In Mexico they put in speedbumps the way other countries put in mine fields. Instead of just a bump or two, you'll find yourself driving through a whole field of speedbumps. Sometimes 50 to 75 at a time. In Michigan speedbumps are kind of rare. This is probably because they don't get along well with snow plows, but of course that isn't an issue here in Mexico.

The speedbump fields we've seen are large enough that they would probably disabled a vehicle if hit at high speed. I guess that is the idea. You have to slow down or else. In some places they space the speedbumps far apart and then closer and closer together as you get to the place where they want you to slow down. It is very effective in getting people to slow down.

Some of the speedbumps we've seen are more of speed ramps. They are big and steep enough that if you hit them going fast, you'll probably go airborne. Fortunately we haven't hit any of these going fast enough to catch air, but we have had some roller coaster rides over the tops of them.

Animals don't rank as high in Mexico as they do in the US. In fact it is fairly recent for dogs to really be accepted as pets. We had a hard time trying to find someone to watch Britches (our yorkie) when we were going to Mexico City. We checked at the best vet in town. They had a kennel, but it wasn't a place we were comfortable leaving her. Most people seem to just leave their animals at home and get someone to check on them every once in awhile.

When I was reading about coming to Mexico, several people mentioned that people from the US are usually shocked at how Mexicans treat animals because animals are treated so well in the US. They also mentioned that most Mexicans are shocked at how poorly people from the US treat their children!

In Mexico the soap operas are very popular. This morning at the hotel there was a soap opera on television. I noticed that everyone of the commercials seemed to be for a course to learn English. Then in the soap opera the main character received a gift. When she opened it, it was the English course.

The whole soap opera was a mini story where a Spanish girl who designs clothes is taken advantage of by a US girl to speaks English. She learns Spanish and takes the US girl's place as the top designer.

This seems to be a pretty good marketing method for the culture down in Mexico. I've often wondered if this would be a more effective way to advertise in the US as well. Instead of just putting products in commercials, put them in the actual show content.

Mexico City isn't as crowded as we had expected. Maybe it is just the part we are in, but the roads are busy, but less so than many of the large US cities. We watched out of the hotel window today and there just didn't seem to be as much traffic as we would have expected.

Also a quick count out the window revealed that 5 out of 50 vehicles are the old style Volkswagen Beetle. When 10% of the cars on the street are bugs it really feels like you are in a Love Bug movie. In Durango there are fewer Beetles and many more Nissans. It almost seems like cars reproduce around here so one place has a bunch of VW bugs and another has a bunch of Nissan Sentras.

The US is getting ready to build a large wall between Mexico and the US in order to better control immigration and cut down on Mexicans sneaking into the country. Most of the Mexicans down here see the wall as being a slightly hostile act on the part of the US. However, some have pointed out that the Mexican government doesn't seem to want to stop their residents from sneaking into Mexico. One told me about a government meeting with the US, where every time the US representatives tried to bring up the immigration problems the Mexican representatives would just laugh about how many of their country men and women were sneaking into the US.

The Mexican government has good reason to keep the flow of Mexicans into the US. Last year the Mexicans in the US sent over 17 billion US dollars back into Mexico. That is in the same ball park as what Mexico brings in from oil each year. For the Mexican government these are people who are bringing in money to the country that the Mexican government doesn't have to take care of. Mexicans in the US aren't using any of the Mexican public services, so they cost the government nothing.

If the Mexican government can't keep their people in the country, then maybe the wall is a good idea right? I don't think so. The wall may be able to keep some people out of the country, but in the end it really isn't going to change things. The wall will only cover a particular area and there are dozens of other ways for people to sneak into the country. The industry built around sneaking Mexicans into the US stands to profit more than anyone else from the wall being built. The contractors picked to build the wall are a possible exception–they will make a very nice profit.

I think the real solution is to make it easier for Mexicans to come into the country, but slightly less desirable for them to stay. If the US was to make it easier for Mexicans to enter legally, there would be less incentive for them to try to sneak across the border. Also if they are here legally it is going to be easier to collect taxes from them because there will be a record of them being here and they won't be limited to working for employers who only pay cash.

Right now many people are concerned that there will be jobs lost to Mexicans if they are allowed in legally. However, this is only true because we've artificially raised the value of certain types of work though minimum wage. Since Mexicans can come to the US, take a job for near minimum wage and still have money left over to send back to Mexico, the minimum wage must be a lot higher than it needs to be.

If the minimum wage was lowered it would allow employers to staff positions that currently are too expensive to fill. This would open up many jobs that don't exist currently or that are handled using technology. The lowered minimum wage would make the move to the US less attractive for many Mexicans and it would achieve something of a balance. Overall a bigger workforce that is willing to work for less pay is a good thing for US businesses and could actually end up lowering prices for certain types of services which means the US dollar would be worth more.

Implementing a change like this would be difficult to plan and execute, but not impossible. Overall the United States would be better served by trying to work with the Mexicans that want to work in the US instead of literally building a wall between the two countries.

Trash CansIn the Mexico City park, I noticed that they had two types of trash cans. In the US we'd have recyclable and non-recyclable, but here they have organic and non-organic. That seems to make pretty good sense because it allows them to separate the stuff that will rot and stink from the stuff that won't rot and stink. I'm not sure exactly how they handle it differently.

One thing we've noticed in a lot of the smaller towns is a really bad odor. I'm not sure if it is from the trash or something else, but this is the cool time of the year. I imagine some of the places would be much worse during the summer.

Bug in Mexico CityIt is amazing how many old style Volkswagen Beetles are here. I think they manufactured them in Mexico until about 2003, so you can get a Bug that is less than 5 years old. Andres said that a fairly new Beetle in good shape would probably run about $4,600 (USD). I don't know if there is a legal way to bring it back to the states (unless you just keep it registered in Mexico), but it would be a lot of fun to own one.

This mural depicts a Mexican military cadet jumping from the tower of Chapultepec Castle in 1847 carrying the Mexican flag in order to prevent its capture by the US forces during the Mexican-American war. It is located on the ceiling on the main staircase up into Chapultepec Castle.

In the lower right side of the picture, you’ll see a horse carrying a U.S. flag. It is an odd feeling seeing pictures and monuments honoring heroes who defended themselves against my native country.

In 1947 President Harry Truman visited Chapultepec Castle and places a wreath on one of the monuments honoring the Niños Héroes who defended the castle after everyone else had left.

The smog hasn't been as bad as I was expecting in Mexico City. I'm told that part of the reason is that they have recently had a lot of rain and it tends to clean the air out. Several people said that when the smog is bad, you can feel a pain in your throat. I'm glad we missed the bad smog.

It seems like smoking is more common here than in the US. All the rooms have an ashtray and at restaurants all of the tables have ash trays as well. I suppose that if the air of your city is just as bad as smoking, there isn't much incentive to quit.