To print this page, select "Print" from the File menu of your browser salon.com > Travel April 4, 2000 URL: http://www.salon.com/travel/planet/2000/04/04/mexico Mexican congress debates daylight-saving time One senator has complained that "Summer Timetable" gets in the way of the morning quickie. - - - - - - - - - - - - By J.A. Getzlaff Six years ago, Mexico instituted "Summer Timetable," or daylight-saving time, and some people still haven’t gotten used to it. According to a recent Reuters report, 16 of the country's 31 states want to scrap the biannual time change. Why? Because it's putting schoolkids at risk by requiring them to commute to school in the dark. Given current crime levels, many parents don't want their children making this walk unescorted. To make matters worse, this leaves no time for the mañanero, or morning quickie. "It affects good marital relations," said Sen. Felix Salgado during a recent congressional debate on the subject. He and his leftist comrades of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) are leading the opposition to Summer Timetable. By springing forward, they say, wives are getting out of bed earlier in order to walk the kids to school and losing the opportunity to take advantage of their husbands' ubiquitous morning presence. Mexico's head honchos are unsympathetic, however; government officials told Reuters that Summer Timetable is staying. They claim it saves energy and keeps Mexico on pace with the United States, its most important trading partner. In other words, business before pleasure. salon.com | April 4, 2000   - - - - - - - - - - - - About the writer J.A. Getzlaff's Daily Planet appears every weekday. Do you have a tip or tale for J.A.? Send it to DailyPlanet@salon.com.