on the street where you drive

A lot of visitors complain about our Mexican topes. Those mounds of concrete on the street that are designed to slow down speedsters. Up north, you probably call them speed bumps.

Even though they are designed to slow down drivers, motorcycle riders, who are the prime speed demons, are undeterred by them -- simply driving around the end.

If you are not fond of these "sleeping policemen," the street to my house will not be one of your favorites. Nueva España is the main path through the business district of my part of town. And it is a busy street.

I suppose that is why at every intersection, there is a tope. If you are not driving a motorcycle, the average speed on Nueva España must not be much more that 8 miles per hour. On some days, I walk faster than the traffic flows.

If I have counted correctly, there are almost twenty topes on the street. And even though they are regularly distributed at each street corner, some people forget they are there. Chiropractors and muffler shop owners can put their children through college with the revenue from drivers who hit reality a bit too hard.

Now and then, the county (or some agency) coughs up enough pesos to paint the topes to warn divers of the obvious hump in the road. The last coat was applied in July (the sunburned zebra). Within a month, the paint had faded.

Today the painters were out once again. But this operation was quite different. Only a small portion of the tope had been painted. But the two guys who had been painting had now blocked off one of the street's two lanes and were asking each passing driver to drop coins in a plastic cup. "For more paint" was the plea.

I have seen this type of operation before in Mexico. Volunteers come out to perform some form of community service and ask for recompense from passersby. The last time I saw it was on Highway 200 on the south side of Puerto Vallarta. Potholes had made the road almost impassable. Neighbors came out with a few rudimentary tools filling in the holes -- and asking for donations.

Is it legitimate? I guess it depends what you mean by the term. Certainly, the young men are performing a service and they are asking for remuneration from those of us who use their handiwork. Similar to restaurant musicians. Adam Smith would recognize the process.

There is even a primitive honesty about the exchange. A separate group was painting the traffic circle around the dancing billfish at Barra de Navidad's entry. One guy asked if I would put money in the cup for his beer. I am always a sucker for base truth.

After all, it is Christmas. If the garbage men get a propina de navidad, why not these volunteers. After all, it is something for something.

And there is no harm to the street. By the time Candlemas rolls around, the street will once again be virginal. Just waiting for its next tarting up.