Fringe benefits

The current Mexican president, Felipe Calderon, was sworn into office in December of 2006 after winning a controversial election. (Sound familiar?) As it turns out, Calderon is from Morelia and his mother lives only a few blocks from El Bosque, Morelia’s Central Park.

We took Jade and Marley to the park in El Bosque upon our arrival before Calderon’s inauguration. “Old school” would be the phrase to describe the playground equipment at the park – metal structures securely set in concrete slabs. Fun was much higher on the designers’ agenda than safety, to say the least. While we always had fun at the playground, Joyce and I breathed a sigh of relief every time Jade left unscathed.

In March or April, they closed down the playgrounds and surrounded the site with ten-foot walls of plywood. When it opened in May, the people of Morelia feasted their eyes upon a glorious, enormous, state-of-the-art playground including an exercise loop for adults. I’m sure that the city of Morelia will happen upon other public works projects that will be funded at the federal level. Living in the birth place of the current president over the next six years will have its benefits.