Mexican Drivers

There is definitely one thing I have learned about Mexican drivers (please excuse my stereotyping in the following post). True, all road sign postings seem to be mere suggestions not actual rules, and yes, at times they seem crazy and ignorant of danger in the way they drive. But the thing I have found most interesting about Mexican drivers is their amazing spatial intelligence. Practically every Mexican driver has a very good sense of how much space his/her car takes up. I think about how we sometimes hit other people's parked cars when pulling out of a nicely marked parking space at the mall and then think about squeezing between a parked car, a pile of dirt, people walking and another car coming in the opposite direction with inches between the cars. Or, someone parallel parking where there is just enough room for the car they are driving...no error room at all. One thing can be said: I have yet to learn where every corner of the cars I drive are (my excuse is that I drive, on average, three different cars a week). I leave that to the experienced Mexican drivers and try to trust their confident, "pasale, pasale" (pass, keep driving) when I am sure that the inch between our trucks will soon become a scrapping noise, painful to the ear. I don't think I will ever experience driving as close to other cars as I have here, when I return to the states. But perhaps you better watch out for when I get back...I may be picking up some bad habits.