Strange (But Charming… Sometimes) Things in Mexico
There’s always something different about another country (let alone your own) which gets your attention usually wondering why it exists or why it is allowed to continue. Here are some that have caught my attention in Oaxaca State, Mexico…
Unfinished buildings are everywhere. Businesses as well as private homes. You see rebar coming out of the tops of the buildings. Sometimes they are decorated with bottles, but usually they just stand on their own. Most of the buildings are built with poured concrete and bricks/blocks. The verticle rebar is almost always cut longer than needed so that it conitinues beyond the roof sometimes more than a couple of meters in length. I have gotten multiple stories about why this is done, but the story that seems to be consistently told is that you don’t have to start paying taxes on the building until it is completed so they are engineered to never be completed. You can occupy an unfinished building!
Stucco is an amazing cover for questionable masonry. I have seen better masonry work on outdoor barbeques in the States than I see regularly here on load-bearing walls. Maybe we take things a bit too far with strength of walls, but then again earthquakes cause problems for shoddy masonry. I’m in a very nice small apartment building, but I now know what the walls probably look like behind the very nice stucco sheath – like crap! Varying amounts of mortar, lots of gaps and crooked bricks. I saw the same thing in Africa on huge buildings (maybe I will see it in Mexico City?) yet the completed portions of those buildings looked fantastic.
Try using a 100, 200 or, God forbid, a 500 peso note. That’s less than $10, $20 and $50, respectfully. Small amounts of change seem impossible with many businesses. I have used a 20 peso note ($2 equivalent) for a five peso purchase and they had to get the change from a neighboring business. You have to work at collecting the change and then it seems to disappear quickly. I even tried to use a 200 peso note at the post office and received a big frown. The worst part is that the ATMs always spit out the 200 peso notes and often give you the dreaded 500s.
Life can be loud here. The dogs and roosters make enough noise (see below), but the worst is all the bad music played extremely loud through horrible sound systems. Lots of static doesn’t seem to bother anyone. Loud music from a local bar at 4:30 in the morning… no problemo. A lot of the music is what I (country music hater) would equate to Mexico’s version of country music. There is a lot of great music in Mexico, but it seems to be played more quietly… go figure!
Speaking of loud noises, automobiles and trucks are rigged with speakers that blare advertisements. They drive around neighborhoods starting around 7:00 AM. The trucks are usually advertising whatever they are selling (i.e. propane gas) and the cars are paid to advertise for other companies or events. Some of the jingles are quite funny. It’s all kind of like the Good Humor truck.
People swim with their clothes on. I’m not sure what this is all about, but the beach in town has a lot of locals swimming on the weekend days with t-shirts and shorts on. Speculation has focused on modesty and not enough money for swimsuits, but a wet white t-shirt is not modest and it doesn’t cost anything to remove it.
Bars, Bars, Bars are everywhere. Have a house by the road or maybe even just a shack? Open a bar. If there are any rules about operating bars, they are certainly minimal. There are bars that I walk by each day which I never even noticed until I saw them shutting down one morning when I was out just before sunrise. It was pointed out to me that the ones with curtains over the front doors probably have more going on inside than just alcohol (read: chicas).
Protesters shooting bottle rockets at well-armed police is an interesting sight. I don’t think I would try that against American police or National Guard. But then again, I have never personally witnessed the antics of anarchists such as the ones that show up at G8 meetings. Maybe this is “normal”?
OK, I admit I have issues with extremly loud sound/noise, but the fireworks here are incredibly loud. One was launched one night at the festival on the beach below me after I had fallen asleep that shook my building. I had to peel myself off the ceiling. Speaking of loud sounds, a bar (!) 300 meters from my place is showing a very important football game (they’re all IMPORTANT in Latin America) right now and the volume on my veranda is the volume that I would have it on my indoor TV. I’m 300 meters from it!!!! When the viewers cheer, I jump wondering if they are in my place.
TVs in the bars… nothing compared to the TVs in the restaurants. First, of course, they are loud – REALLY LOUD! They are usually tuned to soap operas. I don’t have a TV and I only have a small grasp on the culture, but I get the sense that there are a lot of people addicted to soap operas. The place can come to a halt when something happens with everyone staring at the boob tube. Most of the things I am listing as strange are really charming, but this one is a bit too creepy. Soap operas morning, afternoon and evening…
Dogs are everywhere followed by roosters. The roosters are not too visible, but since they seem to have incorrect notions about sunrise you sure do notice them at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 and 5:00 AM. The dogs are very visible. Sometimes too visible. Dogs at the restaurants, dogs on the streets, dogs mounting other dogs and dogs on their final legs. They seem to be pretty friendly, but you have to keep an eye out for them. Not a good place for one with a fear of dogs or maybe it is the perfect place to get past that fear or stay holed up somewhere the whole time you are here. When one dog starts barking, the whole neighborhood is woofing. There is a dachshund here literally representing the underdogs of the world when he tries to mate with meter high dogs. Go Dachshund!
Mexico recently had a presidential election that is suppose to culminate in an inauguration tomorrow. Lots of protesting about the president-elect stealing the election through fraudulent means. Without getting into the politics there is an interesting thing about the election. The votes were tabulated using a new federal electronic system which has computers/software supplied by the president-elect’s brother-in-law. That’s more of a conflict of interest than Neil Bush’s company supplying No Children Left Behind software. I bet Neil is a consultant for them…
Tags: Central America, Mexico, North America, Travel
vagabondrick
I saw buildings the same way all over South America – particularly in Chili – and got the same answer about no taxes and moving in before completion. Wonder how long it takes to ever add the second story?
Marion