Seguro...?

Okay! Back!

Whew, what a weekend!!!! I'm still trying to get used to the social schedule here...people don't go out until around 12 am and no one starts dancing until about 12:30 or 1...! Que loco!

To completely switch gears...I knew this Mexican man in the U.S. who told me there's no welfare in Mexico...at the time I found it hard to believe. After living here for just a week, let me tell you that I no longer question the validity of his words. He described his life in Mexico as a place where you make it because you have to...there's nothing to catch you if you slip. Looking back on that conversation, I'm finding more truth in it every day...especially in my experiences. Just visiting the neighborhood that VAMOS serves was an eye-opening experience. There's obviously nothing to catch these people or else they wouldn't be living in aluminum lean-tos that most Americans would describe as unpleasant outhouses. This is not a "safe" country...and I don't mean that in the sense that I'm expecting to be mugged around every corner...I mean this is a place far removed from my culture in the U.S. I feel like in America, there is a proper place for everything and a very proper way to act in every situation. Americans, at least in my experience, adhere more or less to speed limit signs and generally view the police as trustworthy. Here I feel like for many people there is no safety net...I'm thinking of the story of Lupe's son in Mexican Lives. He was driving around with his friend in a pick-up truck when the police pulled him over and ticketed him for no apparent reason. When he couldn't pay the fine, they threw him in jail and his mother had to scrap together the funds to get him out. Apparently it was (is?) a common practice in Mexico for the police to pull people over and try to get their victims to pay them off so they won't end up in Jorge's situation. As a read that story, I found it hard to believe...but yet, there it is. There is no safety net here...no certainty that life will continue in any kind of sensible order.