Colonias are the exception, not the rule, they say. But the scope of the shantytowns is undeniable. And their growth is unabated. According to Gonzalez, one colonia went from bare land to 2,000 residents in seven months. And although the residents lay only squatter claims, the city provides some bare necessities.
Lots are strangely neat squares.
Children attend elementary schools, although Gonzalez said those are strained. In more established areas, where families like Francisco and Maria Gabriela Torres live, one or two rooms have been added onto some huts. Residents' old cars and trucks lurch along the rutted roads. Electricity has been extended into the colonia and some shanties sprout TV antennas from their roofs. The Torres family has a palm tree in their tiny lawn, one they brought from their family home in Veracruz.