It was an extremely frustrating and unpleasant experience and it is an aspect I really dislike about Mexico. It bought out the latent aggressive Aztec tendencies in me. I was fantasising about decapitating the unhelpful postal worker. Whatever you do, do not mention the post office incident! Ahhhhh!
The other really big issue is gaining information. No one appears to know anything. No one knows where anything is and we are always given conflicting directions. Amigo, go two blocks down and turn left. No Amigo, go back six blocks and turn right.
One night we asked a gormless youth sitting on a rock, what direction the main road was. His face furrowed in pain as he thought, he looked perplexed. Then after a few minutes, he told us it was straight ahead. A big effort. Then our hosts in the airbnb omitted to tell us that there was an all night fiesta happening right outside our accommodation! And on it goes…
Then it becomes even more confusing when the whole economy is run on small little businesses, which is great for employment, but makes it difficult to accomplish small tasks, like posting a parcel. There are small grocery shops (tiendas) in every street, and small paper shops that sell masking tape, which are not sold in the tiendas. So each small little business has to be sourced to complete any activity.
If you have read the novel On Mexican Time, he romanticises some of the aspects of life in the very trendy and now very expensive San Miguel Allende, but it was written in the 80s. I am at a stage where I just find it annoying!
Have you been to Mexico? what do you like and dislike the most? What’s something frustrating that’s happened on your travels (in Mexico or elsewhere)?