A Handful of People Live by the Bike Even in Guadalajara

Here’s Paco, who delivers the most delicious bread to my aunt’s house every day at around 1:00. Notice that he doesn’t use any kind of basket or fancy carrying device, but simply piles the cloth bread-sacks onto his back rack. He delivers about 200 loaves a day, which takes him four hours. He’s been doing it for ten years, for his friends’ bakery. I asked him if he ever wishes he could do the job by car, and he said no. With a bike, he can get right up to each house. He doesn’t have to worry about blocked or one way streets or finding a parking place, let alone paying for gas and repairs and worrying about untimely break-downs. If he gets a flat or his bike breaks, he can usually fix it himself right away, or have it fixed very cheaply.

For the rest of his day he pursues a completely unrelated profession. I was interested to know what it was, but I was worried I might be asking too many questions.