On the way up from Morelia to Toluca (a detour, as you recall), we passed mile after mile of fields covered in plastic staked up as rooves over--apparently--the entire U.S. crop of Christmas poinsettias. Sure enough, they grow a lot here, both red and white. And they grow wild, too.
As the bus whizzed by, I noticed a restaurant in some little berg called "El Ilegal".-...the Illegal. Now, that's a lovely bit of irony in a state, Michoacan, where a huge proportion of their men head north to find work in the U.S. There are complete towns where only women, kids, and old men are left. Working-aged guys are gone to "El Norte." Now, with the U.S. economic crisis and less work up there, they are coming home in droves. Hence, "El Ilegal." Bittersweet, I suppose. No one wants to be illegal. But, of course, no one wants to leave their family without food.
The Mexican alarm clock
It's well know that many Latin-Americans have a completely different notion of time that we Northerns. It's not so precise. Lying in bed in Toluca the other morning, I listened to the church bells ringing out their message, "get out of bed and go to work." It wasn't a Sunday. At 6 a.m., out chimed six sonorous tones. Got it. It's six o'clock. I'm retired, so I don't have to get out of bed. Then, at 6:15, a short 4-tone sequence. A chorus of dogs harmonizes. Followed at 6:30 by an 8-note sequence building on the first, and then at 6:45 by a 12-note sequence, including the two earlier patterns. Got it. This is the Mexican alarm clock....with a built in snooze alarm! It{s a public service. No wonder hardly anyone wears a watch around here.
