Why is Mexico so dirty and dusty?
One reason that many Mexican towns stay dusty is the rainy season from May to October. The usual scenario is that it rains every afternoon from about 5pm to about 6pm and washes some mud out of the hills. The next day, the dirt dries in the cobblestone streets; then as cars run over it, it lifts the dry dirt into the air and it slowly settles back down on cars, in homes and in stores. One reason that many homes are unfinished is that property taxes are less on an unfinished home than they are on a completed home. So they leave a little piece unfinished to save money. The gringos who retire to Mexico live in completed homes and are happy to pay the full property tax which is only about one-tenth of what they were paying in the states. But the town doesn’t bring in enough revenue to buy a street sweeping machine.
