It is after 7 AM in the morning and the sun has still not risen. Back in the desert the sun is full blast by 5 AM. This place is 5000 kms south. What a difference that makes! In Riverside every thing is brown. Here everything is green, tropical green. Mexico is so beautiful. I never thought I would say anything like that.

In America we have this idea that Mexico is some kind of a trashy run down ugly country, but what I have seen so far is just the opposite. From the airport to wherever I have am we drove 200 kms througth the countyside yesterday. What I saw was most impressive. I think of Mexico in term of Tiajana, which is a trashy broader town, but here nothing is trashy. Now I realize that I am staying in one of the finest resort hotels, but what I am saying is based on what I saw in the countryside along the way, all 200 kms of it. I now am forced to reassess my opinion of Mexico. I have just returned from a morning walk that lasted over an hour. The place reminds me of India except that it is clean. We sometimes joke about what is the difference between India and Mexico, India has Krishna. Maybe, but Mexico is much cleaner! This place is a tropical wonderland. Birds! You remember them. Waking in Canada was always to the sound of birds. Here the birds are amazing.

Driving to this place I noticed one distinct feature. There were no bill boards! We drove for two and a half hours and except within the villages and towns there were no bill boards. What a difference that makes. Bill boards shout at you. Noise. Noise Noise. They talk about America as being the best place on earth. It is propaganda. This place is quite reasonable. I see nice cars, not as big as America, but new and clean. It is not the place I expected. Not the Tijawana I expected.