1st Anniversary

Well, it's been a year since we moved here. I arrived on the 15th and Carole on the 20th. We have adjusted to the pace and many of the "Mexican" way of doing things. Yes, things here are in many ways are much less inefficient than NOB (north of the border). They don't stress out, you can't stress out AND you can not insult them for the differences, as many "Superior" expats from NOB are inclined to do. I am still stunned by stories of the hubris exhibited by some Americans and Canadians expats.

A couple of days ago as I was on the road just leaving home, and which runs near the lake, three young horses came running out of a yard onto the road. They turned in the direction in which I was heading with me trailing behind them. They were galloping at a medium pace with me behind them and driving carefully. I tapped my horn a few times and they were undeterred, galloping down the road. A little mongrel dog, about 10 lbs worth, came charging from his yard to the side of the road and  barked at the horses as if to say, "Get out of the road stupid, before you get hit by a car, even dogs know better than to run down the center of the lane, especially with a car following you!" It worked! The horses pulled over onto the right side of the road and waited for three cars now to pass them before getting back on the road and crossing it.

Soriana's is a major supermarket chain here in Mexico and constantly does battle with Wal-Mart. The market here in Chapala is large and air conditioned. If it were in Phoenix, it would look like an older Basha's, EXCEPT, for the fish/seafood smell. On a good day it is objectionable and tolerable. On a bad day you don't even want to linger in the meat market browsing the steaks. IT IS BAD! How does Soriana's not notice? How can anyone work the seafood counter? WHO would buy seafood there!? We try to not to patronize Wal-Mart anymore than we have to. Soriana's frequently enough runs out of somethings on its shelves. It could be days before the next shipment comes in. But then, this is true of Mexican  retailing in general. Sometimes the products offered or not don't make sense. We like whole wheat honey Cheerios by General Mills. They would have about 20 boxes on the shelf and run out quickly. It might be a week before more came in. They discontinued carrying that. They then carried a Soriana brand of the same thing. It was a good product. They ran out of that. They then carried Nestle's brand of four grain honey coated Cheerios. I didn't like them as much, but I bought them. They would run out of those quickly. Now they don't carry any Cheerios cereal at all. I don't get it! Cheerios sells. Stock more! But no, this is Mexico. I buy them at another small grocery store that caters to gringos, at a greater price. He runs out, he buys more. He runs out. He buys more. He makes money. There it is. In so many similar and small ways it's as if Mexicans are afraid of being successful or of making too much money and being thought of as rich. I see very very few power tools in residential construction and remodeling. I see a lot of back breaking manual work being done here. Mexicans are not lazy. Most want their own small business of some kind and work to get them. Many fail, as in the US. but I'm not sure how many of them get another chance.

The traffic lights frequently have one of the lights out. Sometimes the red light. Sometimes the green light. Sometimes all the lights. There are only two signal lights at an intersection here, one for each direction.  Of course there aren't many signal lights to begin with. So, if your signal is totally out, you check and see which traffic is moving, or not, as you appraoch the signal. They must buy the cheapest light bulbs on the planet, probably from China. No, actually, very few things are imported from China into Mexico. China is on Mexico's persona non grata list, because has taken jobs away from Mexico  and Mexico clobbers them with tariffs. If I buy something from the US, say a book from Amazon, the import duties to me to receive it is between 50 to 75%. Ouch. However, if I buy something made in China and have it shipped to me in Mexico, the tariff is 433% of the purchase price!!! Wal-Mart Mexico of course knows this and nothing in its stores is imported from China. The products are made in Mexico. Colgate and Nestles products are HUGE foreign brands in Mexico, as is Coca-Cola. Just as an aside, on Mexico's stock market an investor can buy stock in Wal-Mart Mexico, Nestles Mexico and Femsa, the huge distributor for Coca-Cola in all of Mexico. These are all divisions of the parent companies.

It's late, it's 1:20 am CST and my eyes are starting to droop.

Buenas Noches