What do I discover? Precisely what I'd find in many American cities and towns on a warm weekend afternoon. It makes me wonder if Mexico has become extremely Americanized or if it isn't the other way around: America has become Mexicanized.

The mall, La Plaza Fiesta de Agostine, is straight out of suburban New Jersey. Teenage girls strut around in packs, wearing shiny lip gloss and platform shoes as they giggle nervously and eye teenage boys who stand heroically in enormous cargo pants and NBA T-shirts.

Young couples push deluxe Greco strollers as their babies snooze away the afternoon. Just as in any good mall in the States, old folks shuffle around for exercise, taking advantage of the smooth walking surface and temperature-controlled climate. They could be anywhere-from Southern Califor-nia to the tippy top of Maine.

Plaza Morelos is a different scene entirely. Not quite as upscale, this is the main drag of sorts, where hundreds if not thousands of locals parade up and down the path on a weekend afternoon. A mother and daughter pause briefly to examine the collection of tiaras in the bridal shop window.

Urban cowboys sit in shoe-shine chairs, enjoying the afternoon breeze as they get a quick polish. A group of two-year old girls wearing glittering play-suits nervously try to strike up a rapport with each other with a few shy glances.

Britney Spears can be heard singing while a group of pre-teen street musicians entertain a growing crowd with accordion music. At first I cannot figure out why, but the entire scene reminds me of home. The conflicting sources of music, the children in fancy clothing, the colorful crushed-ices everyone seems to be enjoying, it all reminds me of Spanish Harlem, where I live, and of San Diego where I used to live. Both neighborhoods are seeing a rapid increase in Mexican immigrants. Lately I see things in the States that I never would have believed ten years ago. Just the other day I was on Lexington Avenue in a Mexican neighborhood in Manhattan and I saw a man walking ducks on a leash. Further along there was a trailer in a parking lot with at least a dozen live squawking chickens underneath it. I doubt this is the metropolis most of us would imagine when we think of New York City. What's more, it isn't necessary a bad thing. I like poultry, adore Mexican people and positively worship Mexican food, but I wonder about this.

I wonder if people are upset that Monterrey is changing. Are they concerned that some here are more Americanized than they used to be? I wonder if it saddens folks that the crowd at the fancy mall is behaving like Americans-conspicuously consuming and listening to Britney Spears, while presumably rejecting their own culture.

Truth be told, I don't wonder. I know people are upset. I know there are do-gooder types who always seem to protest as a culture changes and becomes more modernized.

I just have one question: why aren't they also upset that Manhattan, San Diego and lots of other places in the States are changing? These same do-gooder types never seem horrified that we've abandoned our own catsup in favor of salsa. They never seem upset that we're going bananas for Latin music.

It seems that when it comes to the States the assumption is that it is good when American culture changes. But when it comes to other countries, the politically correct crowd is always horrified when their culture changes. I wonder why that is.