Expat advice #2

Crowded pink line on a Sunday.

A new series on tips I've learned by experience after having lived in Mexico 2 years...many of them are just common sense to Mexicans, but not always to the folly-prone foreigner...

Expat advice #2:

Take escalators one step at a time

I often take the Metro to work. It's more strenuous then you might think: go up and down dozens of stairs, dodge crowds of people, cover your ears when acoustic terrorists (vendors with backpacks equipped with speakers who hawk pirated CDs and DVDs at 10 pesos a pop) assault your ears, try to withstand the stuffy, ventilation-free trains and avoid catching whiffs of urine, body odor, drying paint or buffet of unpleasant odors. The Metro, though, has its benefits: you get to point B relativey rápido barring any stalled trains, you´re not bound to the whims of traffic and it's cheaper than chicle, at two pesos a ride (like, USD $0.15)

Before I get more off-topic, never try to take the escalator steps too fast. It seems about half of the time when using Metro you are faced with non-functioning automatic stairs, but they are trickier than they seem. Taking two at a time puts more pressure on the stairs, seemingly sinking under your weight and force. I´ve stumbled up and down escalator stairs several times, and at my last rapid attempt I tripped up, leaving black skid marks on my hands and wrists and suprising fellow Metro riders: "Be careful, young man !!!"

Even functioning escalator stairs can get tough. Estimating your stepping distance plus the speed of the movemen of the stairs times the number of people competing to get to the top first times the number of minutes you are late to work takes a lot of brain power. Just watch out, and if you´re desperate, it's better to take the good'ole fashioned marble Metro stairs.

Wet stairs are another story.