# Parts of Mexico with the cleanest air



## TravelLover

Our upcoming trip to Mexico got delayed by a few months (it looks like we're coming in February 2014). :wave:

We are a family that's into the outdoors and we also like to keep our windows open while home to let in fresh air. We just want to make sure we end up somewhere with clean air! :fingerscrossed:

We are strongly leaning towards La Paz, BCS, based on a location that would most meet our needs, but I want to make sure the air was good there. 

Is La Paz known for its clean air? What are some other places with clean air. I already know Mexico City is off the clean air list. :nono:

Thank you everyone! So many WONDERFUL people on this forum have helped my family greatly!


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## Isla Verde

TravelLover said:


> Is La Paz known for its clean air? What are some other places with clean air. I already know Mexico City is off the clean air list. :nono:


For a humongous-size city, the air-quality in Mexico City isn't so bad. This time of year it's pretty good, at least in my neighborhood, especially when I'm up on the roof hanging clothes and watering plants.


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## RVGRINGO

This might help: Pollution in La Paz, Mexico


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## TravelLover

RVGRINGO said:


> This might help: Pollution in La Paz, Mexico


Thank you so much to the link to that site. I will compare the La Paz data to other cities in Mexico!


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## Isla Verde

At least in Mexico City, pollution levels depend a lot on the time of year. Right now things are pretty good and they're even better during the rainy season, when daily showers arrive to "wash" the atmosphere. However, things can get pretty unpleasant (and unheathy) in January when air inversions keep the pollution close to the ground, especially in the early morning hours.


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## conorkilleen

I live up in the Bosques in Mexico City and the air up here is good. Not great, but good. Lots of trees to filter the garbage out.

Funny Story- I was ay the Airport a year or so ago and was sitting at the United Club sipping from free booze, when a young couple came up and started chatting with me. They asked me where I lived and I said "Here!". They said, "oh my lord, how can you deal with all of the air pollution? When we were flying in we couldn't even see the city the pollution was so bad! So gross! blah blah blah."

I asked them where they were from (as if I didn't already know they were fresas from California) and they said Los Angeles. They must only ever fly out of LA in the dark or don't sit by the window. I moved and enjoyed my beverage else ware.


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## BajaInsider

Pretty much all of Baja California once south of Ensenada and all the way to the end of Baja Sur has clean air, simply from the fact there is very little industry or manufacturing on the peninsula. There are a few power plants like that in La Paz that will contribute some pollution but it is very small considering the area.


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## Isla Verde

conorkilleen said:


> I live up in the Bosques in Mexico City and the air up here is good.  Not great, but good. Lots of trees to filter the garbage out.
> 
> Funny Story- I was ay the Airport a year or so ago and was sitting at the United Club sipping from free booze, when a young couple came up and started chatting with me. They asked me where I lived and I said "Here!". They said, "oh my lord, how can you deal with all of the air pollution? When we were flying in we couldn't even see the city the pollution was so bad! So gross! blah blah blah."
> 
> I asked them where they were from (as if I didn't already know they were fresas from California) and they said Los Angeles. They must only ever fly out of LA in the dark or don't sit by the window. I moved and enjoyed my beverage else ware.


Great story. A good example of the pot calling the kettle black, I think.


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## lagoloo

Having lived in Los Angeles, I know how bad the air pollution is. There were spectacular sunsets with the edges of the sun "squared off" as a result. When I came down from the mountains one time after a skiing trip, There was a brownish green solid layer over the area. Even more obvious from an airplane.

It's great to live where the air is fit to breathe, finally.


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## TravelLover

We lived on the Big Island of Hawaii for a couple of years but Kilauea Volcano has been erupting since the 80s and the VOG (volcanic smog) at times would make all of us feel sick. We loved living there but we were too sensitive to the VOG.

We spent a few months living in Oregon but the air was really bad due to the wildfires. The air eventually improved but then it started getting bad again due to people burning wood to warm their homes.

Right now we're in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The air is pretty good here. We're looking forward to our visit to Mexico! :dance:


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## PlayaWeatherman

Here are a couple links to articles on air quality:

Air quality in Mexico´s cities not acceptable

Pollution causes 14,000 deaths a year in Mexico | The Mexpatriate

This is from La Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources). In Spanish - but looks like lots of good info and links:
Instituto Nacional de Ecología y Cambio Climático


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## sparks

I hope LA is better now ... but back in the 60's I tried to hold my breath as we drove thru. I can't hold it for over an hour

The smoke in Oregon is often like here - burning fields after harvest. Also the lumber mills and their scrap burners. Probably not allowed anymore

Out in the country in Mexico is clean unless they are burning crops or neighbors burn their plastic. Lots of plastic recycling so not as much burning.

Even the Manzanillo bunker oil power station has switched over to LPG gas and very little air pollution to be seen in this area. The coasts tend to be good


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## Hound Dog

[_QUOTE=sparks;2527513]I hope LA is better now ... but back in the 60's I tried to hold my breath as we drove thru. I can't hold it for over an hour
The smoke in Oregon is often like here - burning fields after harvest. Also the lumber mills and their scrap burners. Probably not allowed anymore
Out in the country in Mexico is clean unless they are burning crops or neighbors burn their plastic. Lots of plastic recycling so not as much burning.
Even the Manzanillo bunker oil power station has switched over to LPG gas and very little air pollution to be seen in this area. The coasts tend to be good[/QUOTE]_

When one visits inland Chiapas, it´s not a good idea to go there in late March and April just before the rainy season that normally begins in May as that is the agricultural burning season and the air pollution and resultant overwhelming smoky haze is unpleasant. Normally splendid mountainous vistas are obscured and the air is noxious. That´s the way they practice agriculture down there - slash and burn - as they have since before recorded time. When the rainy season actually starts and the inundations commence, often whole indigenous villages are buried under tons of mud and countless thousands of the desperately poor killed because of denuded hillsides cleared for cattle grazing or illegal deforestation of unprotected forest lands. 

You don´t want to mess with people you don´t know in the backwoods down there.


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## JoanneR2

TravelLover said:


> Our upcoming trip to Mexico got delayed by a few months (it looks like we're coming in February 2014). :wave: We are a family that's into the outdoors and we also like to keep our windows open while home to let in fresh air. We just want to make sure we end up somewhere with clean air! :fingerscrossed: We are strongly leaning towards La Paz, BCS, based on a location that would most meet our needs, but I want to make sure the air was good there.  Is La Paz known for its clean air? What are some other places with clean air. I already know Mexico City is off the clean air list. :nono: Thank you everyone! So many WONDERFUL people on this forum have helped my family greatly!


I don't know what you are worrying about...I come from London and at least once a week someone asks me about the fog... I think all the Sherlock Holmes films have set expectations which, unfortunately, we cannot meet. The air is fine for us, both in England and here in México DF, though it wold be good if the rain in July didn't leave black marks on my clothes....


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## Isla Verde

JoanneR2 said:


> . . . The air is fine for us, both in England and here in México DF, though it wold be good if the rain in July didn't leave black marks on my clothes....


I have lived in Mexico city for over 6 years and don't recall the summer rain leaving black marks on my clothes. What part of the city do you live in?


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## TravelLover

JoanneR2 said:


> I don't know what you are worrying about...I come from London and at least once a week someone asks me about the fog... I think all the Sherlock Holmes films have set expectations which, unfortunately, we cannot meet. The air is fine for us, both in England and here in México DF, though it wold be good if the rain in July didn't leave black marks on my clothes....


I have asthma and so do my children so clean air is a HUGE priority! :nod:


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## Isla Verde

TravelLover said:


> I have asthma and so do my children so clean air is a HUGE priority! :nod:


Can't be sure but I would imagine that moving to a high-altitude area of Mexico (most of the central highlands would fit into that category) would not be a good idea if asthma is a concern for you and your children.


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## TravelLover

Isla Verde said:


> Can't be sure but I would imagine that moving to a high-altitude area of Mexico (most of the central highlands would fit into that category) would not be a good idea if asthma is a concern for you and your children.


Thank you Isla! We've been focusing on the areas with lower elevations! :grouphug:


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## dichosalocura

TravelLover, do consider the beautiful Lake Chapala area in the state of Jalisco. We are surrounded by beautiful mountains, a gorgeous large lake, wonderful spring weather year round, with fresh air with the hint of jazmine at night. Most shopping items can be found along the lake where there are several stores that specialize in what gringos want, do to the large number of expats in the area. The area is relatively extensive, being concentrated primarily between the towns of Chapala and Jocotepec (which is about a 45 min drive to go from Chapala to Joco) The ****** enclave, boutique village of Ajijic, lies right in the middle. But yet again you said you may prefer BC due to its proximity to the US.


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## lagoloo

I don't consider Ajijic a "boutique village" or a "****** enclave". The use of the term has a negative connotation. I'm choosing to assume the poster was just repeating what she or he has heard elsewhere rather than by doing much direct observation.

It looks better than some of the other Lakeside villages because there is an active group of people who joined together and painted out the graffiti.

As for being a "****** enclave", the overwhelming majority of the residents and businesses are Mexican, which is easily observed by anyone with his or her eyes open.

I chose to live next to downtown Ajijic for the convenience, walk ability and proximity to the lake.
My street doesn't have much snob appeal. For that, you need to head up into the hills or into the gated enclaves outside of Ajijic.

Having gotten that off my chest, I'd like to add that the air in the entire Lakeside area is cleaner than most places and the mild weather is easy on the body. Real Goldilocks country...........which is the reason most of the expat Lakeside residents chose to settle here. There's a lot to be said for a place where an easy drive brings you to a huge metropolis, and a shorter one to an international airport. For the older population, there are first class medical facilities when the need arises.


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## Anonimo

The air where we live on "Rancho X" is generally fresh and clean, except on the occasions that the Kimberly Clark paper factory smell, down in the Morelia valley is carried by an obstreperous wind in our direction.


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## citlali

I love the papermill smell, back in the south of France it was a sign of nice weather ahead when we could smell the plant so I have nice memories from it and later when we moved to Alabama someday we could also smell the paper mill and I love it too..that , skunk smell and French cheeses..I love them all...


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## JoanneR2

Isla Verde said:


> For a humongous-size city, the air-quality in Mexico City isn't so bad. This time of year it's pretty good, at least in my neighborhood, especially when I'm up on the roof hanging clothes and watering plants.


In La Condesa, though to be honest the black marks, including wet hair that left towels filthy, was after walking home in a downpour under the trees of Amsterdam. Still the film of dirt on the leaves comes from the atmosphere...


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## Hound Dog

Joanne:

Everything, including the air that sustains us, comes from the atmosphere. In the highland Chiapas city of San Crsitónal de Las Casas, where the air is crystal clear at 7,000 feet in the late spring defined there as that season just preceding the torrential rains of May through, normally, October, locals dread the breezy crystal days of April because the pleasant spring winds bring down into town the invisible but toxic microscopic human fecal matter having laid fallow in the countless fields surrounding the Jovel Valley excreted by countless poor people who have no plumbed bathrooms and this wiind-bourne and undetectable plague renders large segments of the population ill of serious digestive diseases so don´t get the idea that,just because you can´t see disease coming down the pike on the breeze doesn´t mean it´s not on its way. and may kill you or make you wish you were dead.


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## Hound Dog

[_QUOTE=Anonimo;2536321]The air where we live on "Rancho X" is generally fresh and clean, except on the occasions that the Kimberly Clark paper factory smell, down in the Morelia valley is carried by an obstreperous wind in our direction.[/QUOTE]_

An interesting observation, Anomino. Since I spent my youth and initial serious sexual adventures in Tuscaloosa . a paper mill town in the 1960s and the Los Angeles Basin during the same decade an area that, in those days smelled of smog and refinery residue, I, to this day, some 50 plus years later, associate the smell of paper mills and oil refineriies with youthful sexual adventure both in Tuscaloosa and Los Angeles. To each his own reminiscences.


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## Isla Verde

I first came to Mexico in the summer of 1966, a naive young woman of 20 who had never left the US before nor lived in a enormous metropolitan behemoth. It was a magical time for me, filled with classes at the UNAM, new friendships, the sounds of Spanish everywhere, mornings blessed with warm sunshine followed by daily afternoon downpours, plus the pungent smell of automobile exhaust emissions in the air. For many years, the smell of a city in summertime immediately took me back to that wonderful time!


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## mes1952

If you're looking for clean air, you definitely won't find it anywhere in Baja Norte. This state has the WORST air pollution in the country. The cities of Mexicali and Tijuana are in the top 5 and even surpass Mexico City which has made dramatic improvements in air quality in the past 5 years.


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## Anonimo

*Hound Dog Revelations!*



Hound Dog said:


> [_QUOTE=Anonimo;2536321]The air where we live on "Rancho X" is generally fresh and clean, except on the occasions that the Kimberly Clark paper factory smell, down in the Morelia valley is carried by an obstreperous wind in our direction._






> An interesting observation, Anomino. Since I spent my youth and initial serious sexual adventures in Tuscaloosa . a paper mill town in the 1960s and the Los Angeles Basin during the same decade an area that, in those days smelled of smog and refinery residue, I, to this day, some 50 plus years later, associate the smell of paper mills and oil refineriies with youthful sexual adventure both in Tuscaloosa and Los Angeles. To each his own reminiscences.


Wow, Hound Dog, I'm hoping that someday soon, you'll write your biography. I'll buy a copy.


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## Isla Verde

Anonimo said:


> [/I]
> 
> Wow, Hound Dog, I'm hoping that someday soon, you'll write your biography. I'll buy a copy.


Me too!


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## Hound Dog

Thank you Anonimo and Isla. I´m thinking of an intial printing in paperback and that autobiography will be super thin since I can´t remember anything except Mary Sue Johnson out of Birmingham circa 1964 and my favorite all-time doggie-oriented movie, _Best In Show_.


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## terrybahena

mes1952 said:


> If you're looking for clean air, you definitely won't find it anywhere in Baja Norte. This state has the WORST air pollution in the country. The cities of Mexicali and Tijuana are in the top 5 and even surpass Mexico City which has made dramatic improvements in air quality in the past 5 years.



Well for Baja norte....I am about 15 miles south of Ensenada, and granted, right on the beach...but the air is fresh and clear...the bluest skies and starriest nites. Of course right now it's raining, but I just wanted to comment. I need to get out my maps (not on the walls in this house...yet) and see exactly where we are...


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## RickS

_" Thank you Anonimo and Isla. I´m thinking of an intial printing in paperback and that autobiography will be super thin since I can´t remember anything except Mary Sue Johnson out of Birmingham circa 1964 and my favorite all-time doggie-oriented movie, Best In Show."
_


So, Dawg, this isn't a veiled reference to...... two dogs, right!?!


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## Hound Dog

_


terrybahena said:



Well for Baja norte....I am about 15 miles south of Ensenada, and granted, right on the beach...but the air is fresh and clear...the bluest skies and starriest nites. Of course right now it's raining, but I just wanted to comment. I need to get out my maps (not on the walls in this house...yet) and see exactly where we are...

Click to expand...

_TerryB:

You are not the same person who owned (or still own) that home on the wild Pacific beach at remote Playa Ventura, Guerrero and then moved on Puerto Peñasco, Sonora and, if I am right, are now in Northern Baja, are you? Not that it is any of my business but I´m just curious.If you answer affirmatively, I have some other questions for you which you may or may not wish to answer but let me say up front, I admire your sense of advnture if you are, indeed, that person.


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## Hound Dog

[_QUOTE=RickS;2544897]" Thank you Anonimo and Isla. I´m thinking of an intial printing in paperback and that autobiography will be super thin since I can´t remember anything except Mary Sue Johnson out of Birmingham circa 1964 and my favorite all-time doggie-oriented movie, Best In Show."



So, Dawg, this isn't a veiled reference to...... two dogs, right!?![/QUOTE]_

Mary Sue was no dawg but she admired some of their reproductive techniques which I came to relish as well under her tutelage.


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## terrybahena

Hound Dog said:


> TerryB:
> 
> You are not the same person who owned (or still own) that home on the wild Pacific beach at remote Playa Ventura, Guerrero and then moved on Puerto Peñasco, Sonora and, if I am right, are now in Northern Baja, are you? Not that it is any of my business but I´m just curious.If you answer affirmatively, I have some other questions for you which you may or may not wish to answer but let me say up front, I admire your sense of advnture if you are, indeed, that person.


Yes this is me! Of course you can ask me whatever you like....ha ha I just don't promise to answer.....just kidding. Yeah we have moved around a bit, and well, we'll see what comes next!


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## Hound Dog

[_QUOTE=terrybahena;2545601]Yes this is me! Of course you can ask me whatever you like....ha ha I just don't promise to answer.....just kidding. Yeah we have moved around a bit, and well, we'll see what comes next![/QUOTE]_

Well, we have done that mving about bit as well, Terry and have enjoyed the adventure. I asked you about your movements from Playa Ventura to Rocky Point to Northern Baja because these are very different places with very different climates and I find your venture interesting. 

Forget Rocky Point and Northern Baja, places I would never consider as points upon which to reside. Playa Ventura seemed a possibility as we reside in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas and at Lake Chapala so we thought that Playa Ventura would be a nice in-between place on the ocean to have a home and found out through the internet that you might be willing to sell a beach front home there. While Playa Ventura was not for us, as it turned out, it is a most attractive and somewhat mysterious and isolated beachfront community visited by wild and challenging Pacific Ocean swells against a rocky coastland which we found a bit overwhelming as everyday fare but which many might love. I found it interesting that you seem to love oceanfront living but traded that Playa Ventura unforgiving and isolating ocean swell for the more placid Sea of Cortez swell of Rocky Point and then moved on to the entirely different and, I would say, somewhat placid and even cold Pacific swells of Ensenada. In even one day, the unforgoving and constant crashing waves of Playa Ventura challenged my sanity but many would love it there. I lived on the wild Paciific for some ten years off off of the Devil´s Slide area overlooking the ocean south of San Francisco and loved it so I know why this sort of environment attracts you. Good luck in your search.


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## terrybahena

Well Hound Dog, We started in Playa Ventura because my friend in the US is from there & she told me to stay at her house on a vacation. I fell in love with it, and was quite naive in my thinking that I could live somewhere I had only vacationed. Truthfully it all started with fear...because I had gone thru breast cancer treatment and although was "pronounced cured", I was afraid- guess I saw/felt how precious life could be and didn't want to die regretting the things I didn't try...and I had talked about moving to Mexico for a long time.

So I jumped in...feet first, eyes closed ha ha. That house happened to be for sale on my first visit and I just had to have it, so I bought it (and ouch did they see me coming-I'll never get close to what I paid...but I'm over it). But as you all know, after 6 months of the loud crashing ocean, even tho there was a great place to swim, and hubby brought home fresh fish and live lobster, it was just too remote for me. Somethings I just had to discover for myself. Hubby (who is Mexican) knew I'd going nuts there, but says I had to find it out on my own, so off we went. 
Puerto Penasco was not my choice, it was his. He had lived there 10 years before, when it was booming and everybody was making money. Since he so graciously followed me to Guererro, it was only fair to try Penasco next. I didn't care for it, but agreed to stay awhile. I got into teaching adults English at a community center and that was a gift- very cool- one of the best things I've ever done in my life. I think I got much more out of it then my students! But the desert is just not for me, and after suffering (yes suffering) thru the summer there, I just couldn't do it anymore. We came to Ensenada for a trip, and found some friends of my husband (he knows people everywhere it seems), and came a little further south to Punta Banda to check it out. 

I'm from just north of San Francisco (Petaluma), so the ocean was one I recognized, as well as nice days and cool nites. I swam in the ocean every day in Playa Ventura, but not in Penasco, maybe once a week...I know the water's cold here, but as I said, I'm used to that. One other thing that at least for now has a huge influence on me is my daughters. I didn't know until I left how much I needed them in my life. Flying to Acapulco is a LOT more expensive than to San Diego and then driving or driving the whole way (about 10 hours). So we will probly continue to visit Playa Ventura, and after a month here I like it....but ha ha after a month I say I like everywhere...so I'll check back in another 5 months after that maybe! I love Mexico and we visited so many places I could live, but for now, closer to my kids needs to be it...and somewhere I enjoy....long reply eh? And did you actually ask me anything? 

Oh and the house is still for sale...and anyone is welcome to go stay in it -on us- for a few days!


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## Longford

Living in Guerrero is not for the faint of heart. I think that's especially true when it comes to living along the Costa Chica south of Acapulco. And especially true for an expat. Even a Mexican who's lived abroad and returns home. It can be very unforgiving. And at times welcoming, with open arms. Having said that, it's an area I've explored extensively for about the past 30 years. Guerrero is the state and the Costa Chica and the La Montana (accent marks missing) regions are the areas of Mexico I know most intimately. I believe Playa Ventura is someplace I could live and be happy. But I'd have to make periodic trips to Mexico City and Acapulco to balance the solitude of Playa Ventura with the urban experiences. I've learned to live simply, which helps. And I have friends from both Mexico and the USA who would be visiting me. But one never knows if the place they think would be right for them will actually be that ... until after living some place full-time for periods longer than the typical vacation visit or lengthier familiarization trips. Those of us who pay attention to the Christian religious calendar know that we're in the season of Advent. It's the season of patient waiting. One of the things we don't understand when we are young is waiting. Waiting for this. Waiting for that. As I approach 65 years of age I've learned that good things can come ... to people who wait. May we all find what we're looking for, after the wait.


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## JoanneR2

Hound Dog said:


> Joanne: Everything, including the air that sustains us, comes from the atmosphere. In the highland Chiapas city of San Crsitónal de Las Casas, where the air is crystal clear at 7,000 feet in the late spring defined there as that season just preceding the torrential rains of May through, normally, October, locals dread the breezy crystal days of April because the pleasant spring winds bring down into town the invisible but toxic microscopic human fecal matter having laid fallow in the countless fields surrounding the Jovel Valley excreted by countless poor people who have no plumbed bathrooms and this wiind-bourne and undetectable plague renders large segments of the population ill of serious digestive diseases so don´t get the idea that,just because you can´t see disease coming down the pike on the breeze doesn´t mean it´s not on its way. and may kill you or make you wish you were dead.


Jajaja Thanks for that cheery post. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger....


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## JoanneR2

Isla Verde said:


> Me too!


And me...go on, you know you want to do it


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## ojosazules11

JoanneR2 said:


> Jajaja Thanks for that cheery post. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger....


And the Spanish version of that is _"Lo que no mata, engorda"_ - what doesn't kill you, makes you fat. 

Back on the topic of air quality, I found a recent study done by the _Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad_ (Mexican Institute for Competitivity) on air quality in various Mexican cities. Unfortunately, many of the cities studied did not provide meterologic data regarding air quality, so the colour ratings for these cities is simply black, representing "No data". The cities which provided this data were assigned a colour code using the following rating system: 

Green: Good
Yellow: Could be improved
Orange: Harmful for vulnerable groups
Red: Harmful for entire population
Brown: Dangerous
Purple: Unacceptable
Black: No data

For the cities with "No Data" re direct air quality measurements, they still do provide data regarding number of deaths attributable to poor air quality, along with hospitalizations, medical visits/consults, and peso amounts for lost productivity and health care costs, so some comparison can be made. It would be easier to compare city to city if the deaths/hospitalizations/medical consults were broken down into per capita numbers, but it appears they have just used absolute numbers. For those interested here is the link:

La contaminación del aire: un problema que daña la salud y la economía | Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad A.C.--la-contaminacion-del-aire-un-problema-que-dana-la-salud-y-la-economia

From this main page, there are links to the specific information for each city. The information is in Spanish, but with enough visual cues (e.g. skull and crossbones to represent deaths) that with even rudimentary Spanish it can be understood.

I found it especially interesting that for all the bad rap *Mexico City *gets in terms of contamination, it has an *Orange rating (harmful for vulnerable groups)*, while nearby *Cuernavaca*, the City of Eternal Spring, has a *Brown rating (Dangerous)*. The best of the cities which provided direct air quality data was Puebla-Tlaxcala, with a yellow rating. The worst by far was Mexicali, with the "Unacceptable" Purple rating.

Here is another link to the PDF of the compilation of all the cities as well as the national average:

http://imco.org.mx/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Fichas_por_ciudad_completo.pdf


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## JaunMadera

anywhere that gets afternoon breezes consistently is going to be pretty good.... so all the coastal cities for sure. 

We stayed at the Hotel El Tapatio & Resort when in Guadalajara, which sits on a hill looking north over the city. If I recall correctly, it was hazy until the afternoon, then the breezes would kick in, and would clear right up.

I think most of what you see, particularly in Mexico, is more dust than anything else. I know there are plenty of exhaust fumes, but diesel settles rather than gets suspended, and the rest of it isn't actually visible.


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## TundraGreen

JaunMadera said:


> anywhere that gets afternoon breezes consistently is going to be pretty good.... so all the coastal cities for sure.
> 
> We stayed at the Hotel El Tapatio & Resort when in Guadalajara, which sits on a hill looking north over the city. If I recall correctly, it was hazy until the afternoon, then the breezes would kick in, and would clear right up.
> 
> I think most of what you see, particularly in Mexico, is more dust than anything else. I know there are plenty of exhaust fumes, but diesel settles rather than gets suspended, and the rest of it isn't actually visible.


In Guadalajara, the smog seems to be worst on the south side of the city, down towards the airport. In the winter, there is a lot of particulate matter in the atmosphere. Tables and things left out in the patio pick up a layer of grit in a matter of hours. In the wet season, the air is much cleaner.


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