The sidewalks of Sabalo Country

 

One of the first things you have to develop when you come to Mexico is the skill of radar in your feet.  That's because the sidewalks here are lethal.  They're not like the smooth, level and clean sidewalks in Victoria.  These sidewalks are patched together, all angles and steps, sometimes with rebar sticking out, and sometimes non existent.  

Here in Sabalo Country (our neighbourhood of Mazatlan) the sidewalks are the responsibility of the owner of the adjacent land.  So if the land belongs to an absent owner no sidewalk is built and pedestrians just trip through the dirt and garbage, or else take to walking on the street.

Then there's the fact that garbage is put out on the sidewalk at any time.  Some people have little metal baskets like this one to put the garbage in but others just drop it on the sidewalk for pickup.  Pickup takes place three times a week but at completely irregular hours so garbage is always waiting.

 

 

  

Then there are the gates.  Many people have gates that open into the front courtyard where they park their cars (like in the photo above).   Often when they go out, they just leave the gates open so pedestrians have to walk around, again heading into the road itself

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Not many Mexicans walk around these streets, they're most often in cars or on motorcycles or bikes.    It's the Norteamericanos like us who walk around and now I see why most of them walk in the street. 

All of these photos were taken in one stroll down our street. It's all part of the adventure of living in a Mexican city I guess.