I´m currently in Mexico with my family, for our Christmastime visit. We actually crossed the border on December 21st. This is the time of year when many Mexican families residing in the United States cross the border to visit Mexico for Christmas, and we crossed with them. The entire border crossing (by which I include the traffic pileup north of the border as well as the legal paperwork on the Mexican side) took us five hours this time.

On the Mexican side, I applied for a tourist permit, as I no longer reside in Mexico under the rubric of a work permit. Also, we had to get a permit for our car. The Mexican bureaucrats handling these permits did a good job, it's just that there were so many people applying.

Seeing the mass movement of U.S.-resident Mexicans to Mexico at this time of year gives one a taste, a small taste, of the enormity of the Mexican diaspora residing in the U.S. I saw license tags from various states, and vehicles loaded down with consumer goods headed for Mexico. One car, on which I saw a Pennsylvania plate, even had a few small Christmas trees on top. That's a little curious, since, at least in the Mexican metropolitan area in which I resided, you could easily buy real Christmas trees in department stores.

We're now in the metropolitan area in which I formerly resided and in which my wife's family resides.

My latest Mexidata column, about the Mexican energy reform, can be read here.

¡Feliz Navidad!