particularly odd is that the places
this happens most are also the places where I have the
strongest sense of deja vu.