It Is What It Is

This phrase, a tautology, was thrown at me the first time I complained about something in Mexico. 

It is what it is.

That's some Zen bull#$t thrown back in my face. How dare you sir! It was a reminder to relax and experience the wonders of this new universe, including the harsh parts.

It is what it is.

No doubt the first time I had this used on me was after slamming into a tope, the only traffic enforcement in Mexico, the speed bump. These topes can be found when entering towns, leaving towns, along the road where the locals think you should stop and shop, at the beginning of a new intersection, or at the end. 

A tope can be a graceful bump, a sharp crashing affair, or the worst, the fake-out, where the lines of the tope are painted after the actual tope, rather than on it. Don't you dare try to time your tope. Topes can have pot holes on them, making them a double hazard. 

The key to avoiding a tope disaster is to follow another car and watch for their brake lights, or how they've been launched into the air for being inattentive. Just note the motorcycles are generally immune to topes, so don't think you can follow one of those to gain tope clues. Stupid topes.

It is what it is.

I've stated that if I were King of Mexico, something Mexican society is entirely and wholeheartedly aligned to prevent down to its bones*, there would be two royal edicts:

1. Abolish topes

2. Stop burning trash

That's it. Those are my only two requirements to vastly improve life in Mexico. No magic wands to stop the drug trade or public corruption. Topes and trash burning. But...

It is what it is.

After a month or two I realized the tope, by its very nature, must be the only effective traffic enforcement method in Mexico. I don't even know what the police do. The police in Mexico who stop people for traffic violations tend to be the corrupt ones, which isn't to say that the police in Mexico are corrupt, only that the vast majority don't care what you do on the road. I got a ticket within minutes of entering Mexico and then they didn't care for the next 2,500 miles.

It is what it is.

What burns me about the tope is that my entire driving demeanor in Mexico, pulling a trailer, is mechanical sympathy. I'm doing everything I can to keep the trailer intact. I dodge potholes, avoid uneven pavement, keep my speed low, and hope to have a co-pilot to spot topes before I slam into them. But that's not always the case.

It is what it is.

I have come to accept the dreaded topes, in all its shapes and sizes, its warning to reduce my speed, its deception, how it can be turned towards commerce rather than safety. They do a job of calming traffic that apparently is only possible through this method.  Now if Mexico could just outlaw trash burning.

It is what it is.

* I'm fascinated by how the Mexican people view their revolution compared to Americans. It's wildly different and super interesting. I need to research this more.