What Could Go Wrong?

Vendors who cannot afford a stall are welcome
spread their wares out on the floor.

For all of you who feel we have too many safety rules in the U.S., I invite you to visit Mexico, where people are unencumbered by such things. Let's start with food safety. We previously introduced you to our chicken vendor at the neighborhood mercado. None of the meat vendors use gloves as they spend the day butchering, slicing, and packaging raw meat. They do not use gloves or wash their hands when they stop chopping for a minute to take your money. They do not wear gloves or wash their hands when they give you your change, sometimes with a little tendon attached to the peso.

I'm not sure what category this would fall under...I've seen bikes used for several purposes here, but this is my favorite. We are just outside one of the biggest and busiest of the mercados, with tons of people knocking into each other as they navigate the narrow sidewalks. This man is in the middle of it all, using a stationary-type bike to sharpen knives.

Finally, what do you do when an established tree dies and you need to remove it? You remove it, of course, along with all the dirt. That's it. Then you leave a big, gaping hole in the middle of a popular pedestrian walkway. After a few days someone put a rock on one edge to alert people. Good thinking.

You see this a lot, too. The great thing about these unexpected
holes in the sidewalk is that they double as garbage receptables.