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April 27, 2006
Recuerden, nada gringo el 1° de mayo.
Tomorrow, Monday, May 1st, a coordinated boycott of American products and services being called "Nada Gringo" will take place in Mexico and Central America to show support for immigrant labor in the United States. On that side of the border a similar protest, called "A Day Without Immigrants," will be taking place in which immigrants and their supporters will stay home from work and school.
Just how smart it is to boycott American products and services is highly questionable, since many of those manufacturers employ immigrants or have factories in Mexico and Central America that produce the supply that is available locally. Emails circulating on the Internet advise protestors to boycott such places as Sears and Wal-Mart, although Carlos Slim Helú, a Mexican businessman of Lebanese descent and the 3rd wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes, owns the Mexican branches of both these retailers. Even less understandable is the idea of not going to work if you're an immigrant in the United States, since you would be disrupting work for an employer that employs immigrants.
Yet the general idea is to demonstrate how important immigrant labor is in the United States, and on this side of the border, how important foreign markets are to United States businesses.
Both of those factors are difficult to ignore, if only because of the numbers involved. Recently, The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University compared a total employment change of 4.8 million jobs between 2000 and 2005 to estimated figures saying the country had gained 4.1 million new immigrant workers during that same time. Their conclusions indicate that 85% of the increase in the U.S. labor force was from foreign-born labor.
On the consumption side, Mexico is the largest per-person consumer of Coca-Cola® products in the world: 459 eight-ounce bottles per person, per year. Mexican sales account for 10% of the volume of all Coca-Cola® all sales worldwide. This is not surprising when you consider that the majority of Mexicans believe that foreign products are necessarily más rico than the Mexican ones, but it also doesn't hurt sales when Coca-Cola® pressures retailers to stop selling other brands. Nowadays, Mexican-brand sodas such as Topo Chico and Jarritos are very difficult, if not impossible, to find in Guadalajara. (It's much easier to find them in Denver, believe it or not.)
One of the Mexican states that consumes the most Coca-Cola® is Chiapas, despite claims by locals that the local bottler is consuming a disproportionate amount of communities' water supplies, dumping toxins, displacing natives and engaging in gross human rights abuses, including torture and murder. To be fair, this kind of behavior by the world's favorite soft drink manufacturer is not limited to Mexico, but enough noise has been made worldwide to bring it to the attention of Coca-Cola's® corporate heads. In response, they have created a website called cokefacts.org to put a positive spin on their business practices around the world.
These complaints are valid reasons for which Mexicans should boycott certain American companies, but they are neither the proclaimed reason nor the real reason that will motivate many of them to not buy American on Monday.
The boycott demonstrates the hypocrisy that exists here in Mexico (and in many places around the world) in its love/hate relationship with the United States. Many people here loathe the domination that the imperialist neighbor to the north has in products, the media and certain aspects of culture, yet at the same time, they love to drink Coca-Cola®, spend their pesos on Hollywood blockbuster crap, and watch NFL® football games.
A lot of Mexicans have a deeply ingrained sense that anything Mexican is inferior, and conversely, things that are not Mexican are superior. Shawn has repeatedly been told that he has a greater advantage over a Mexican national in being hired as a teacher, even if the national has years of experience and is perfectly fluent in English, all because Shawn's a white guy from the US. He's also seen people be jealous of his students because they see them talking to the American. Our neighbors think that we're crazy because we try to buy things manufactured by Mexican companies. Living here, one sees a lot of self-effacing behavior that is motivated by trying to be polite. However, it seems at times that it goes beyond simple etiquette, revealing an internalization of the prejudice directed at Mexicans from other, "more advanced" countries.
All the same, even if one thinks of himself as inferior, that does not mean that he likes to have others calling him inferior. Choosing to buy imported products or to spend money to see a foreign film is a decision one can make on her own. However, being criminalized as a felon in a neighboring country, a country that makes plenty of money from her compatriots' labor and their shopping habits, is a slap in the face.
Advertising that constantly bombards Mexicans tells them that they should spend their money to buy into the American dream, and 30% of their labor force works for American companies that have relocated to Mexico so that they can pay less to their employees. They demand that these employees conform to the needs of American customers, requiring them to be fluent in English and not allowing them to take Mexican holidays off. Americans can take advantage of Mexican markets and Mexican labor, but Mexicans should simply be happy to be working, no matter what the conditions. They should not even think of trying to improve their lives through our system. They exist to serve it. It doesn't exist to benefit them.
Mexicans see this inequity and arrogance every day. Indeed, perhaps they have internalized a lot of it. Perhaps that is how they reconcile the fact that they are so intwined in the economy of the United States by paying into it and working for it but are otherwise so unwelcome to participate in it. They love the United States and many things about it. They like a lot of products that come from there. Many have relatives that have become Americans. Many worked there and returned to Mexico, and people they met there still number among their friends. Now they see Americans on television burning Mexican flags and marching with signs that tell them they're not welcome there.
Many will participate in the "Nada Gringo" one-day boycott, a sadly misguided crusade that will accomplish very little. It will penalize the producers of products they like, many of which employ Mexicans, either at home or in the US. Yet it gives participants the opportunity to vent and feel like they have a little self-determination in a world that is so overwhelmingly dominated by US interests, even if they truly do not.
Although he's not participating, our neighbor from across the hall says that he has several friends who will, but they're going out over the weekend to buy things in advance so they do not have to buy them on Monday.
I will be participating in the boycott to see how easy it is to go a day in Mexico without buying anything with American ties. I have a feeling it's going to be pretty difficult.
[Coca-Cola® sales statistics taken from Lloyd Mexico Economic Report (July 2001)]
Posted by crispy at 01:19 PM | Comments (5)
April 18, 2006
Cheap Roses
If you know the right places to go, you can get certain things here at unbelievably cheap prices.
Shawn With Roses From the Flower Market
On Avenida Federalismo, a ways north of Avenida Vallarta, there's a section of town where all the shops are flower vendors. You can get arrangements or cut flowers, depending on where you go. I picked up these 18 roses for $70 MXN (which at the time of this writing is $6.37 USD).
Store in Flower Market, Guadalajara
Flower Market, Guadalajara
Posted by crispy at 12:27 PM | Comments (3)
April 17, 2006
A Mark, a Yen, a Buck or a Pound
In a comment to "the line is / Long and electric," reader brett asks:
why are your money units in '$' ???
As it's a good question, I'm promoting it to its own entry.
The reason for this is that what people in the United States call 'the dollar sign,' is actually used to indicate a monetary value in several currencies: the Argentine Peso, the Australian Dollar, the Bahama Dollar, the Barbados Dollar, the Belize Dollar, the Bermuda Dollar, the Bolivian Boliviano, the Brunei Darussalam Dollar, the Canadian Dollar, the Cayman Islands Dollar, the Chilean Peso, the East Caribbean Dollar, the Fiji Dollar, the Guyana Dollar, the Hong Kong Dollar, the Jamaican Dollar, the Liberian Dollar, the Mexican Peso, the Namibian Dollar, the New Zealand Dollar, the Singapore Dollar, the Solomon Island Dollar, the Surinam Dollar, the Trinidad and Tobago Dollar, the Tuvalu Dollar, the United States Dollar and the Zimbabwe Dollar.
The way these currencies are distinguished from each other is by a three-letter currency code. I will often use the word 'pesos' following a monitary amount in these listings, but the proper way to indicate Mexican Pesos is with the three letter code of 'MXN.'
It is also important to note that the dollar sign is the only safe character to use in email and usenet news; otherwise, it might get translated into garbage. To avoid that problem, one should use the ISO 4217 three-letter currency abbreviation.
Last but not least, if you need to convert between currencies, the currency converter at www.xe.com is pretty handy.
Posted by crispy at 06:30 AM | Comments (0)
April 16, 2006
Crossing the Line
Okay, here's an overgeneralization for you that seems to contain enough truth to make it worth discussing: Mexicans have no respect for lines (or for what Shawn would call 'queues'). This is indicative of a more general trend where Mexicans, normally very civil, friendly and generous as a whole, exploit without hesitation specific situations in which they can get away with being entirely self-centered.
I do not base this on any formal study, although I'd love to conduct one. I have arrived at this theory solely through our experience here in Mexico, which I grant you is very limited. Furthermore, I do not wish to be misconstrued as saying that Mexicans are rude. Some are, just like there are some rude people in every country. Yet there are certain situations where you are likely to notice Mexicans throwing the idea of a social contract completely out the window, and while not all Mexicans might behave this way, enough do to make it shocking to your average gringo.
I first noticed this while standing in line to ask a question of an employee in a pizza joint. We just wanted to know what time the restaurant closed, and we walked and stood in line at the register, behind two people that were placing orders. As we were standing there, a woman got up from a table and came over to the counter, but she didn't get in line. She stood off to the side, and when the first person in line finished ordering and walked away, she just butt in, in front of the other guy that was waiting to order, and ordered a Coke®. The guy waiting in front of us didn't seem that bothered by it, and after all, she did just order a Coke®.
The guy in front of us starts ordering. At this point, we've been in line for about five minutes. Another woman enters from off the street and again stands off to the side. This time I was a bit suspicious, but I thought maybe she was just going to ask for directions or something. But no, before the guy in front of us received his change, the second woman pushed her way in and started placing an order. Shawn and I just walked out. The woman at the counter taking orders gave us a "sorry!" look as we left, but she wasn't taking any steps to prevent our getting the shaft.
Since that time, I've had the same thing happen in countless other stores. On a rare occasion, the clerk will tell the person butting in to wait while they take care of people in order. At other times, I've had people with lots of items insist that I go ahead of them in line because I have but a soda or newspaper. Once I had a man ask me if we were in line, and then he actually stood behind us when we told him that yes, we were. Yet in most cases, it seems that many Mexicans find the line at a register, paquetería or front desk to be an inconvenience that they have a right to ignore.
People are also very rude on buses. Admittedly, inner-city buses seem to bring out the worst in everyone, everywhere. Yet in Guadalajara you see a lot of passive-aggressive acting out on the city buses. It is as if your ticket is a license to be a bratty child and all the other passengers take on the roles of all authority figures of your youth: parents that wouldn't let you stay up late, teachers that made you stay after class for something you didn't do, neighbors that made you clean up their trees after a friendly toilet paper attack. You can exact a silent and indirect revenge against them by refusing to clear the way for them to board or exit, you can cut them down to size by sitting in the aisle seat and disallowing them to take the empty seat at the window, or you can put those pesky elderly people in their place by not offering your seat to them, all the while watching them pitched to and fro as the bus lurches along.
The bus drivers are equally awful. Last week, riding along with Shawn to his job so that we could meet afterwards for lunch, we saw a blind man get onto the bus. The bus driver would not have let him on had a traffic cop waved him down as he tried to pull away. Once he boarded the bus, as he was digging in his pocket for the fare, the driver sped off, nearly throwing him down to the floor. Luckily he fell into the seat where some riders were sitting, and they pushed him back up. After paying, he struggled to find a seat, and the people sitting in the seats that are supposed to be surrendered to the handicapped and elderly did not budge. Shawn and I got up and offered him our seats, while the people in the handicapped seats were needlessly explaining to us that he was blind. I guess they were just trying to do their part.
Posted by crispy at 05:09 PM | Comments (1)
April 14, 2006
El Santo Comics
Someone who is obviously one of the coolest people in the world has scanned and uploaded two entire El Santo comic books for your viewing pleasure.
Posted by crispy at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2006
the line is / Long and electric
Today we're going to learn all about the Mexican electric bill: el recibo de luz. It's not very interesting, but if you are going to be paying them in Mexico, you might find it helpful to know some of the stuff in advance.
First off, electric bills arrive every two months. This cuts down on how often they have to come check your meter. For most people, they are not that high, so it's not like it really sets you back to have to pay two months at a time, which is how you have to pay it. You cannot pay off half or set up some way to pay monthly.
The next big difference is that you cannot mail in a payment. You must either go to an authorized location and pay in person, or pay online. The payment locations include the electric company office (CFE | en inglés - Comisión Federal de Electrícidad), Gigante (a megastore or their regular supermarket outlets called Super G), most major banks (Banamex, Bancomer, Santander Serfin, Banorte, Inbursa, HSBC and Scotiabank Inverlat), and OXXO convenience stores.
If you want to pay online, you go to their page linking to the approved banks with online payment services for account holders. This page also has a link so that you can sign up (en inglés) for online payment service with them directly. In either case, you'll need an actual bill in front of you so that you know your service name and service number.
The service name is the name in which your account is registered. It is listed right above your address. This is usually not your name. Most of the time, when you rent or buy a place, the electricity works and you just start paying for it. You do not have to sign up for service with the CFE. Therefore, the name on your bill might be the name of the person who lived there last, or the person who lived there 20 years ago. Most people do not bother to have this changed. There really is not much need, although we have been told at one specific place that to use the electric bill as proof of a residence, it needs to be in one of our names. Yet this was later disputed by another employee at the same business.
That brings us to an important point: the electric bill is an essential document in Mexico, which is as important as a driver's license, birth certificate or social security card in the United States. You absolutely have to have one to set up certain services. Along with your signed rental agreement, it verifies that you have a residence in Mexico. We were able to sign up for cable and Internet access without it, but you need it for other things like that, like to open a bank account or get home telephone service. For this reason, if you rent or buy in Mexico, be sure to get a copy of a previous electric bill (it usually does not have to be the most recent, but it's always best to use that one if you can) from the landlord or seller. Otherwise, you might have to wait a month or two months to get the next one in your mailbox. It has to be the original; they will not accept not a copy.
You want to be sure to pay your electric bill on time. Although almost every other aspect of business in Mexico has a very, um, flexible schedule for completion or compliance, the CFE will turn your power off the day after the due date if you do not pay. Then the pain in the neck is that you have to go to the CFE office, with guaranteed long lines, to pay your bill and have your service re-instated.
When you pay at one of the locations mentioned above, you will get a receipt. If the cashier is nice, they'll staple the receipt to the bill. This is handy if for some reason the CFE doesn't think you've paid when you already have and you have to show them proof of payment. This has not ever happened to us, but it's important to hold onto both the bill and the receipt after you've paid. It's just good sense.
If you look at the entire bill, you will notice that there is an area where they tell you if you have received the subsidio given to those who use little electricity. I suspect this is to help out really poor people, because the line between getting the subsidio and not getting it seems pretty low. On this bill, which was from a period when our apartment was vacant, the subsidio was in effect. On our last bill, because we used too much energy, we did not get the subsidio, and there is a little note saying that if you want to get it, they suggest you use less electricity.
As you can see on the bill, they have a nice little chart documenting your usage this year versus last year at the same time. Because the usage is heavier for January and February, 2005, then very low for the rest of the year (we moved into the apartment the first week of January, 2006), I presume that the aparment had been vacant since March.
Posted by crispy at 01:05 PM | Comments (2)
April 06, 2006
Breed Your Own Housekeeper!
Although you'll find it listed in the dictionary as an appropriate translation for the word 'maid,' you do not want to call the woman that cleans your house una criada. At least not in Mexico.
I don't know if it's an issue between the Spanish used in Spain and the New World, or if criada just has negative connotations only in Mexico.
There are lots of words for different kinds of maids that you'll find in the dictionary, but the dictionary usually does not go into sufficient detail to explain the difference between the terms. Here in Mexico, a maid at a hotel (that fixes up your recamara bedroom, in Latin America) is una camarista. You'll also see camarera for a hotel maid, although I don't think that term is often used in Mexico.
However, Joseph and Larry told us last night that criada implies that the woman is your slave, and in fact, the term is more offensive to use than even the term esclava to describe a woman that cleans your house. It has the connotation that you breed and raise them on your property so they'll grow up to be your servants. Of course, I don't think that goes on here in Mexico anymore, but it does convey that meaning in a historical context.
Therefore, if you come to Mexico and you want to hire a maid, don't call her una criada. If you're going to put a want ad in the newspaper, say you're seeking una serviente. This also works for pretty much anyone where the English word 'servant' could apply (butlers, gardeners, cook), although for most of these jobs, there are more specific translations that are more appropriate. (Of course, if it's a male servant to whom you are referring, you'd use el serviente.)
Posted by crispy at 12:19 AM | Comments (1)
April 03, 2006
We're Going to Bogotá
In order to renew our FMT permits (a tourist visa good for 180 days in Mexico when entering by car or on foot), we have to leave Mexico and return. Since we've already been to the boring, old, authoritarian, fascist United States, we decided we'd look into going somewhere we'd never been before. The cheapest national capital in Latin America turned out to be Bogotá, Colombia. We booked our tickets this afternoon.
We plan to get FM3 visas, but we've not done the necessary stuff for that yet. There are specific reasons for that, most involving the hopes of bring stuff down from the United States during decent weather and being able to avoid paying huge import duties. I won't get into that now, as it's tedious and lame. Besides, if you want to know about that stuff, there's already plenty online about Mexican visa requirements and the steps to obtain them.
Apart from my generally being terrified of flying, the trip will be very exciting. Bogotá is a metropolis of 7 million people, with all the modern conveniences as well their accompanying problems. Even so, really wacky stuff goes on there. Former mayor Antanas Mockus declared a "night without men" in 2001, when all men had to be off the streets by 8:30 pm in order to draw attention to the city's high rate of crime against women, an element of Bogotá life that leads 40% of husbands in the city to forbid their wives' going out at night. In 2003, MP Luis Eduardo Diaz was suspended for using a dildo as a prop during a debate in parliament where he was proposing the forced sterilization of the poor to curb birth rates.
Who knows if we'll see any such unusual bogotano behavior, but if so, you'll read it here. We are going for a week at the beginning of June.
Posted by crispy at 07:19 PM | Comments (2)