Rules y Leyes

Rules and Regulations.

No Motorcycles, Bikes and
 Bears are OK?

Yes, there are probably millions of laws on the books in Mexico, but a lot of them are not followed--and sometimes they are. We’re not sure why...or why not. Everything from traffic safety to food and restaurant inspections to dog safety, Mexico probably has laws which are very similar to the U.S. (I haven’t researched this fully because I’m not a lawyer). I’ve just pointed out the most obvious.

Restaurants:

A lot of restaurants allow dogs to roam within the doors. If you ask nice enough, some will even allow the dogs to sit near the table. And then some are clearly labeled “Pet Friendly” where dogs are welcomed. They even provide water dishes, fake grass and dirt for the dogs to roam. I’ve never seen any other animals than dogs here.Some of these places are outside, but what a great idea! This makes a lot of sense; what harm does my dog pose at a Helado (ice cream) store?

Most restaurants are very clean and most have the chef use gloves to handle germ-laden money. You just have to get used to bees buzzing around a cinnamon bun (proving it’s sweet) or flys around meat cooked on a large, open grill.

Cars:

When we Uber, invariably the driver will drive looking at his cell phone for directions. Some have even answered the phone while driving, and some have texted at a red light or in traffic. Wow. Yes, we could complain to Uber but this is part of what happens here. The laws are on the books, but ignored.

Bus Driver reads the paper at
a red light

On the city bus, my driver has done everything from read the paper at stop lights, blared loud music and had fascinating conversation (in Espanol) with passengers. Last week, he was on his cell phone in his left hand and driving the bus in the other (I didn’t care because he was too busy to take my 8 ½ pesos fare). It’s normal to eat on the bus.And, yes,, there are bus stops, but if you just put out your hand (like hailing a taxi), they might stop. Or not. One hot day, my bus passed me by two times before finally stopping.

The running joke is that the signs that say “Alto” or Stop are merely suggestions. I don’t think I have been in one car which has stopped at these signs. But they do stop at red lights.

Car Seats:

Child in front seat (yes, I had to
blur the photo to protect identities)

Another child in front seat (blurred faces)

If you stand at an intersection long enough, you will find a car with a small child in the passenger seat. Several times, the child was on the lap of the mother--in the passenger seat. Yes, there is a law about car seats, but I think there is a feeling that nothing will ever happen to the children. Or they want to be close to their child, so they hold them.

Construction:

Worker pours water on stones from a 2-liter Coca Cola bottle

Dangerous

I love this. Workmen, in regular street clothes, were pouring water water from a 2-liter Coca-Cola bottle onto some kind of stone cutter as they were digging up a city street. No safety goggles. No special equipment. Just water and a jug.

When a building starts to buckle or crack on the outside, workers take a day or so to patch some of the holes, then carefully paint it a beautiful color. So, that old, crumbling building looks brand new. It’s like spray painting an old, beat-up car; it looks good on the outside, but it might not run. No inspection department here (that I know of). Remember, a lot of these building are made of cement, with some steel reinforcement. Maybe bricks.

Precarious--on his tippie toes

On buildings, I haven’t seen any safety nets or tethers. The men just climb up, and start hammering away. A favorite photo is a man painting something on the top of a 15-foot scaffolding, perched on top of only wooden planks, standing on an old paint bucket, and on his toes. He could have fallen and died. This is the definition of: precarious.

Drinking: It’s common for minors to sit down at a restaurant and be served a beer. The drinking age here is 18, and even Frommer’s says that is not enforced. Everyone just seems to look the other way when minors are served. And apparently there is no “open container” law here, so you can drink alcohol in the passenger seat.

There seems to be a macho or laissez faire attitude in this country. I’m not quite sure which one. But it is definitely different than the United States, where OSHA and the FDA would quickly shut down the entire project or restaurant. Instead, Mexicans keep building. I admire it, it's refreshing, and am in wonder of it.