I've had some horribly inconsiderate neighbours, more in Toronto than here in fact. The main difference between there and here is that in Canada I would call the cops for their disturbance of my peace. I think the police here would laugh their bums off at me, but in Canada they took it seriously and came for a visit for every inconsiderate neighbour call I made. In terms of bad driving, I experienced more road rage and aggressive drivers in Detroit, Toronto and Montreal than here. In Cancun it's just stupid manoeuvres and poor decisions. At least no one is whipping out a gun in traffic when they don't get their spot on the road the way they want it. I think it was far scarier driving in Detroit than anywhere else, not only aggressive driving, but sociopathic drivers behind the wheel and ridiculous laws that allow them to have guns.
In Colorado I had one neighbor who dropped acid and then sat on his porch and wailed his bad trip to the universe. The cops hauled him off half an hour later, which I'm sure made the trip much worse! But that was the one and only time anyone ever disturbed my peace there. Here the mariachis come to my street once a month at least, at midnight, to celebrate some birthday. And one neighbor works the graveyard shift and his ride comes and hooooonks at 3 am every night. I think here it must be normal for people to be noisy, so no one thinks it's wrong to be noisy. In the U.S. once someone called the cops because my husband's family was having dinner with his nearly deaf mother (my mother in law), and they had the windows open, and they had to shout because she can't hear. So someone called the cops over a Sunday dinner with a deaf old lady in attendance. The cops came and saw how dumb it was and then went to yell at the person who called the cops.
Yes, WHY!!!?? do people feel the need to sit outside a honk their horns for 20 minutes in the middle of the night (or day for that matter) to pick someone up? and how can they not realize how incredibly RUDE and inconsiderate that is to everyone else in the area? Especially when everyone and their dog has a cell phone (or 2) in Mexico!!
They could totally text message....I mean the traffic cop is always text messaging when he's directing traffic. Maybe picker upper honker freaks should take notes.....
I agree that these things happen everywhere to varying degrees, however, it is nice for everyone to have someplace to come and "vent" their frustrations none the less.... As someone who plans on leaving the USA to permanently reside in another country a few years down the road, I get a kick out of reading this particular forum all the time. I've been taking mental notes of things to ask about when I finally get in a position to start my leg work on making a move.... Carry on mates!! Michelle
Michelle - Good for you! It's cool to hear that you plan to make a move. And Elizabeth, you are so eloquent that I can't stand it. Frickin' hilarious, as they say. I think the hoooonk thing is because they can. It's far more practical if you are in a hurry to call when you are nearby so they can come outside and be waiting for you. If you are actually in a hurry you do call ahead. My Clio had a wimpy little French horn in it when I got it, it went tweeeeet and wasn't terribly convincing. My hubby got a second, bigger, louder, deeper, more obnoxious horn and put it in the car. So now when I honk you believe I mean it, and it works, it scares people and they get outta the way. But I never honk at 3 am.
Being an infrequent lurker here I have, as ever, come to the discussion as it seems 'all over bar the shouting'. Pero, voy a poner mis dos centavitos... There is a general level of rudeness here in Mexico that is fairly constant across the country. Not waiting one's turn for service in a store, pushing and shoving people out of the way whilst waiting in a line, driving like maniacs to shave off a few seconds, not having working lights or turn signals on one's vehicle, honking car horns, making lots of noise - generally not giving a flying f**k...they are all manifestations of a culture that believes that the universe is a malevolent place and they will get nothing from it without a fight. Indeed, we gringos are looked on as pussies for our insistence on mannered and civil community life. But, get this, if ever you complain then YOU (the complainant) are the one in the wrong! Pointing out the grossness of another's behaviour in public? To their face? Que grosera!! So - it ain't Mexico or its people...it's the Ibero-Catholic culture. Yes, it can be changed but not in our lifetimes.
