Mexico Burn Out

As my time here draws to a close I think I have accepted that I have drawn all I need from being in Mexico.  I know that coming here the last couple of times has been a default option for lack of funds to go anywhere else and this time the noise and the squalor have become at times overwhelming which is sad because there is still so much beauty that I appreciate here and the people are for the most part wonderful.  Mexico is still a poor country, with corrupt politics, poorly developed infrastructure and a population generally very conservative and I think over the longterm traumatized from being from historically being governed by presidents and parties and, yes, a military, that really seems to hate the people who put them in power and whose taxes keep their sorry asses alive and thriving.  There is no magic wand or easy solution for this country.  It has to come from its own people whom I think are simply too tired and burned out with having to survive to have much time or strength to stand up to this dysfunctional government and system.  There are pockets of protest here and there and they are very vocal and for the most part permitted but I get the feeling that many people either are two busy coping or too indifferent or too drunk to do much of anything.  I am really hoping that the voices of protest here keep being heard and that eventually a fire is lit that will not be quenched but will bring about the changes that this country needs to flourish, not as a member of NAFTA and other free trade pacts but as a nation that cares for its people.
     Today I saw on el Paseo de la Reforma a homeless man lying on the sidewalk, exposed to the sun (we are in the middle of a heat wave here) and nicely dressed people simply not noticing that he might be dead or dying for all they care.  I don´t blame them for their indifference.  They must themselves feel helpless and that their hands are tied, that is, if they even saw him.  But this often seems to be the fate of single people who have been abandoned by their families and traumatized.  I read recently that this is why so many grandmothers end up begging on the street.  They have been abandoned and-or traumatized and there simply are no resources available to really help them.
     It has been easy today to chat casually with strangers.  I noticed a small group of Middle Eastern Muslims getting into a car, the women all wearig hijab.  A working class looking guy looked at them rather bemused and I explained to him that we have a lot of Muslims in Canada and even if the hijab seems kind of strange at first one gets easily used to it, but it's the niqab or full face veil that can be hard to take and how in Quebec they are trying to pass legislation against the veil in government services and it's all very controversial.  It  sometimes amazes me here how unfamiliar Mexicans are with the concept of multiculturalism.
     While I was seated in front of a fountain in Condesa I noticed an older woman with a walker coming towards me so I moved over for her to sit down but she wanted to remain standing and engage me in converrsation.  It turns out that she has been to Ottawa, Quebec and Toronto and really likes Canada.
     Whether or not I return here, I really want to get the best out of my remaining time here in Mexico, regardless of the challenges.