Hi Aloshek.:

While I was in Oaxaca many businesses closed down from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. so that people could go home and have lunch with their families.

I don't believe the siesta is practiced everywhere in Mexico anymore, particularly in Mexico City where the population is so large. The whole transportation system would be negatively effected if there was a daily siesta. It may still be common practice in smaller villages.

In parts of the Dominican Republic, there definitely is a daily siesta. Everything comes to a complete stop for two hours or so. This is quite an adjustment for those of us who are used to getting most of our work done during the early afternoon hours.

The siesta is practiced in Sonora, Mexico, but mostly only by professional kinds of services. Stores don't close from 1 to 3PM, but dentists and doctors do.

Even here in the Arizona county where I live, doctors, dentists, and even the local clinic observe "la siesta." We're 85% Spanish-speaking and my town is only 20 minutes from the border which may be the cause.

The county to the north of us has 50% Spanish-speaking, but the "rules about siesta" don't apply there.

Estaba acabo conversando con un nativo de la México Ciudad y dijo solo unas pocas ciudades pequeñas o pueblos de la práctica. Lo llamó un mito

I was just conversing with a native of Mexico City and he said only a few small cities or towns practice it. He called it a myth.