I don't get it. The swallow response is completely involuntary. Whether we want to or not, we simply must swallow spit. It's hard-wired into our brains. So why is it that so many people find it necessary to launch ball after ball of saliva onto the street, sidewalk, or beach? I'm not talking here about bringing something up from the depths and hocking lugies or however you spell it... I just mean spitting saliva rather than swallowing.

In the US it's mostly men and boys you see spitting. I notice it especially in urban centers. The boys do it to look more like men... and who the hell knows why the men do it.

"A very sweet looking old lady..."
There seems to be even more spitting going on here. And it's definitely not a Y chromosome thing. I'll be walking by a very sweet looking old lady and all of a sudden here comes a big ball of elderly saliva. Not something I'm used to seeing. Of course you see guys spitting... and it seems like much more of a phenomenon than what I remember at home. Today at the beach many people walking by spat on the sand. I'm already a little grossed out by the cigarette butts and other trash on beaches... I don't need people spitting near me.

Otherwise, today was much fun. I took a van to the beach in Progreso, a half hour from Merida, with an Italian guy named Max who's staying next door. It was good to just lay in the sun again after a week away from Cancun (seems more like a month). Hard to believe it was about 85 degrees and sunny on the beach for New Year's day.

I'll likely hop on a bus in the morning for the ruins at Uxmal to the south... and try to catch an afternoon bus from there to the old colonial city of Campeche farther south.