Just a quick walk down to the park and a new restaurant today. At the park it appears the resident homeless man has moved out, and somebody came through and cleaned the whole place. No more pee smell by the swings, hooray!

Later on I was talking to a local guy while waiting outside a store for Ali. He’d been in the States for a couple of years a while back and told me all about it. I asked him where he liked better, the U.S. or here.

“Oh, there man, there. Everything is clean. Everything! And I can work for good money too. Good money.” I didn’t bother asking him why he was back. I’ve talked to enough Mexicans to know the answer to that one.

It’s kind of striking how differently I can view Mexico over how a Mexican can view it. And the same for their views on the States. While I can overlook the dirt and the garbage, and cheer the small victories like a cleaned up park, after thirty years of it he’s had enough. He just wants clean to be the freaking norm and not the exception. I get that.

On the other hand, after thirty years I often feel like the States are antiseptic and characterless. Of course for me it’s easy to feel that way about Mexico and the States, because due to my good fortune in being born where I was, I’ve always got the option to choose.