Foreign Native

A fair rule about torn banknotes is that if you have more than half of the note, then it’s valid, but less than half isn’t. In Mexico merchants of all kinds will reject banknotes that have any part missing, and many will refuse to receive bills that are torn in any way, taped together, or [...]

One of the concomitants of Mexico’s large informal economy is a large number of hand-painted signs, and these provide undisputable public evidence that spelling – ortografía -  is not one of the people’s fortés. The practical thing to do when making a sign for a shop or even a street stall would be to go to the professional signmakers [...]

The Sven-Goran Eriksson “era” in charge of Mexico’s national football team came to an end when, for the second time under the Swedish boss, the team went down to Honduras in San Pedro Sula. Last time could be considered bad luck, a single own-goal decided the match. On Wednesday night, despite having most of the [...]