These are the unwritten rules of living in Mexico.
The first unwritten rule of Mexico is that
if a man and a woman are walking together on the sidewalk
and the woman is on the side closest to the traffic,
well, then she's not your girlfriend or wife.
You're her pimp, and she's for sale.
So if you're ever walking down the sidewalk
with your partner, make sure that she's on the inside,
away from traffic, because this is really ingrained
into Mexican culture, and it's really, really important.
I know this can be hard sometimes
because, like, you switch sides of the street,
and then you have to shuffle around, switch positions.
Or like, we're walking with Laska,
May and I are walking with Laska,
and Laska's wanting to sniff the wall over here,
but that's the side that May's supposed to be on as well,
that can make it a little bit more tricky.
But I still always try to make sure that May is walking
on the non-traffic side of the sidewalk.
Respect for elders is really important in Mexican culture,
but be very careful throwing around the word "señora".
So, historically speaking,
senora is what you would call a woman if she's married,
and senorita is what you would call a woman
if she's unmarried.
However, more recently, senora means you're old,
and senorita means you're young.
Every Mexican woman remembers with horror
the first time they were ever called senora.
This is like using the word ma'am in the US.
So just default to the word senorita,
and you're gonna be good.
This is a quick unwritten rule
regarding restaurants in Mexico.
If you go to a restaurant here
and they bring out bread to your table,
well, if that's sweet bread,
there's an additional cost to it.
But if it's any other kind of bread,
that's going to be free.
Another unwritten rule is that,
if you're a foreigner here in Mexico,
you better be very careful delivering criticism of Mexico.
I learned when I was younger
that if you're ever going to criticize someone
or critique someone,
you better deliver that in a shit sandwich.
So a shit sandwich is you have a good thing first,
then the shit in the middle,
and then another good thing at the end.
So if you ever have criticisms about Mexico,
make sure you do that in a shit sandwich.
Otherwise, a lot of people will take it in a bad way.
The next unwritten rule of Mexico
is that traffic laws are optional.
If the speed limit is 110 kilometers per hour,
you better be doing at least 130.
Or if you can only turn left from the left lane,
well, then it's perfectly okay to turn left
from the far-right lane too.
(laughing) Of course, I'm joking when I say this.
But I'm joking and I'm serious at the same time,
if you know what I mean. (laughing)
But don't go breaking the traffic laws.
Another unwritten rule of Mexico
is that you start every conversation with a greeting.
This is actually one that was pretty hard
for me to get used to.
So you wouldn't go up to someone and say, "Hi, excuse me.
Could you please give me directions to this place?"
You would say, "Hi, how are you?
Could you please give me directions to this place?"
Even if you say please, it's still considered rude
in the interaction if you don't start it with a greeting.
So you wouldn't say to your landlord,
"Hi, I wanted to let you know that the water is leaking."
You would say, "Hi, good afternoon.
I wanted to let you know that the water is leaking."
And if you don't do that, it's considered very rude here,
so make sure you do.
If you're walking into a store,
you always hold the door for the people behind you.
Let's say you're walking into a grocery store,
and you open up the door,
and there's some people behind you.
Even if they're not right behind you,
you always hold the door open for them
and either let them walk through
or let them get close enough
that they can put a hand on the door to hold it open.
And if you don't do that, that's considered rude.
And if you're going into a grocery store
or another big-box store in Mexico,
when you go to check out, you're probably going to see
that there is people there bagging your groceries
or bagging your purchases.
And these people, with the exception of those at Costco,
are not employees, and you absolutely must tip them
because they're not making any kind of wage.
So no matter what you're buying,
probably throw them five pesos.
If you're buying more stuff, maybe even more than that.
Something else people don't really tell you
but you just learn is that if anyone sneezes
in your vicinity, you're supposed to say "salud",
meaning health.
So this is just the equivalent of saying "bless you"
in the US.
It's the same politeness, the same nicety to say salud.
The next thing you need to know is that,
when you go into a restaurant in Mexico,
you're supposed to say "provecho"
to the other people dining there, meaning "enjoy your meal".
And you say this whether they've had their food already,
whether they've finished their food, doesn't matter.
Just say provecho to them.
And also, the same applies
when you're leaving the restaurant.
You're supposed to acknowledge the other people eating there
and say provecho to them as well.
And it's very likely that someone will say this to you,
in which case you would just reply with "gracias".
The next thing you need to know is that,
if you visit a restaurant in Mexico,
it's expected that you buy a paid drink.
Now, if you go to a nicer restaurant, it's very likely
that they'll bring you out a free glass of water.
However, everybody orders a paid drink
in addition to the free glass of water,
which is very different from in the US, because in the US,
it's very common for the only drink you have
during your meal to be that free glass of water.