ABSTRACT
If you approach the city by car from the north, taking either the autopista or the highway libre, you’ll pass through miles of grasslands, Joshua-tree forests, and purple flowering sage before climbing and descending a mountain pass and eventually swinging on to the long artery leading from the outskirts of the city to its center. Along the way you’ll find that stereotypes of the modern do not hold, for certainly Monterrey’s hightech side is not readily apparent to the average passerby. Those fiberoptic and coaxial cables supporting commerce, culture, and education are simply not visible from the road, where at each stop, energetic young men apply large dust mops to your car and scrape invisible insects from your windshield, even and especially if you shake your head “no.”
