A few things are different here...

So, there are a few things different here (well, actually a lot), but I only have pictures of a few things, so that's what I'm going to write about. First off, a lot of the single family homes and even some businesses have walls around them made from concrete blocks, and there is either a manual or electronic gate to get onto the property. A lot of the gates even have a guard house next to them, which isn't always manned, it just depends on if the house has hired a guard or not.





For advertising, they won't do a lot of the typical billboards that we have in the States, but there are some. Instead, one of the preferred ways is to actually paint an advertisement on the side of the concrete block walls. Here's a pic of my favorite wall painting so far, but I haven't eaten there yet.

On top of the concrete walls around the perimeter of the property are usually one of three things:




electric wire









razor wire

glass shards







or a combo of all three!


The reason for this seems to be to deter theft, as there doesn't seem to be much violence here.




Another interesting difference here, is that in construction projects, sometimes they will just use uniformly cut tree stems as support for floors/ceilings, while they're putting the project together. This is much like the use of bamboo in China for scaffolding, except the trees they use here don't naturally grow straight like bamboo does, so it doesn't appear quite as stable.




And finally, we have door height. At 6' 2", I'm probably in the top 2 - 4% in height here, which is clearly evidenced by the door frame heights. I'm guessing doors are between 6' 3" and 6' 4" inches tall, which gives me about an inch of freedom, unless I'm rocking a hat or the standard Dallas bouffant hair.