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October 30, 2007
Score!
Ticket for the Sonofilia Festival, December 2007
In typical Mexican fashion, we lucked out and noticed the announcement in the Ocio this past Friday, which finally explained what was up with Bjork's announced, yet mysteriously vague, appearance in Mexico. She will be the headlining act at the Sonofilia Festival, to be held in Huentitán on 8 December 2007. As far as I can tell, this is the first Sonofilia Festival ever.
The tickets are rather outrageous: MXN $1200 for general admission (the only ticket available), and the sales outlet (Super Boletos) charges a 5% commission on top of that. That's better than the 10% commission and additional per-order fee charged by TicketBastard, and I suppose by international standards, that's about right for a festival with five bands (Claude Von Stroke, MSTRKRFT, Ratatat , Jay Jay Johanson and Björk).
According to a map of the event on the Super Boletos web site (unable to be linked here because for some reason they've done it as a stupid Flash file linked to with Javascript), the grounds will have restaurants and bars scattered about, which will be nice since the event runs from 6 pm to 3:30 am. I was annoyed to read that we will have to bring our passports to the event in order to gain entry. It's so smart to take such important documentation, especially if it is difficult and expensive to replace, to crowded events where everyone is whacked-out, including you. Yet I was impressed by the fact that their Frequently Asked Questions explicitly (and rather shockingly) state that they will have vegetarian food available.
I guess if I lose my USD $67 passport while in a drunken stupor from a couple of MXN $100 shots of tequila and have to forfeit my USD $600 air ticket for our Christmas vacation in Panama, I can console myself with a MXN $150 veggie burger. Cool!
Posted by crispy at 01:42 PM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2007
Daylight Savings Time
We will be setting our clocks back one hour this Sunday morning, returning to Central Standard Time. This is one week before our neighbors north of the border, so we'll be in synch with the Mountain time zone in the United States for the next seven days.
According to user chiapaneco on Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree travel forum, in Chiapas, indigenous villages do not observe Daylight Savings time. Therefore, when one is scheduling appointments and such in those areas, one has to clarify which time zone is being used. Apparently, "mountain time" refers to indigenous time.
Posted by crispy at 02:04 PM | Comments (2)
October 26, 2007
Cine Mexicano por Cable
Sindicato del crimen, Cine Mexicano por Cable
I mention de Película, the cool Mexican film channel we get here, often.
I figure I should give Cine Mexicano por Cable a brief mention. I tend to reflect more fondly on de Película since it was my first saturation of Mexican cinema when we first visited Guadalajara and were camped out at the Hotel San Francisco Plaza. Cine Mexicano por Cable was around then, but de Película used to show their films uncut back in those days. Cine Mexicano por Cable started annoying me early with commercials.
Sindicato del crimen, Cine Mexicano por Cable
Still, they show a lot of really great films. They show a lot of crap too, but for me, that is half their charm. Cine Mexicano por Cable is on basic cable for Megacable, and on digital service it kicks back on channel 420.
That's right.
Sindicato del crimen, Cine Mexicano por Cable
Along with the mighty de Película, CMC helps me in my neverending search for the Mexican Russ Meyer or that En kvinnas ansikte en español. They're having a Ciclo Luchadores this Saturday. They're running Blue Demon and Santo movies all day.
Posted by crispy at 01:52 AM | Comments (1)
October 22, 2007
Another Funny Mexican Product
Product Label, Food Keepers Storage Bin
I suppose the product itself isn't that funny. It's a plastic storage bin, sized to fit under a bed. It even has nifty little rollers to make it easy to slide in and out from under your bed.
The funny thing is that they call it Food Keepers, despite the fact that the label clearly shows office supplies, not food, and right under the Food Keepers part, it says bajo cama:
Detail, Food Keepers Product Label
...which means "under bed."
An under bed food keeper? It's like they had Homer Simpson in mind.
Posted by crispy at 01:04 PM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2007
I went on a date with a real clown last night.
I was looking through a newspaper while in San Luis Potosí, San Luis Hoy. I turned the page and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what I thought were personal ads for something like Clown Seeking Clown:
Clown Classifieds, San Luis Hoy [larger image]
It was one of the most surreal things I'd ever seen. But, I figured, clowns need love too.
On closer investigation, I saw that they were just clowns for hire, advertising their services...
...as clowns.
I hope.
Posted by crispy at 12:18 PM | Comments (3)
October 18, 2007
FM3:3
Cover, Non-Immigrant Visa
In the last entry on this topic, I had a list of other things I had to turn in to get my FM3, the non-immigrant visa for living in Mexico. I turned those in last week, and this past Tuesday I was able to go pick up the little book shown above. This makes me an official, legal, non-immigrant visitor to Mexico, who can be in the country without restriction on coming or going, for a full year. It is renewable (without the whole long application process I went through to get it) for up to five years.
Inside Page, Non-Immigrant Visa
The whole thing is pretty simple. On the first page inside, on the left, there is a list of rules and limitations for the visa, and on the right is the date of issue, government seal and the signature of the head of our local immigration office.
Inside Page, Non-Immigrant Visa
Then on the next page there is all the information specific to me, such as various dates (the date I entered the country, the date I applied, the date the visa was issued, my birthdate, etc.), the number of the visa, my birthplace, my gender, my marital status (in Mexico), my signature, a photo and even my fingerprint.
Note how in the photo, I have the "wet look" that is ever so popular down here.
There's another official seal and once again, the signature of the local immigration chief. I don't know why they have to sign and stamp it twice, but if you've been in or around bureacracy in Mexico, you'll know they're really big on that. I suspect that's pretty common worldwide.
But that's it. Now I'm legal for a year. A year from now, I have to go back and renew it, but I don't have to go through the whole process again. I'm glad for that. It involved so many trips: 4 to the immigration office in the federal building, 2 to the bank, 2 to the photographer's studio, and 3 to a copy shop.
Posted by crispy at 01:22 PM | Comments (4)
The News Returns
The English-language newspaper out of Mexico City called The News begins daily publication again today after being closed for five years.
This is really exciting because it is so hard to get hard news about what is going on in Mexico. I can read newspapers in Spanish and get the basic idea, but reading about anything in-depth is more like an exercise in Spanish for me, requiring extensive use of a dictionary and a lot of time.
The are starting with a run of 10000 copies and it should be available in the major Mexican cities as well as smaller towns with big gringo populations, like San Miguel de Allende and Ajijic.
I'm trying to get my hands on a copy, but I have yet to find out where I can buy one.
UPDATE: Librería Sandi (Tepeyac 716, Colonia Chapalita) is carrying The News, and today and tomorrow (18-19 October) they are giving them out for no charge.
Posted by crispy at 10:09 AM | Comments (1)
October 15, 2007
craigslist: guadalajara
Estadounidense and reader brett brings the following to the attention of this blog. We are most grateful (?)
There is now a craigslist guadalajara at: http://guadalajara.craigslist.org/.
It's about time.
But if you get hurt, it's not my fault!
Posted by crispy at 02:47 AM | Comments (2)
October 13, 2007
San Luis Potosí: Part Two
In the last entry, I mentioned that we did not come to San Luis Potosí for any particular attraction. It's a good thing we did not come to do a museum tour of the city, based on our experience yesterday.
Shawn likes to see the renowned sights when he visits a place. San Luis Potosí does not have many, but in our guide books, they did list several museums. Since the day before, we had merely walked around and looked at the city from its sidewalks, our Friday agenda included a stop at a museum. Since the Museo de Cultura Potosina was near the point where the taxi dropped us off downtown, we decided it would be the one we would visit. That would give us a chance to say we'd actually done something during our trip to San Luis Potosí.
We found it easily enough, as it was marked by a stone plaque on the wall of the building as well as a metal street sign with a big "M" out in front that they use here to mark museum locations (very similar to the ones in the United States with an "H" that direct one to a hospital). Yet we could not figure out how to get inside. We were contemplating whether or not the entrance was on another side of the building when a man came over and told us that the museum was no longer open.
Okay, it happens. We went to lunch at the Tokio Café, where oddly enough, they serve only Mexican food; after that, walked over to another museum, the Museo Mariano Jiménez, named for a local artist and featuring his works as well as some other exhibits about the history of the revolution in the area. We found it easily enough too, as it also had a big "M" sign in front. Yet it too was closed.
We walked back towards the center of town, and on the way saw one of the bilingual plaques the city has put up, and it directed us to the Museo de Artes Populares de San Luis Potosí. Given the placement of the sign in the plaza, it was unclear which of the buildings around it actually was the museum. Shawn went up and asked a guy standing in the doorway of one of the buildings which one it was. He didn't know, and he came over to look at the sign talking about it. After reading it, he told us that it must have been the one with the doorway in which he had been leaning, but that building had been converted into offices, and was no longer a museum.
We asked him what was up with San Luis Potosí and their getting rid of all their museums. He told us that they were not very popular, so they have mostly been converted to office space. He did point us toward one museum that he knew to still be open a few blocks away, the Museo Regional Potosino. We went there and spent about 20 minutes walking through the three rooms that remained open with exhibits. The other half of the building was closed off for construction.
We saw enough masks to last us a lifetime when we went to Zacatecas, so luckily we didn't have to deal with the heartbreak of not being able to go to San Luis Potosí's Museo Nacional de la Máscara, which we already knew was closed. Supposedly, it's only closed for renovation, but now I'm starting to wonder if that means renovation into office space.
Sometimes Mexico is really lame that way. You hear or read about some cool attraction in guide books or even tourism web sites promoting a city. Then when you get there and go to see it, it is all boarded up or perhaps even the building is gone. You ask many people around the site what happened, and it often takes a while before you find someone that remembers the place and knows that it closed down a long time ago. Still, nobody has bothered to take down the signs pointing to it or marking it, edit the listing on various web sites, nor get the word out to tourist bureaus and hotels that the place is no longer around.
I guess I shouldn't knock Mexico in particular for that. We had the same experience with a couple of museums in Buenos Aires. They were listed in all our guides, including online ones. Yet after spending the time and money to get across town to see them, we found one to be entirely gone, and another under renovation, slated to re-open...a year ago.
Posted by crispy at 12:53 PM | Comments (1)
October 12, 2007
San Luis Potosí: Part One
360° Panorama of the Plaza de Armas, San Luis Potosí [larger image]
Shawn had a four-day weekend, so we decided to visit another Mexican city that we had not yet seen: San Luis Potosí, the capital of the state of San Luis Potosí.
In 2005, it had a population of just over 685,000, making it only the 15th largest city in Mexico. It is known as la ciudad de los parques because there are so many parks here. We had to ride five hours in a bus, heading northeast from Guadalajara. If you have Google Earth, you can call it up.
It is not high on the list of tourist destinations within Mexico, and to be honest, we did not decide on it as our next domestic destination because of any particular attraction. We selected it simply because we could get to it in a relatively short time (less than a full day) and we had never been there. It is outside what is considered Mexico's colonial circle, but then again, some say that about Zacatecas. Like Zacatecas, it has its own particular charm, no small part of which is the fact that it is not a big tourist destination. We were not expecting much, yet we have been very pleasantly surprised.
First off, it lives up to its reputation as a city of parks. It seems that the slogan is taken as a guiding philosophy, for one sees many spaces of only a few square meters about town where a mass of plants or cacti have been squeezed in to spruce them up a bit. The more formal parks offer a diversity of trees, plenty of benches, well-maintained sidewalks, verdant lawns, and fountains that are operational.
The city is a pedestrian paradise. Large sections of the historic center have been closed to vehicles, providing safe, wide venues for foot traffic.
In other places, they have nice shaded walkways set apart from the streets, like this one (pictured below) that stretched so far we could not see the end of it.
Walking is not the only thing to do in the city, however, and just because they are not known as one of the colonial gems of Mexico, it does not mean that they do not have their fair share of historic attractions. Along this walkway is a famous historic and architectural icon of San Luis Potosí, el caja del agua.
Because I learned caja to mean''box' or 'cage' in English, I hear this in my head as "box of water" or "cage of water." Both seem funny to me. It is actually a colonial-era water tank, which is notable for its size and ornamentation. A sign, printed in Spanish and English, located next to the caja del agua, tells that there are others about the city, but they are all smaller and not ornate.
There are things like clock towers...
...non-traditional (for Mexico) architecture...
...gargoyles...
...theaters...
...gazebos...
...and temples...
...in San Luis Potosí that we passed while walking around the centro histórico. We passed by this ice cream shop, and I had to go in to try their coconut ice cream.
Stepping inside was like stepping into the 50s.
It was part of this larger building, which is the Mercado Tangamanga, a typical market where they sell all kinds of stuff from religious candles to seafood. The design was so reminiscent of the Pan Pacific Auditorium from the golden days of Los Angeles that I stood there a while looking at it, thinking of what all it would take to find an old musician who would help me turn it into a hip nightclub/roller-rink.
The old metal furniture inside the Fonda Doña María looks like its as old as the building itself (and it probably is), but it's in great condition.
La Cubana is a tienda de abarrotes, the Mexican version of a corner convenience store, and is just up the street a block or so from the Mercado Tangamanga.
This convenience store has been open here since 1875.
After all that walking, Shawn and I both decided to shell out the MXN $10 (just under USD $1) each for a shoeshine.
They let you read the newspaper for no additional charge.
I considered buying a donut-making machine, but I just don't have the room in my kitchen.
Posted by crispy at 11:33 PM | Comments (3)
October 09, 2007
Oh, wait...
Cinépolis coupon, 10 October 2007
I went to the cinema tonight and noticed on my box of popcorn an eye-grabbing notice that said "Don't forget to peel off the coupon on this box!" (but in Spanish, of course) I turned the box around, found the coupon and peeled it off. I was excited to get a pretty cool offer, like reduced-price movie tickets any day of the week (instead of just Wednesdays like Cinépolis usually does)...
...until I noticed that the coupon's validity ended nearly two weeks ago.
Posted by crispy at 10:19 PM | Comments (3)
October 06, 2007
Cebollas desflemadas
Charles gave me a cookbook that calls for these time and time again.
Cebolla is onion. I looked in the dictionary for flemada, but found nothing. I searched on the Internet, and found many results, all of which mentioned their being served alongside something. However, I could not find out how they were to be prepared. They are apparently were so common and so basic as to not need any explanation to a Mexican cook.
I'm not saying that someone like Patricia Quintana or Diana Kennedy has not at some point detailed their preparation, history and cultural significance. I'm just saying that with access to the Internet, I could not turn up anything simply by searching.
To fill this void, I submit this entry to put a basic definition of cebollas desflemadas on the net. If others dispute my findings, I welcome them to post their understanding of what makes cebollas desflemadas, as do I welcome anyone to post any thoughts whatsoever about them. As I mentioned, I'm totally in the dark, but I'll let you in on my running theory of what cebollas desflemadas is, based on some light interrogation of real-live Mexicans and research at a couple of taco stands.
Cebollas desflemadas are onions that have been treated with lime juice and salt. I had some at The Happy Fish (yes, called that in English, and serving - surprise! - fish tacos) that also had just a hint of oregano. All the ones I've had (and I admit here that my experience with these is not vast) do not taste like they're soaked in straight lime juice, but rather lime juice cut with water. Perhaps what I am tasting is that the onions are blanched in boiling water for a few seconds before soaking in the lime juice and salt, like this recipe for an onion preparation, which also uses orange juice, jalapeños and other funky stuff.
Are such variations considered a type of cebollas desflemadas or something entirely different? Do they take a minimum amount of sitting time before they're ready to be consumed? Who came up with this process and why?
I don't know.
Anyone? Anyone?
Posted by crispy at 01:49 AM | Comments (2)
October 05, 2007
If it's a cartoon, it must be for kids!
It's hard to get any animated shows on TV in Mexico that with subtitles, because of the ridiculous assumption that cartoons are for kids. Since cartoons are for kids and kids can't read, any animated programming carried on TV in Latin America must be dubbed.
The assinine prejudice is amazingly resilient in the face of amazing evidence. Surely people doing the programming at Latin American Fox, MTV and even Azteca know that their demographics for such shows are not children. South Park, airing at midnight on MTV down here, is sandwiched between Scarred and Exposed, the former being "an intense look at some of the most gruesome scars from across the country" according to the MTV web site, and the latter being the successor to the dating show, Next.
Yeah. That's some real hora de la familia programming for you.
Posted by crispy at 11:18 PM | Comments (1)
October 02, 2007
FM3:2
Last Friday, when I went to check the status of my request to change my immigrant status to FM3, I was told that everything seemed to be in order so far, then they gave me a couple of forms and a document with some other requirements. I have 30 days to complete the process.
Again, those of you that are not interested in getting an FM3 may find this incredibly boring. Those that are thinking of getting an FM3 from within the country of Mexico (converting your FMT or "tourist card" to an FM3) may enjoy having specific details of what Immigration is requiring at this time.
The second set of instructions list six further requirements:
- Properly fill in, sign, date and turn in the request for a migratory procedure. This is a form that I think one has to fill out for nearly all immigration requests. It asks for your name, passport information, email address, physical address in Mexico and what procedure you're requesting. The instructions do not say it, but I was under the impression that I had to fill this out on a typewriter also after talking to the clerk in the Immigration office.
- Copy (to be turned in) and original (for verification only) of the pages in your passport that have the personal data, photograph, and expiration date. Didn't I already turn in a copy of my entire passport? Yes, I did! Why, do you ask, do they need a second copy? Because bureaucracy in Mexico is just as inefficient as bureacracy everywhere else.
- Original and two copies of the autorization of the change of status from the Instituto Nacional de Migración. I got this when I went in last Friday. It's a document that states that they have granted my request to switch my status from tourist to rentista.
- Original and two copies of the receipt showing payment of the FM3 fee. If you are going to be making any money in Mexico (involved in actividades lucrativas), the cost is MXN $1904. If you are not, the cost is only MXN $1172.
- Properly fill in (by typewriter) and turn in the FM1 form. It can be obtained from the Internet, in which case it must be printed on office size paper. This form has a lot of questions about the applicant's physical appearance, like the height, body type, color of eyes, shape of the nose, size of the mouth, etc. This form also has the place for the 4 cm x 4 cm photos - front and profile - photographs that I have to have taken at a photography studio (see item 6), as well as the right and left index fingerprints.
- Turn in headshots, four from the front and three from the side, without any glasses or earrings, size 4 cm by 4 cm, taken by a photography studio (not instant photos). They stressed this last bit. Why instant photos are not acceptable is unclear to me. Maybe they requrie that they actually be printed on a certain quality of paper?
Then at the bottom, I believe it says that I will have to present further:
- Original and copy of all the pages of my passport, and
- two more headshots, one from the front and one from the side.
I am not sure of this as the Spanish that precedes these other two bullets makes no sense to me: Tratándose de ministros de culto se deberán presentar además:
If it's true that this means I will need to turn in these other two things, I'm confused as to why they don't just list these two things in the previous set of requirements. Again I blame the efficiency of bureaucracy.
Posted by crispy at 05:39 PM | Comments (1)