“Trafficking” in Mexico

We have been in San Miguel de Allende now for a little over a week. Enough time to begin to feel and absorb the differences between life here and back in the US where we spent the last four months. So far, as I remembered it did, it feels great.

The pace is slower and life is simpler for the most part, yet of course with some unique challenges of it’s own. Preparing to cook an evening’s meal here doesn’t mean getting in the car and fighting traffic congestion, aggressive drivers and “road rage creep” to get across town to the generic grocery chain bursting with processed foods. Here you are probably going to toss a bottle of water in your backpack and you’re going to walk. If your recipe includes vegetables, herbs, a grain, cheese, and maybe a nice bottle of wine to share you’re probably walking to four or five different tiendas.

The good news is that all of them without fail are in your general neighborhood. That means getting in some steps. It means starting to knock off some US road bloat. It means getting to once again practice my Spanish with the same familiar smiling faces at our favorite shops. It means supporting local businesses and farms instead of Monsanto and GMO factory production. It’s great exercise for the body and a great exercise for the soul and the planet.

We drove the trusty Blazer into Mexico so of course we have a car here. We don’t take it out often. We have in fact taken it out once since we arrived. That was to do our first “stock up run” for staples (after all, who wants to stuff 24 rolls of toilet paper in a backpack?) at the major local grocery store/Safeway equivilent,  aptly named “Mega”.

San Miguel is a town of about 125,000 people without a single traffic light. Many streets are one way cobblestone with space for parked cars at the curb (or not) and one traffic lane. Few intersections even sport a stop sign. Many people here don’t own cars but the heart of the city is still full of cars, buses, small commercial vehicles, and tourists from nearby cities. In the US that logistic scenario would be a nightmare for everyone but the wreckers and auto-body shops.

Given that, when we started out for Mega on a Saturday I started to think it was a mistake. The traffic was thick and moved pretty slowly and it FELT chaotic. I was anxious and felt impatient…..until I realized I was holding onto the traffic mindset from a different place. I expected to be honked at. I expected to be cut off (or flipped off).  It never happened. In reality I didn’t hear a horn blast and everyone took their turns at intersections. We got there and back just fine.

In seven months here last year. I rarely heard a horn and never saw a fender bender. Getting around may look chaotic on the surface but it has it’s own congenial and communal order. Once you let go of those old expectations and accept and join the flow you become a beat in the gentle rhythm of San Miguel.

The one exception is the vehicular merry-go-round that are the handful of glorietas, where incoming highways intersect the road that rings the outer circle of town. The pattern of drivers hopping on and off is always an adventure. But it is Mexico after all, and along with it’s charm it has it’s own unique challenges.

 

Randy.