Michoacan: Ten Truths

My brief journey to Michoacan, Mexico is almost done. Here are ten ideas I take home with me.

1.   Mexican children, like children all over the world, can be completely delightful or totally annoying. But they are more often delightful than annoying.

2.   Dogs in town centers always look hungry.

3.   The people don't look hungry. Like Americans, most of them seem far from hungry.

4.   The exception to number 3 is certain wizened, ancient women, who trawl outside tables at restaurants, hoping to scrounge coins. (I hope that America never abandons social security. Otherwise, some of our wizened ancients will have to live on scrounged coins.)

5.   You see more on foot than from a bus. You see more from a bus than from a taxi.

6.   It's good to tip, but it's bad to tip too much. I tip the standard American 15% at restaurants. I believe this is extravegant by Mexican standards. I returned to a restaurant where I had eaten before, and the young waiter's new attitude, in some indefinable way, made me uncomfortable. After the meal, I paid with a 200 peso note. The young waiter gave me change as if I had paid with a 100 peso note. I had to "remind" him that I had paid with a 200 peso note. Maybe I'm paranoid.

7.   Knowing some Spanish is highly useful in Mexico, as it is in most Hispanic countries that I've visited. Nobody at the (relatively) upscale hotel I'm staying in speaks any English, and I've found that often to be the case. But people surprise you, like a small-town taxi driver, or a bread vendor on a bicycle, who speak (some) English.

8.  Newspapers and other news media made me uneasy about traveling to Mexico, and Michoacan, with reports of violence, kidnappings, and beheadings. I have had no problems and have never felt in danger here.

9.   For me, it's harder to adjust to the time change than to the fact that communication is labored. The language tangle is a challenge and an adventure.

10.   The artisan-copper trade in Santa Clara del Cobre is ailing. Compared to a few years ago, I saw almost no foreign tourists this time. The manufacturer and shop that I traded with before - a substantial business - is gone. And after I showed interest in a piece at one shop or another, and decided not to buy, the sales person looked downcast, almost desperate. When I finally bought a piece, that purchase brought visible joy to my vendor. Times are hard here.