# Walking hazards!



## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

OK. I walk a lot every week. This morning I was on my way to visit my wife´s aunt in the hospital. They have a chain strung along one lane for about 500 meters with movable yellow painted 1 meter posts. I crossed the street and decided to "hop" over the sagging chain but doing so on the other side lost my balance and did a semi awkward side step but finally straightened up without touching the cement. Some of the many people waiting outside the entrance to the hospital cheered and clapped. Was I embarrassed? No! Should I have been? I don´t know, but have seen so many of us seniors fall on many occasions and people rush to help them up. 

Walking in this town is not as easy as it seems and 2Xs I ended up calf deep in open manholes in the sidewalks and once with my crotch hung up on a steel cable holding up a telephone pole in the middle of the sidewalk at night when the street lights were not working. 

Luckily when I twist my ankle the pain goes away in a few minutes, so far. 

Anyone else having these problems? Alan


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

Yes. I have tripped and fallen 3 times in Pátzcuaro, 2 of them very painful falls, needing medical attention, but luckily nothing broken. First time, I had pain in my right shoulder that lasted about 6 months. The fright is about as bad as the impact and the resulting injury.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

I have no idea where the manhole covers disappear. They never get replaced as it's a bureaucratic argument on who is responsible for the replacements. I've driven into one that fortunately had some boulders inside that prevented my front wheel from going only 5 or 6 inches down. I avoided one in the middle of my side of the street just by inches.


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## johnmex (Nov 30, 2010)

joaquinx said:


> I have no idea where the manhole covers disappear.


They get stolen and sold for scrap...


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

johnmex said:


> They get stolen and sold for scrap...


I can believe that, but the ones that are missing are the concrete type. Perhaps they're going for the rebar!


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## FHBOY (Jun 15, 2010)

We were told very early on that in Ajijic you do not walk and look around at the same time. Good advice. Sidewalks here tend to have drops and rises, curbing and steps, grooves and hills. So now we walk and look down...a lot!

I mean of Ajijic was in the USA, I'd love to be a lawyer, a personal injury, ambulance chasing lawyer! I'd be living in the top hacienda on the mountain or the penthouse at Trump Tower!!!!

For newbies and seniors...same advice: Don't look around, look down!


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

joaquinx said:


> I can believe that, but the ones that are missing are the concrete type. Perhaps they're going for the rebar!


Cement covers are usually in the street and break for one reason or another. If they break here someone puts a plastic bucket in front or a palm frond or two in it

My iron cover to my sewer connection box that we may have use for some day has been here two years and not stolen. That's even with kids coming around asking for beer cans and pieces of re-bar ... and a drink of water


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

Our 3 days in Merida was hard to walk around El Centro. Our hotel was 2 blocks from the Central Garden and the very narrow sidewalks had electric poles in the middle of the sidewalks, the buildings were on the narrow sidewalks, and people coming from the other direction forced you to stop turn sideways and let them pass. Skinny people were easier to let go by. Cars could not open the passenger doors if a post was there very wide. 

It rained every afternoon at 5PM hard for an hour and sometimes I had to put one foot into a puddle to get out of groups of people´s way zooming along to not get wetter, being polite. 

They did have a couple of pedestrian only narrow streets that were OK. Queretaro and SLP have more of these.


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## johnmex (Nov 30, 2010)

The cement covers tend to get blocked and stuck in their holes due to sand and gravel. When it rains really hard the internal water pressure blows them out or fragments them into many pieces. Rebar is not used in these covers....


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

AlanMexicali said:


> Walking in this town is not as easy as it seems and 2Xs I ended up calf deep in open manholes in the sidewalks and once with my crotch hung up on a steel cable holding up a telephone pole in the middle of the sidewalk at night when the street lights were not working. ... Anyone else having these problems? Alan


Bienvenido a Mexico! Welcome to Mexico!

There's a general lackadaisical attitude in Mexico when it comes to repairs, maintenance and public safety as regards to sidewalks, streets and public spaces. Poor quality workmanship, lack of supervision ... and ignorance are at the root of the problem. I've stepped into utility manholes, spaces where there have been missing sidewalk paving bricks, almost fell-through insecure grates over Metro stations, missing stairs, etc. We have to be very observant when walking ... and bicycling ... and driving. It's just 'one of those things' we have to accept as a challenge ... or we'll develop ulcers due to being upset about them. Thanks for mentioning this.


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## johnmex (Nov 30, 2010)

Longford said:


> Bienvenido a Mexico! Welcome to Mexico!
> 
> There's a general lackadaisical attitude in Mexico when it comes to repairs, maintenance and public safety as regards to sidewalks, streets and public spaces. Poor quality workmanship, lack of supervision ... and ignorance are at the root of the problem.


Actually, IMHO, it is probably due to corruption on the municipal level, not so much poor quality of workmanship nor ignorance. Mexican workers have the know how and ability, but if not provided with the right materials AND supervision (you are right on that one, Longford), will revert to "making do" with what they have.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

In most cases, sidewalks are NOT maintained by the municipality but are the responsibility of the homeowner or business. That is why there is no consistency in the sidewalk maintenance or in the materials used. 
It is also up to the owner to clean the sidewalk in front of his home or business on a daily basis.
We are not in Kansas anymore.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

RVGRINGO said:


> In most cases, sidewalks are NOT maintained by the municipality but are the responsibility of the homeowner or business. That is why there is no consistency in the sidewalk maintenance or in the materials used.
> It is also up to the owner to clean the sidewalk in front of his home or business on a daily basis.
> We are not in Kansas anymore.


In most of the cities/towns I've visited in Mexico ... the responsibility for sidewalks, where they exist, rests with the municipio ... not the property owner from what I understand. It's city work crews who perform the repairs/installations. You may be right that in certain strictly residential neighborhoods a property owner has certain responsibilities. I don't know exactly. I've watched a lot of construction of streets and sidewalks, and my opinion is the work isn't being done by people who understand construction nor do they care very much about the quality of their work. Yes, there are exceptions. But, overall ... this has been my impression.


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## Marishka (Feb 1, 2009)

FHBOY said:


> We were told very early on that in Ajijic you do not walk and look around at the same time. Good advice. Sidewalks here tend to have drops and rises, curbing and steps, grooves and hills. So now we walk and look down...a lot!
> 
> I mean of Ajijic was in the USA, I'd love to be a lawyer, a personal injury, ambulance chasing lawyer! I'd be living in the top hacienda on the mountain or the penthouse at Trump Tower!!!!
> 
> For newbies and seniors...same advice: Don't look around, look down!


In some areas, "****** traps" are not only at ground level. Carol Schmidt, who lived in San Miguel for a decade, warned in _The Best How-To Book on Moving to Mexico_: "Even windowsills and planter boxes jutting out onto the sidewalk area at forehead height can cause a spill or a cut--while you're watching your feet, you also need to watch for obstacles at head height in your path."


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

Tip of the Day:
Never walk close to a construction site where the workers on the ground are tossing stacks of bricks to the workers up above.


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## sunnyvmx (Mar 14, 2010)

In one of my favorite quotes (I say mine because it is) I explain it like this.... If you are walking down the sidewalk and bump your head on a shop awning, the shopkeeper may run out to you asking, "Could you not see it, it is low enough!"


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

RVGRINGO said:


> In most cases, sidewalks are NOT maintained by the municipality but are the responsibility of the homeowner or business. That is why there is no consistency in the sidewalk maintenance or in the materials used.
> It is also up to the owner to clean the sidewalk in front of his home or business on a daily basis.
> We are not in Kansas anymore.


It is clear that they are, in fact, not maintained by the city, but rather by the homeowner or business. But are they supposed to be maintained by the city? I was told by someone once, that the city is supposed to maintain the sidewalks, but they do not, so it is left to the local owner.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> It is clear that they are, in fact, not maintained by the city, but rather by the homeowner or business. But are they supposed to be maintained by the city? I was told by someone once, that the city is supposed to maintain the sidewalks, but they do not, so it is left to the local owner.


You are both right. When I had my house surveyed in Mexicali the nail with the washer spray painted orange went right to the middle of the street. 

One day I returned home to find a bill for resurfacing our street taped to my mailbox, my share was $2450.00 pesos. When I went to pay that year´s "predial" they asked for the $2450.00 pesos before I was allowed to pay my "predial". Common knowledge when you own property in Mexico. Alan


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## gudgrief (Jun 20, 2011)

I do a lot of walking in Zacatecas and have fallen a couple of times.
The sidewalks are so uneven and ridden with hidden steps (especially when the sun is shining in your eyes) that a walk without some kind of stumble or two is unusual. I've learned to try to keep my eye on the ground and even that is no guarantee unless you concentrate on the sidewalk instead of where you're going.


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## RubyWood (May 6, 2013)

Watch for wet slimy slippery on the sidewalks. I took a big fall on that one day. Took a couple of months to get over it. Now I carry a cane all the time so I can check for slippery, ups and downs in the sidewalk that you can't always see.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

RubyWood said:


> Watch for wet slimy slippery on the sidewalks. I took a big fall on that one day. Took a couple of months to get over it. Now I carry a cane all the time so I can check for slippery, ups and downs in the sidewalk that you can't always see.


In Mexicali there has been for a decade or more an epidemic of some homeowners ceramic tiling their driveway to the street. In the rain these are best avoided. Inside the fence they also tile their sidewalks.

Most shop owners tile the sidewalk in front of the shop, the trendy boutiques and jewelry stores on the blvd. where my house is near in Mexicali also [affectionately called "The Rodeo Drive of Mexicali" ] . The last few years instead of using indoor tile some have upgraded to cement outdoor tile and solved the problem when it rains. Luckily it rains very little there.


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## PVMikey (Apr 18, 2012)

*"****** Traps"*

Yes, all of the comments about the dangers of walking in Mexican cities are very true. We call the uneven sidewalks, manholes without covers, etc., "****** Traps". It's true in much of Puerto Vallarta, where I live, as well. However, if any of you want to see how beautiful an area can be with improved sidewalks, come to our Zona Romantica. There the sidewalks have been totally redone (just two years ago) and are wide, level and beautiful, with an inlaid, winding stone pattern in the concrete. It's more an issue of money than anything else, I think. Where the money has been made available (like in our Zona Romantica here), the sidewalks are wide and beautiful.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

AlanMexicali said:


> In Mexicali there has been for a decade or more an epidemic of some homeowners ceramic tiling their driveway to the street. In the rain these are best avoided. Inside the fence they also tile their sidewalks.
> 
> Most shop owners tile the sidewalk in front of the shop, the trendy boutiques and jewelry stores on the blvd. where my house is near in Mexicali also [affectionately called "The Rodeo Drive of Mexicali" ] . The last few years instead of using indoor tile some have upgraded to cement outdoor tile and solved the problem when it rains. Luckily it rains very little there.


I asked my wife about sidewalks here in SLP and she stated they belong to the owner of the property and is their responsibility. I also asked that why in El Centro Zona Historica the sidewalks seem to be mainly stone. She said there are rules to follow in these specific zones. So it appears in most municipalities the owner pays to maintain the sidewalks and has to follow rules sometimes.

That being the case their might be exceptions depending on location. 

It would appear gov.t. Church, parks and plazas, public buildings etc. are classified differently and who knows who pays or doesn´t have to pay. 

This is one of the reasons for low property taxes in Mexico.

In your case it appears in Zona Romantica, a big tourist draw, the municipality paid and did improvements or possibly charges the owners, who knows.


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## gudgrief (Jun 20, 2011)

AlanMexicali said:


> I asked my wife about sidewalks here in SLP and she stated they belong to the owner of the property and is their responsibility. I also asked that why in El Centro Zona Historica the sidewalks seem to be mainly stone. She said there are rules to follow in these specific zones. So it appears in most municipalities the owner pays to maintain the sidewalks and has to follow rules sometimes.
> 
> That being the case their might be exceptions depending on location.
> 
> ...


A lot/all of the maintenance money in the Centro Historico, Zacatecas comes from UNESCO. This year it included facades, sidewalks, street paving and relocation of electric meters and utilities boxes in the sidewalks. That didn't eliminate any of the "****** traps" as they just replaced the old sidewalk and paving blocks/tiles with the same kind, Still uneven and there are still steep drop offs a driveways. All to preserve a 16th Century feel. It's a nice ambiance and I wouldn't change it, but it comes at the price of greater vigilance.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

gudgrief said:


> A lot/all of the maintenance money in the Centro Historico, Zacatecas comes from UNESCO. This year it included facades, sidewalks, street paving and relocation of electric meters and utilities boxes in the sidewalks. That didn't eliminate any of the "****** traps" as they just replaced the old sidewalk and paving blocks/tiles with the same kind, Still uneven and there are still steep drop offs a driveways. All to preserve a 16th Century feel. It's a nice ambiance and I wouldn't change it, but it comes at the price of greater vigilance.


I am glad you mentioned UNESCO. I have seen many permanent signs with their logo on it in many Zonas Historicas in Central Mexico and did not know what it was until now. 

I asked my wife why in Zacatecas the signs are all small and painted on the buildings in black paint. She said the rules. I asked how come OXXO and the bank there have gold protruding metal signs. She said they have power that the other owners do not have.


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## gudgrief (Jun 20, 2011)

AlanMexicali said:


> I am glad you mentioned UNESCO. I have seen many permanent signs with their logo on it in many Zonas Historicas in Central Mexico and did not know what it was until now.
> 
> I asked my wife why in Zacatecas the signs are all small and painted on the buildings in black paint. She said the rules. I asked how come OXXO and the bank there have gold protruding metal signs. She said they have power that the other owners do not have.


Zacarecas is a Human Heritage site, For what it's worth, the sign on UNESCO's building at the edge of the Centro Historico is just painted black letters. Oxxo has 4 stores right in the tourist area in the Centro Historico. Two of them have signs that are just painted black lettering, the other 2 have somewhat understated red, white and gold OXXO logos. There are a couple of Extra's and Mas Uno's in the same zone as the OXXO's and they have colored signs in panels above their front windows/doors. McDonald's is in a *portales* and its signs can't be seen from the street. There's a price list above a serving window that is designed for cones, sundaes and McFlurries It has the famous arches on it. The sign over the main entrance is a subdued metal plaque with the logo and name. Starbucks, in the same building as an upscale hotel of 4 or 5 stars has a sign similar to McDonald's and similar to the hotel's. My landlady owns a 4 star hotel catty corner to one of the Oxxo's that has logos for signs. The hotel is in a building that dates from the 1600's. Its sign is just painted black letters.

I don't doubt corporate influence in some cases, but from what I can see here, the combination of the building and street may have as much as anything else to do with the kind of signs allowed.


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## PatrickMurtha (Feb 26, 2011)

gudgrief said:


> I do a lot of walking in Zacatecas and have fallen a couple of times.
> The sidewalks are so uneven and ridden with hidden steps (especially when the sun is shining in your eyes) that a walk without some kind of stumble or two is unusual. I've learned to try to keep my eye on the ground and even that is no guarantee unless you concentrate on the sidewalk instead of where you're going.


This and everyone else's comments are very true. I'm only 54, and I used to be somewhat nimble, but I've fallen in a major way three times in two years in Culiacan, and I really don't want it to happen again, so I keep my eyes drilled on the walking surface, especially at night, although I also flick them up to notice any head-or-body-level hazards, such as those rigid wires set at an angle to the ground - don't walk into one of those, you'll slice yourself in two!

My falls (none on stairs):

1) Sidewalk, daylight, busted sunglasses, black right eye, fortunate I didn't break my nose or anything worse.

2) Sidewalk, daylight, pretty sure I cracked a rib. It healed up but the area was tender for a couple of weeks.

3) Sidewalk, night, skinned my left knee badly (and ripped my jeans, fashionably).

With all the walking hazards out there, including uneven sidewalks, unrepaired stairs, gaping holes, sudden level changes, etc., what really gets me is the huge number of Mexican women I see walking around in platform shoes (often quite narrow ones) and stiletto heels that are as high as 16 centimeters. I mean, I understand fashion and all, but this is CRAZY. This is like major injuries waiting to happen. Some of the women, I might indelicately point out, are of a heft where they simply shouldn't be perched on a dainty base to begin with, but then walking around that way? Good Lord.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

PatrickMurtha said:


> This and everyone else's comments are very true. I'm only 54, and I used to be somewhat nimble, but I've fallen in a major way three times in two years in Culiacan, and I really don't want it to happen again, so I keep my eyes drilled on the walking surface, especially at night, although I also flick them up to notice any head-or-body-level hazards, such as those rigid wires set at an angle to the ground - don't walk into one of those, you'll slice yourself in two!
> 
> My falls (none on stairs):
> 
> ...


They walk around on platform high heels here also. I give them credit for pulling it off all in the name of fashion and looking a few inches taller.


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## gudgrief (Jun 20, 2011)

AlanMexicali said:


> They walk around on platform high heels here also. I give them credit for pulling it off all in the name of fashion and looking a few inches taller.


None of my Mexican friends of both sexes and all ages seem to have a problem. I guess growing up with it makes a lot of difference.


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## Heyduke (Jun 17, 2012)

I have a photo of 3 rats on a concrete manhole cover that had been blown out by a heavy rain. People were laughing at me for taking the photo.


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