One of my motivating factors for cruising to foreign countries was to become submersed into other cultures. It didn't take to long living here in Mexico to see that things are not always done the same way as they are in the good ole US of A.
For instance lets say that there is a street light burned out, in the US the city would send out a $60,000.00 dollar shiny truck with a lift arm on it, some dude that makes $50,000.00 a year would get in a little basket and ride up and change the light bulb. Here in Mexico they would send out 3 Mexicans in a beat up pickup truck with a rusty ladder, if the ladder wasn't long enough they would probably find a box or a chair or something to set it on then one would wobble his way up and change the bulb...homey would be lucky if he made $50 a week. these types of things go on and on...half dug holes are left uncovered in the middle of sidewalks, detours on highways are half ass marked blah blah blah.
Yesterday morning while we enjoyed our coffee, the Santa Rosalia/Guaymas ferry came in from Guaymas and was preparing to dock. Now in the US of A they would send out a tug boat with a 3000 horse power engine and a crew that probably would be paid close to $200,000 a year....not here, they sent out two dudes in a panga with a 35 horse power Mercury outboard, they nudged up to the ferry and pushed her stern over to the dock...AND VOILA! Now the end result is usually the same (unless you fall into a hole in the sidewalk), The light bulb gets changed, the sidewalk gets repaired and the ferry was safely docked....however it's much more entertaining to watch here!