Bits and Pieces from Mexico Part II

Free Enterprise the old fashioned way.
If you are alert and have a great idea, especially for a restaurant, then the thing to do (if you are in Mexico) is to stake out a corner or empty lot in the city (like a mining claim only with squatters rights) and open an outdoor culinary gathering place otherwise known as a restaurant. All you really need to get started is a concept (what type of food), the means to prepare it (camp stove, grill, food cart, propane, wood a few plastic chairs) and your own abandoned lot. I would say most of the restaurants in Hermosillo are open air establishments (or started as one) and each one (like the house building concept previously described) in varying states of development. Some are full blown, covered structures with seating for 50 or more, while others are little more than hot dog stands with food serviced from a cart. You may or may not have a seat to enjoy your meal or even plastic ware to eat your food with, until the “restaurant” makes the next improvement on their business plan. Don’t get me wrong here, that hot dog stand I mentioned does not open until after 9 pm and does not close until 3 am, and my personal observation (and reports from long time residents) indicates that there is always a line of people for these hot dogs.

There is a restaurant across the street from where we live. The seating area is where the garage for the home was. The kitchen is not in the house (hey everyone needs a place to live, right?) but is under a tarp in the backyard. It is a full service kitchen with a large gas grill, numerous propane stoves, several soft drink coolers and a line of people to get in. The food is ridiculously inexpensive, a hearty meal under $5.00, and very good home cooked food.

The last restaurant example is one that we just discovered this past weekend while out by the beach. After driving 3 or 4 miles off the main road to the beach headed to Kino Bay, we came to an area of estuaries. Along this road we made a turn off into an area that had no less than 3 “restaurants” huddled together. Located literally on the banks of the estuary, with dirt floors and covered by awnings, open aired and by health department standards in the U.S. would never see the light of one day in business, we had the freshest and most delicious and the most inexpensive meal I have had to date in Mexico. In the estuary was a genuine oyster, and clam farm stretching over acres of water. For years I have avoided eating oysters due to declining water standards in the U.S., but as I looked out over the pristine waters near Kino bay I could not help but notice that the oysters I would be eating were literally coming directly out of the water and onto my plate. A bakers dozen of oysters cost $50.00 pesos or $4.17 before tip. Each restaurant was full of local Mexicans (I was clearly the only American and maybe the first), there were local musicians and mariachi bands adding to the spirit of the event. The shrimp seviche was absolutely the best I have had so far in Mexico and all the while I was aware how this could never be in the U.S. (OK maybe Louisiana).

Service with a Whistle.
There is nothing I react to more than having my windshield cleaned by sneak attack. After growing up in N.Y. I noted on my early trips to Manhattan that upon entering the city through the midtown tunnel and stopping at the first stop light, that I was going to get my windshield cleaned whether I wanted it cleaned or not. I remember the first time having this experience in N.Y. and thinking, “Hey, this is a great city, they wash your windows when you get here!”. That was a momentary illusion that was quickly disolved when the rosterman finished cleaning my windows and demanded payment. From that day forward I had an attitude toward this particular form of “free” enterprise, the only problem as I saw it was that I was not free to choose whether I wanted my windows cleaned, more often than not I had to pay. Eventually, window washers like these were outlawed in Manhattan and that was very nice, a relief in fact. What I did not know was that all of those newly unemployed window washers from N.Y. headed on down to Hermosillo Mexico to set up shop. They are like kamikaze’s here. Most of the time you don’t see them coming. With their water bottle they can hit your windshield from a good 10 -15 feet so that you now have to have at least that bit cleaned off. I have had running battles with these guys. On some days you can get your windows cleaned 3 times on the way home from a movie! But wait, I digress here. What I really wanted to go on about are the self-employed parking lot attendants you will find all over the state of Sonora and beyond. Combing big box store parking lots, grocery stores and small shopping centers you will find the parking lot attendant. I liken them to the guys you might find in the rest room of well healed hotels or restaurants or upscale nightclubs, they hand you a towel to dry your hands after you have done your business there, and then you are required to give them a tip for their laborious efforts. The parking lot attendant in many cases is equipped with a whistle. He helps you find a parking spot (even if the lot is empty), will help you load your car with goods purchased (even a package of gum, no job too big, no job too small), and of course will help guide you free of your parking spot (yes, even in an empty lot). The whistle indicates the way is clear, and of course the attendant always positions himself in such a way that once you are free of your parking spot, you will be looking directly at him in one way or another for the unsolicited tip request. I will admit that there are occasions where the attendant is actually useful and even I have bolstered the local economy by tossing him a 5 peso coin, and in the end the service rendered is given without too much expectation on the part of the self-employed attendant, and they always give you the courtesy of offering you the opportunity of having a nice day. I have discovered that similar to the startup restaurant real estate “acquisitions” the parking lot attendant is not employed by the retailers in whose lot he operates. The various parking lots are “claimed” (and no doubt handed down from father to son).

Drive through Shopping
The Mexicans have truly innovated retailing and solving unemployment by allowing “drive through” shopping at every major intersection of the city. If the intersection has a stop light, it is also is likely to have some kind of retail opportunity. I call it drive through simply because in many instances as a sale is in the midst of completion (payment), the light will change and the traffic begins to move. Here is the training ground for Mexican salesman and the art of closing a sale. It gives a whole new understanding (and visual picture) of where the phase “letting one get away” comes from.

Unlike the retail experience at the border crossings between the U.S and Mexico, the items for sale in the city are often of high quality. For many months I avoided purchasing anything in the “intersection drive through” until one day I found out the produce, juices and nuts for sale come right from the farms that surround the city. You can see the type of produce offered change as the growing season unfolds. This week I am seeing lots of strawberries, asparagus and peaches, last week there were cantaloupes and throughout the season lots of watermelons. These guys hustle to make sales and the prices are negotiable.

A kilo of asparagus will run you $30.00 pesos ($2.50), a big bag of juicy peaches $40.00 pesos and a braid of fresh garlic 3 feet long will tap you for around $60.00 pesos. What's not to like?

There is also the "Drive-by" retail experience. Just like in the days of my youth when fresh milk was delivered right to the front door of my childhood home, here in Mexico we have numerous vendors each with their own mode of transportation as well as their own song. In the early mornings we have the "Bakery Bicycle". Equiped with a 360 degree fully visible plexiglas showcase attached to the handlebars, and a bell that clearly identifys him as the bakery bicycle, you have your choice of fresh made pastries while they last. I know at some point this vendor will figure out how to attach a latte machine to the bike, at which time I will know it is time to become an investor.

Not to be outdone, once or twice a year I have heard the distinctive whistle of the knife sharpener. His grinding wheel (and chair) resting on his shoulder he strolls the streets blowing his familiar "signature song". He will sit on your sidewalk and sharpen your knives and tell you stories of his 35 year career.

Another routine cart that rolls by regularly is the one with mops, brooms, dust pans and various other cleaning supplies (I am sure this guy must make a killing with all the cleaning people down here).

On overnight trips to San Carlos and the beach if you are up early enough in the morning you will likely catch the fish monger with his catches' of the day. His pickup truck is loaded with coolers which are in turn loaded with all types of fresh fish that once lived nearby in San Carlos Bay. They find themselves in the back of a pickup and brought to your door for prices I am sure they would feel are way too low.

In case you have not had enough of Bits and Pieces in Mexico, you can feel comforted by the fact that there is likely to be a Part III. When I started this blog topic I did not realize there could well be an endless supply of anecdotes.