For many in Mexico, life starts to look up

Chris Hawley
Republic Mexico City Bureau
Feb. 11, 2008 12:00 AM

IXMIQUILPAN, Mexico - At a time when countless Mexicans risk their lives to illegally emigrate to the United States and shootouts among drug lords continue to dominate the news, it's understandable why Mexico might be perceived as a place with little hope.

Yet in places such as this tourist town that caters to the burgeoning middle class outside Mexico City, many Mexicans say their future looks brighter than it has in generations.

On weekends, a line of Chevrolet hatchbacks and other inexpensive new cars snakes into parking lots at the town's waterslide parks. There, tourists munch on $2 corn dogs, snap pictures with digital cameras and spend some of their modest incomes. Every year their numbers grow, the town's tourism department said. And every year they have a little more cash to spend.

"The last five or six years have been good for Mexico," said Crescenciano Montiel, 34, manager of the Valle Paraiso water park. "Little by little, things have improved."