Sat, Jun 7 - We all went to the market today. That was quite the experience. It's hot here, but not any hotter than it was in Cancun two weeks ago; probably because I'm mostly in air conditioned places. The noise is amazing, and so many people. The beggars crowd around us everywhere we go, even when we're in the car stopped at a red light. They totally target the visitors/vacationers. Everywhere I've driven since arriving here Thursday night I've seen people living in the street median, on the roadside, in the barest of shacks, cooking on an open fire in all those places. It's what I remember when I first went to Tijuana about 40 years ago - just awful. I'm glad I was prepared, but I don't think you ever get over the extremes that are so glaringly evident here because it's everywhere you go. It's not like in the U.S. where there might be a "bad" part of town. You are literally surrounded at all times by this extreme poverty - at one point we had at least a dozen beggars circling our group as we walked through the marketplace last night to get to the restaurant, all of them imploring us for money, including a mother with a baby holding an empty bottle. It breaks your heart, but you can't possibly give money to them all. In fact, if you give it to even one of them even more will descend upon you. Matthew (one of the guys, who speaks Hindi and has lived here awhile), says he only gives to people who are missing limbs. Probably a good guideline for me to remember.
