Memento mori—remember you must die—is the subtext of Mexican life, and no wonder. Consider the shocking statistics of Mexico’s homicides—in 2017, around thirty thousand, the greatest number of annual murders in modern Mexican history. This was exceeded by the murders in 2018, when I was winding up my Mexico trip. No one shrugged at these statistics: the wise ones kept their heads down, they whispered advice, they stayed indoors at night, they locked their doors; the vulnerable ones headed for the border, and safety; the others—the vast majority—continued to live and work as before.
