Earlier this year, my mother visited Mazatlán. She telephoned to tell me that she was enjoying the visit, but she had witnessed several tourists taking nasty spills on the sidewalk. She had even taken a tumble herself.
That is not an original complaint -- at least, from Canadians and Americans. (I suspect less so from European visitors.) We are accustomed to walking along even-planed concrete sidewalks -- with a few well-meaning cuts for the disabled. Our sidewalks are public rights-of-way, and we expect them to be as easy to traverse as a freeway in Manitoba.
With my mother's experience in mind, I took several photographs of "sidewalks" in Melaque this past July.
I did not see any tourists take tumbles in Melaque. That may be because there are not a lot of Canadian and American tourists there. It is a resort town -- but a resort for Mexicans. They tend to be far more vigilant about hazards.
The other reason may be that the Melaque hazards are so obvious.
But why do the hazards exist?
My friend Juan Alvarez tells me that I am starting from a false premise. The concrete in front of most businesses and homes are not a public right-of-way. In colonial towns, most homes are built right up to the street; the front door opens onto what would have been the thoroughfare. Most towns have developed off-sets, but the property still belongs to the owner.
In effect, the "sidewalk" is the equivalent of a patio or a front porch. It is not unusual for the whole family to be sitting out on the sidewalk with a full array of living room furniture. (I did not take a photograph to illustrate that point. I would have felt like an intruder in a home.)
Another factor cannot go unmentioned: the blessed rarity of liability suits. Trial lawyers in Mexico are as mercifully rare as an original thought in Congress.
The best advice I can give to visitor and resident alike is exactly what our mothers told us when we were children: Watch where you're walking.
That is not an original complaint -- at least, from Canadians and Americans. (I suspect less so from European visitors.) We are accustomed to walking along even-planed concrete sidewalks -- with a few well-meaning cuts for the disabled. Our sidewalks are public rights-of-way, and we expect them to be as easy to traverse as a freeway in Manitoba.
With my mother's experience in mind, I took several photographs of "sidewalks" in Melaque this past July.
I did not see any tourists take tumbles in Melaque. That may be because there are not a lot of Canadian and American tourists there. It is a resort town -- but a resort for Mexicans. They tend to be far more vigilant about hazards.
The other reason may be that the Melaque hazards are so obvious.
But why do the hazards exist?
My friend Juan Alvarez tells me that I am starting from a false premise. The concrete in front of most businesses and homes are not a public right-of-way. In colonial towns, most homes are built right up to the street; the front door opens onto what would have been the thoroughfare. Most towns have developed off-sets, but the property still belongs to the owner.
In effect, the "sidewalk" is the equivalent of a patio or a front porch. It is not unusual for the whole family to be sitting out on the sidewalk with a full array of living room furniture. (I did not take a photograph to illustrate that point. I would have felt like an intruder in a home.)
Another factor cannot go unmentioned: the blessed rarity of liability suits. Trial lawyers in Mexico are as mercifully rare as an original thought in Congress.
The best advice I can give to visitor and resident alike is exactly what our mothers told us when we were children: Watch where you're walking.
