Viva la difference!

So... a month has flown by. I went to Mexico to visit an old student and had a blast. I learnt about some differences between the two countries:

• In Canada, animals are kept behind fences and away from people in their proper places. In Mexico, you'll find animals everywhere. At a 'drive-up' bar on the beach, in the middle of a boulevard eating grass in traffic in a city of one million people, picking up garbage every morning... animals are used to earning their keep.
• In Canada, food is sold in proper places. In Mexico, one street will get turned into a market and all the sudden there is freshly cooked chicken, a roasting cow's head (seriously!) and people even hawking cds for way cheap.
• In Canada, when people say the times that they show up-these are proper times that are strictly observed. In Mexico, you tell your friends that the party starts 1-2 hours before you hope that they get there, meals are eaten in shifts as people show up and time is treated as way more relative.

We have the proper things all figured out ... but here's the confession: I want to go back! It is 30C there and it is snowing here. Warmth covers over a lot!