the informal goodness of street food

mexico has a vast informal economy. whether it be food, CDs, toys, hand-carved wooden furniture, or sunglasses, you can buy it on the street here in mexico. i don't know the exact statistics, but i've read that as much as 70% of their economy is 'informal' within DF, and that only 25% of citizens here have a bank account. enough with the numbers though, because i'm not an economist and i'm not going to drown anyone with figures and statistics. regardless, firsthand experience tells me that informality in mexico is rampant.

early on in the campaign, a colleague of mine realized that he'd forgotten his cell phone charger in the states. no need to worry though, these things are readily available at any mall, right? well, we took a trip to a local mall and were told by the people at a cell phone dealer to just go across the street from the mall and check out one of the vendors over there. sure enough, the second shack we went to had a suitable phone charger . . . for a whopping 40 pesos (rougly US$4). this thing was "made in china" and made it all the way to mexico, through a variety of people's hands, into my friend's possession for a total of US$4. and someone still made a profit? you figure that out.

in general, i would say that mexicans have a total disregard for copyright with respect to CDs and DVDs. you can sell a burned CD for 10 pesos on the subway, and nobody will stop you. the same is true of bootleg DVDs. back when ebay was first on the scene nearly 10 years ago (i know, a long time ago), i tried to sell some bootleg 2Pac albums (they were post-mortem releases), and my auction was shut down within 24 hrs for potential copyright violation. the authorities at ebay weren't even sure if it was copyright violation, but they didn't even want to take a chance! needless to say, i'm thinking about buying some movies and shelling out the 30 pesos for the movies (some of which, are somehow still in the theaters . . .).

with regard to food, you can buy anything you want from a variety of vendors on any street corner. some of them, i'm sure have licenses or whatever the local/state government may require, but i'm sure a greater number of people don't. before i get into how good the food is, i should mention that the campaign organizers for this project did all they could to frighten everyone coming from the United States or Europe that street vendors were selling poison straight from the bottle, and that eating food from the street was a guaranteed ticket home in a box. i was initially amazed at the general reluctance and unwillingness of my colleagues to try food from the street here. i recognize that there are risks; however, they are not nearly as high as some people made them out to be. fortunately, i (and others, for that matter) have generally shown people that you can eat food from most anywhere you like without risk of dying. now, people are exploring all sorts of places for lunch, rather than hitting up the same-ole-cafeteria at the institute. there is no guarantee that someone might not have stomach problems, however, this is a reality that travelers anywhere deal with, as far as i'm concerned. being smart and being adventurous are not mutually exclusive.

i should mention, however, that the "don't drink the water" mantra is generally true. mexicans buy more bottled water than any other nation, with the exception of the united states. (what's wrong with tap water in the states??) my point, then, is why do we need to remind travelers to not drink the water if the locals don't? this confuses me.

anyway, today's mustache comes from a guy who makes a mean hamburger, and sells them just outside of our host institution. it's a tribute to all the food vendors - informal or formal - that work so damn hard to supply great food for an unbelievable price (burger w/ cheese, all the fixins and pineapple - 21 pesos). also, an overwhelming majority of vendors are more than happy to strike up a conversation with a traveling "guero". much appreciated. i call this the "have a seat and stay a while 'stache".

** like most anything, you shouldn't knock the 'stache until you try it. **