Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Contrasts


Well, Mexico is both old and new.

This morning, as I was walking over to the Mercado (market) for breakfast, I passed the guy sweeping the streets. They're meticulous about this here, they do it daily. By hand, the traditional way. The old street sweeper guy uses a handmade broom made of thin twigs bundled together..... the kind my ex-boss used to fly around on!

Then later in the morning, I took a local bus out to the shopping center. You really don't need a car in Mexico. Public trans can take you almost anywhere. What a modern center! There is an Office Depot, a Radio Shack, a McDonalds (of course), a big multi-screen cineplex movie theater, and a very fancy "Liverpool" Department Store....clearly NOT a Spanish name. Liverpool makes Macy's look like a five-and-dime. VERY upscale and very pricey, too.

I had lunch at their open-air food court, in a Chinese place much like the U.S. chain Panda Express. I found it a little ironic to be sitting in the outskirts of San Miguel de Allende eating a super-tasty Chicken Curry. And the owner of the shop was Chinese, who spoke Spanish (not English) with a Chinese accent!

Tomorrow I'm doing an out-of-town day trip to a thermal hot spring spa. Should be fun.