I hadn't seen that on the Amtrak Metroliner lately. The conductors there seem to think it's okay to simply punch your ticket rather than shoot you. They drop you off on the American side, and you walk up a ramp and cross over into Mexico. Fruits, vegetables, plants, liquor, poultry products, birds and animals may not be allowed to return. Darn, there goes my plan to buy a donkey.
Nobody wants to defect to Mexico.
In Mexico we were met with table after table of touristy gewgaws. I'm not certain what this portends for society, but the three most prevalent ceramics were statues of Jesus, Tweety Bird and Michael Jordan. The common denominator, I guess, is the ability to rise. We hadn't taken five steps before we were accosted by cabbies hectoring us to take a taxi into downtown Tijuana. Then I realized they weren't offering a ride to the Chiapas uprising.