Mexico is labor intensive. This is a good thing for an aspiring country (developing nation). For some months now the Mexican government has had a work force remodeling building fronts along Hildalgo street. Calle Miguel Hidalgo is the main drag heading one way (west to east) through the town of Xico.
A week or so ago a project to place electrical wires underground was started along Hildalgo and a few other main roadways in town. How nice it will be to have those webs of wires removed from view. Signs of progress.
This while the U.S. labor market struggles; struggles like it hasn’t for more than 25 years. In fact current unemployment in the first world country to our north is double that of our little developing nation.
The other morning it was rainy and foggy; generally miserable. I was reading. I heard shrill whistling that silenced the birds and interrupted my moment. Across the way I spied a propane truck – common around here. But, when I saw what the two workers were up to I had to get a picture or two.
The big truck carried an extension ladder and rope. In the miserable weather one hombre climbed the fully extended ladder to the roof top of the two story casa across the way from us. He then dropped a rope down to the other hombre. He secured the heavy filling hose and nozzle to the rope. It was hauled topside in order to fill a 300 liter tank on the roof top.
The hombre aloft had whistled to his partner to secure the line and then release hose from the spool on the rear of the truck. As the tank was filling he continued to whistle while he worked.
I, like most U.S. laborers, might have been grumbling about having to be doing this in cold rainy weather; and adding the question out to the air and anyone within listening range, “WHY would anyone install a gas tank atop their house?”
Lot sizes are typically narrow and small in Mexico pueblos. Every square meter of property is utilized. Often a casa will cover every square centimeter of land space. Naturally building up – placing propane tanks, drying laundry, storing furniture and things you might find in a metal shed in the U.S. and walking the dog rooftop is common practice.
Propane gas is about half the cost typical in the U.S. There is no extra charge for hefting large tanks of gas or filling tanks on rooftops – just part of the job.
Occasionally when I see many hombres out doing work that might be more easily done with heavy equipment I scoff at the inefficiency; the labor intensiveness. But then I see that Mexico, a developing nation, has half the unemployment of the first world nation hovering a top their land. I think maybe those people up there have outsmarted themselves.
Today is beginning sunny. Dogs will be warming themselves at roofs edge. Clothes will be hung on rooftops to bask in the sun and propane hombres will climb to rooftops sans yellow rain gear. It will be a good day here reaching to the 70’s.
That hombre will still be whistling as he works I am sure. He has a job and happy for that. Stay Tuned!
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I suspect the numbers are a bit skewed — “unemployment” being a political term far more than an economic term. But I suspect your bottom line is correct: Mexican workers seem to enjoy their employment far more than most of my American friends.
Comment by Steve Cotton 01.28.10 @ 10:36 amHidalgo is one way south east. Just wanted you to know I was paying attention.
Comment by Carlos 01.28.10 @ 11:34 amThe workers doing my ramada/flood control project are carrying rocks one at a time, buckets of sand one at a time, shaping rocks for the wall one at a time. No machines. It would make gringo workers crazy. But I’ll be able to say it’s all hecho a mano.
Comment by 1st Mate 01.28.10 @ 1:40 pmI admit, I have a gas tank on the rooftop. That is because the person who set up our water system placed one tank in the ground for the downstairs water, and a tank on the roof for the upstairs water. Upstairs is where the bathroom & shower is, so when we decided we wanted hot water for showers in the fall, the only option was to hook up a gas tank & hot water heater on the roof. Our gas guy never complains about hauling it up there, in fact, neither does the water guy or any other delivery service person when they are inconvenienced.
Comment by Leah Flinn 01.28.10 @ 2:23 pmSteve – debatable issue for sure – my take is everyone that wants to work in Mexico has a job – I don’t believe that is the case in the U.S. – and yes the Mexican workers are definitely happier.
Bliss – Man made or hand made certainly has a greater truth to it here in Mexico 
Leah – Having the heat source closer to the hot water departure point is always a good idea – I have no real problem with the tank on the roof. Just rather amazed that the service people are filling those tanks with a smile – rain or shine
Carlos -Oops – and here I am the man with a compass and a GPS. Duh – I made the change thank you.
Comment by John Calypso 01.28.10 @ 3:23 pmWe too have a stationary gas tank on our roof. It was there when we moved in.
My 5 year old son has said that he wants to be a gas man when he grows up. He says that they have a cool job. They get to drive all around town making noise and they get to climb on roofs. 
Philosophical (spelling?) question indeed. I am here in Nayarit building a beach house. Today, I took my truck and drove 100 m down the road where a sand and gravel truck mistakenly dumped our sand and gravel. I happily shoveled it into my pickup and hauled it to our project. Several truckload trips later, I felt happy to have salvaged the situation. Efficient? No. At one time I made $100 dollars/hour in Pennsylvania solving electronic problems (also happily). There is a psychological reward for dominating a situation, and for me it is about half physical and half mental.
Hence the happy Mexican gas-man. life is good.
Occasionally when I see many hombres out doing work that might be more easily done with heavy equipment I scoff at the inefficiency; the labor intensiveness.
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That’s why Don Quixote was tilting at windmills…to keep the underdogs in jobs.
Bob if anyone is tilting at windmills it is the U.S. war effort.
Keeping people working has to be a good thing – perhaps re-education (re-training) needs to be in step with mechanization?
Comment by John Calypso 01.30.10 @ 7:29 amIt’s the same way in China too. WIth that many people, it is good that they are kept busy.
I wonder what will make the U.S. government wake up. I think only something like anarchy in the streets and the social unrest of the 1960s will make the government take notice.
Maybe it is too late . . . nobody has the guts to protest and organize in that kind of way. There are no leaders in the U.S.
Comment by John A 01.31.10 @ 10:24 amCalypso and John A,
I think you have something there. What are people going to do, wash each other’s cars and cut each other’s grass for a living? This question surfaced in 1811 in England with the Luddite movement and the theme of the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s manifesto was “the Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race”. I wouldn’t go that far because without the Industrial Revolution we couldn’t be blogging about it but somewhere between the two there is a nugget of truth.
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