Puebla, Day Six

I brought two pairs of shoes with me on this trip.  A pair of decent black walking shoes and some beat up old runners that are visibly falling apart.  Until today I have been wearing exclusively the runners, since they are very comfortable and my feet like them, but as I said they are looking beat up so today, almost two weeks into my trip, I switched to the walking shoes.  Oh, they are very comfortable shoes that wear well and still have a long life span ahead of them, but it took one chance encounter to remind me that it is better to wear the beat up runners: a street shoe shiner began to pursue me.  It wasn't really that bad, he wasn't rude or aggressive, just a good natured pest.  I finally managed to politely put him off, but turned onto a side street  to dode him just in case.  So, I am back to the runners.  There is a part of Puebla that is made up of connecting squares, plazas and pedestrian walkways and they never seem to be very crowded and have decent looking shops and cafes and... trees!  I have finally come across a street in this part of town with trees.  I revisted the craft and artisan market and one of the merchants was very eager to sell me a sarape, even offering me a discount.  I do like the sarape, but even on a vacation I avoid impulse buying. Understanding that he needs to make a living I am probably going to buy it at it's original price, since even then I would likely be paying double for it in Canada. There are very beautiful wares on sale here for a pittance and even someone as austere and cost conscious as me has to take care not to overspend on stuff I am not going to need.  Besides, the real wealth of being here is not in the stuff that gets bought but the act of being here.
     I am thinking today that there are a lot of things that Vancouver and Puebla need to learn from each other.  I think Vancouver could do a lot more to beautify some of its major streets much as they are here in Puebla and elsewhere in Mexico.  I have this image of Kingsway, a particularly ugly traffic thoroughfare that bisects our city being given a broad meridian boulevard planted with trees and gardens with a pedestrian walkway and a bike path down the middle and an electric street car line on both sides.  I also would love to see more colour in Vancouver, brightly painted building facades and more beautifully appointed public
squares and thoroughfares for pedestrians and cyclists.  Puebla, on the other hand could use a major upgrading on its infrastructrure, better traffic lights that are pedestrian friendly, better sidewalks and more done for senior ladies so that they don´t have to beg on the street to survive.