Weirdness in Oaxaca

Okay. Maybe not weird. Some are just things I’ve never seen before and found interesting but I needed a catchy title.

Bugs: Most warm areas have huge bugs. Florida has palmetto’s (giant flying roaches) for example. Here we have beetles as big as my freaking fist. Tonight, I was innocently working when I hear the huge clatter at the window. I about jumped out of my skin as I thought it was a person banging on the glass (it was that loud). Nope. One of those damned giant beetles trying to get through the glass. Given time, it could probably do it...it was that HUGE.

Poor mans barbed wire. Most of the homes here are compounds—meaning that they are surrounded by high, brick walls. An industrious thief can climb. So people put cement on the top of the wall and imbed broken bottles and giant chards of glass into it.

Nice.

Poor man’s barbed wire. Part two: See above but instead of glass they plant bougainvillea around the wall. A lovely vine that grows like a weed, its covered with huge thorns. Going through bougainvillea is like going a tangle of razor wire. Good luck to the idiots who try to get through. You deserve to end up in the emergency room.

Dogs on roofs. What is that all about? Really? They scare the crap out of you because unless you’ve been by the place, you do not expect to see a DOG ON A ROOF.

Volkswagens. Not weird, but I wanted to point out they are everywhere since Volkswagen was one of the first car companies here. Do not play “Slug Bug’ while in Mexico or someone will wind up crippled.