On the First of Six Months in Mexico

Abstract

<p>On December 28 I left Ames for a 6 month faculty improvement leave (sabbatical) with the Forestry Department at the universidad Autonoma Chapingo (Mexico's top agriculture school). I drove 2000 miles from Ames to Mexico City in 4 uneventful days. However, the day after I arrived at the house of some friends, I was involved in an automobile accident. Fortunately, I was the passenger or I would have had worse problems than having been knocked out and having badly sprained neck muscles. My friend and I were in a hospital and a police station for 12 hours before I was released. My friend spent 12 hours in jail before he was released. Mexican justice assumes you are guilty until proven not (or, on occasion, until a bribe is paid.)</p>