The Humble Wooden Chair

An item that seems to exist in every Mexican household is a small wooden chair, similar to the type young children use in preschool. The design of these chairs is nothing particularly special or unique to Mexico, but the use of them certainly is.

Although these chairs are clearly designed for young children to sit on, I only seldom see them used for that purpose. Rather, these chairs are used mostly by adults for purposes including, but certainly not limited to:

• sitting at a local taco or memela stand to enjoy some food;
• standing on in the kitchen or shed in lieu of a step ladder;
• as a chair to sit on in a public (or private) shower;
• as a small ladder or stool for a tradesman;
• as a portable chair to take to the local baseball game; or
• to help older, less able or shorter people to climb into a tall vehicle like a 4WD or a large pick-up.

So perhaps you don't need to throw out that small chair you have in the spare room after all?