Clark was looking at hats. At a small stall near the eastern gate, he spotted a huge pile of Mexican-style hats, bright and colorful enough to catch anyone's eye.
Besides him, a large crowd of tourists had gathered in front of the stall. A brown-skinned Mexican vendor held up a tower of hats over two meters tall with one hand while waving the other nonstop, enthusiastically introducing them with spit flying everywhere.
Lex nudged Clark with his elbow and said, "You didn't buy a hat when you went to Mexico. Why do you suddenly want one now?"
To his surprise, Clark shook his head and said, "There isn't much Mexican style in rural Mexico. In fact, there isn't much in the towns either, apart from souvenir shops in major cities aimed specifically at tourists. You rarely see places that colorful there."
Lex fell silent. Looking at the towering stack of colorful hats, Clark said, "There are vast deserts and Gobi wastelands, but also rivers, lakes, and Rainforests. There are cowboy towns like the ones in Westerns, as well as dry stone cities. It's a very beautiful country."
"Are the rural areas nice too?"
"They're ordinary villages. If I had to put it that way, the lifestyle is very close to nature." Clark shrugged. "Life in the countryside is actually much better than in the urban Slums, because people can draw sustenance from nature. It's hard work, but they can survive. It's just underdeveloped."
"Was your family like that too?"
Clark laughed easily. "There aren't any real peasants in the United States. The Kent family are farm owners. We have vast fields, ranches, and all kinds of facilities, two warehouses full of large agricultural machinery, and hire hundreds of workers every year."
"Like a small company?"
"More or less, but we