noviembre: Ring Ring goes the bell

I am learning that Mexico doesn’t function much with any sort of schedule or strict time code. The people show up consistently about thirty minutes late to any sort of commitment. The rutas come and go as their vehicles will take them without any semblance of a schedule. The mail carriers bring cards and packages whenever they get around to it, sometimes delivering a month’s worth of letters on one day. And even the garbage truck and purified water folks seem to run on their own clock.

Ring Ring goes the bell. We have “garbage pick-up days” in the US – that is to say that the garbage truck comes every Tuesday morning or whatever. Well, not so much here. The garbage truck comes. And when it comes, it rings the bell and Marce starts running around the house to collect the bags of garbage and bring it out to the corner as quickly as she can, always worried that the truck will leave before she makes it there.

It is a chaotic system, but it works. And it is funny that the people understand the chaos and live happily with it. Without doubt, if anyone tried to implement “garbage pick-up days” there would dissent and perhaps even a small rebellion. To add structure means also relearning the way to live. As I have learned in almost every way imaginable, my “way” is not right nor is it wrong, it is just different. What I know from the US wouldn’t work here and what they know here wouldn’t work there. Trust me, I still show up on time to meet Mexican friends and find myself waiting. I can’t change a country but I am learning to change myself and my expectations to fit this country.