Shouldn't I be in Latin America?

I didn't think I would see this today, especially since I'm not in Central/South America yet. My wandering attention was caught by a strange noise just now. I looked out my window, which faces a small expanse of lawn, then a ditch and then a large apartment complex. A younger man was hacking at some of the ditch vegetation with a machete. A machete. I haven't ever seen one of these in the US, only in Panama. I had the impression that we had much more "advanced" technology here in the US (especially in Fort Collins!). I'm guessing this fellow is an employee of the apartment complex and was told to go out and get rid of certain plants... however I get the impression that employee or not, he had no idea what he was doing and was just hacking at stuff for fun... and throwing the knife around like it was a toy. Boy am I glad I am on this side of the ditch, and not his.... :)