September 6, 2007 - police, litigation, and flowers

Today as I was driving somewhere thinking how lucky we are to have dodged yet another hurricane (Felix this time), I noticed that there were four policemen out directing traffic where a light was being repaired by the electric company. It made me realize that we have plenty of police protection and services. We have federal police, state police, city police, and tourist police. There are also plenty of private security police for businesses, some gated communities, and fancy people. We feel very well protected here in Merida.
We have called police when our neighbors behind us burn things. This is an old custom and everyone used to burn their trash in their back yards, but now it is illegal. We can see why it is illegal and are sorry to have to call the police for such a silly matter, but have now called them twice, so if our neighbors (and this neighbor is a business which manufactures small things) are stupid enough to burn when we are home and we call once more, they will be facing a really serious fine of something like 1,000 pesos, and here that is BIG money.
The police are omnipresent. They drive around in cars and in trucks and on motorcycles and on bicycles. They are stationed at corners and crossings during things like the Sunday biciruta – a long bike route uses cordoned off streets every Sunday morning and it is patrolled with extra police so when folks ride bikes or walk strollers along this 2 mile or so stretch through the center of town, they do not have to worry about people driving at the same time. The federal police (the federales that we are all familiar with from movies) tote big guns, machine guns in fact, although we understand that they do not carry any bullets on a normal basis. However, when W came to Merida, they were armed and we had overhead surveillance in helicopters and snipers on buildings!!!
And yet, there is almost no crime of any sort. Oh there are the usual Saturday-night-drunk-who (pick one)- falls-into-a-well-and-gets-stuck, gets-mad-at-his-wife-and-beats-her-up, falls-across-the-street-and-is-hit-by-a-car, picks-a-fight-with-his-friends, etc., but normally not violent crimes as we are accustomed to living in the US (drive-by shootings, for example, are unheard of here, especially since one cannot buy bullets in this state!!). There is the occasional theft of tools or TVs or whatever, but rarely, if ever, is that accompanied by violence. So, like Michael Moore, we ask, which came first, the benign police presence or the lack of crime? Of course, it may be just too hot here to plot something like stealing someone’s TV!! Or the people here are really as good as they seem to be!!!!
There is also another aspect to this – people here are responsible for what they do, including to themselves. Now a novel concept in the USA, here where we are not part of a litigious society, it’s like going back in time. If you drive you scooter and fall off, it’s your responsibility. It is not the scooter manufacturer’s fault. It is not the fault of the hot coffee or the store that sold you the hot coffee which you are drinking while driving the scooter. It is not the fault of the mirror on your scooter that you didn’t use to see the car behind you when you swerved and fell off the scooter and almost got run over, not to mention burned by the hot coffee. It is not the fault of the jeans you are wearing which didn’t protect you from being scalded by hot coffee. It is not anyone’s fault but your own for driving while attempting to drink hot coffee.
And no one is going to be sued over an accident. Normally, this even applies to an injury that occurs in one’s home. If a worker in your home is injured, you take him to see a doctor and pay for the treatment (at least most people do, some are really hard-hearted and just let the workers fend for themselves and that usually means that they do not seek treatment at all). We’ve talked before about doctors’ costs and even hospital costs, so you know it’s cheaper and easier to pay the fees and get the worker back on the job quickly.

And because I am still completely in awe of my garden, I want to share the latest of the amazing plants that is growing back there. This is a type of lily, but not any type I’ve ever seen before. The stalk which began about a year ago as not much of anything is now about 9 inches in diameter. It supports multiple leaves that are each about 5 inches wide and maybe four or five feet long if unfurled. Then recently, a stalk started growing out of the side of this plant. The stalk is about as big around as some women’s (not mine!!) arms and is now about 6 feet long. It curls around and has a giant flower coming out of the end of it. This opens a bit more each day and is so pretty. Here it is partially opened. The smell is also divine, sweet but with a touch of tang. From the photo, you cannot tell how huge this is, but notice a part of a hand in the lower right hand corner and that will help you realize that this thing is truly a giant flower. Our friend, Ana Rosa, says it is called LIRIO (sounds like Lydia when pronounced however), so it even has a nice-sounding name! Now, seven days later, we have cut off the stalk as it was done blooming and have another giant bud forming-- wonder how long this will last!! There are some more pictures of this in a post called LIRIO.
Today is our Jose's birthday. He is 26. So we invited over some of the other folks he works for and made chocolate cake and had a small celebration with ice cream and milk. There had been some talk of getting a pinata and filling it with coins, but we determined that this was more dignified.