Of Signs and Fridges

We knew it was a bad sign when the first fridge didn’t seem to have all the normal packaging new appliances are usually born with. Fridge #2 did. We checked at the store. We made them unpack it and plug it in so we could hear it whir. Fridge #1 did not whir. Fridge #2 whirs. Fridge #2 also makes things cold. We have experienced great success with fridge #2 so far. It whirs. It makes things cold. It does not glare at us from the corner.

This is reason for celebration. I might buy more cheese.

While on our way to Guadalajara to exchange Bad Fridge for Good Fridge, I tried to capture a photograph of my favorite sign in Mexico.



It proclaims Guadalajara to be the Silicon Valley of Mexico. I’m sorry it’s not a better shot. I’ll try to take a better one the next time we head up.

Before I moved to the area, I read on the World Wide Web that Guadalajara is known as Mexico’s Silicon Valley. Because the World Wide Web and Wikipedia, in particular, clearly know all, I was inclined to accept this as truth, despite some misgivings. I didn’t realize, however, that the city itself proclaims this supposed similarity. I wonder who decided it was necessary to use a sign to try to convince people of this.

I like this sign so much because Guadalajara isn’t really much like the Silicon Valley. We see this sign as we enter the city, and so we always enter the city with a chuckle. Sometimes we see this sign, and then we see a herd of cattle on the highway. Or a lane of traffic occupied by small children on horseback. Or semi trucks barreling down the wrong side of the highway. Pretty much all things I never saw during my stay in Siliconlandia. I’ll try to get some shots of these things too next time.

Guadalajara is a big, sprawly, dirty, smoggy city. We don’t really like it much, but we find ourselves there often. I'll probably write about it the next time we get stuck there, lost because of the lack of street signs.

I’m including two other signs I rather enjoy. The first can be seen when leaving El Paso for Ciudad Juarez.



The second is a very common road sign.



It instructs one to not leave rocks on the pavement. No Deje Piedras Sobre El Pavimiento. I have been tempted many times to do just this, but these signs are everywhere, spoiling my plans. I ask, was this such a problem in Mexico that there was a need for thousands of these signs?