el crispito

March 04, 2008

30 Helens Agree: Chapala Is Not For Everyone

The Calgary Herald has an interesting article about the little towns by the lake near to us that make up the largest expat community of retirees from Canada and the United States in the world.

The author seems to share our opinion that it's okay, but it's no paradise.

Posted by crispy at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2008

Know Your Rights! Part One

The refusal of Shawn's former employer to abide by the law in providing him the proper severance package has forced us to educate ourselves on the rights foreign workers have here in Mexico. The bottom line is, as long as they are legally employed, foreign workers have exactly the same rights as citizens regarding employment and employment benefits in Mexico. They are not at a disadvantage (at least by law), as long as they are informed about employment law.

Before I go any further, I should provide a disclaimer. I cannot guarantee that everything written herein about Shawn's case is applicable to everyone working in Mexico. There are some rules that are universal, like the one above about foreigners having the same rights as Mexican citizens when it comes to labor law. After that, exceptions and variables start to creep in.

For example, if you have signed a contract with your employer, it might limit or completely negate any claims to the laws you might have as outlined below. In general, if you signed a contract, all bets are off. Similarly, if your employer can demonstrate that you failed to live up to your obligations as outlined in the law, you may have no case. This entry is not a substitute for a consultation with a lawyer, but rather an article to give you a glimpse into how Mexican labor law (Ley Federal del Trabajo) works.

Employee Obligations

There are both rights and obligations on the part of the employee in Mexico, and the obligations are more or less what one would expect. According to the 2008 "Ley federal del trabajo," a copy of which is published by Berbera Editores S.A. de C.V., Mexico City (http://www.berbera.com.mx/), employees must:

• do their jobs according to the established norms for the job
• observe the rules and guidelines established by the employer and other authorities for the employees' security and personal protection
• serve under the direction of the employer or his representative, who will remain the authority concerning everything about the job
• execute the work with the intensity, caution and care appropriate for the type of work, and the time and place where it occurs
• give immediate notice to the employer, except for act of God or greater force, of the just causes that prevent them from doing their work
• observe moral codes of conduct during the execution of the job
• give assistance at any time as needed when co-workers or the interests of the employer are in danger
• maintain membership in any legally-required organizations (such as unions)
• allow medical examinations outlined in company procedures and other established guidelines in the company, to verify that they do not suffer some incapacity or disease contracted through their work, contagious or incurable
• make the employer immediately aware when they have contracted any contagious disease
• communicate to the employer or his representative any deficiencies that they notice, in order to avoid damages or damages to the interests and lives of their fellow workers or those of the employers
• keep confidential all the technical and commercial secrets of the company of which they have knowledge through their work

   - Title 4, Chapter 2, Article 134, Sections 1-13

It also states that, employees must not:

• act in any manner that would put themselves, their co-workers or any third-party at risk
• miss work without just cause or permission of the employer
• remove any raw or processed materials belonging to the company
• arrive at work in a state of inebriation
• be at work under the influence of narcotics or stimulants, unless a for a pre-existing medical condition and accompanied by a doctor's prescription (in which case, the worker will have to notify the employer and show him the prescription
• carry arms of any type during the working hours, unless the nature of the work demands it
• suspend work without authorization of the employer
• collect money in the establishment or place of work
• use the equipment and tools provided by the employer for any purpose different from that for which they are intended
• promote or advertise during working hours within the establishment

   - Title 4, Chapter 2, Article 135, Sections 1-10

Termination for Just Cause

This is the basic set of "employee dos and don'ts" in the law, but these are not the specific rules that allow an employer to fire an employee without cause.

When someone is let go from their job in Mexico, it is only considered justified if it is because of one of the following reasons:

• misrepresentation of the employee's "abilities, aptitudes or faculties" by the employee or a union representing the employee
• a lack of probity or honesty, acts of violence, threats, insults or mistreatment toward the employer, their relatives or of the administrative personnel of the company (unless done in self-defense)
• bringing about a lack of discipline in the workplace through a lack of probity or honesty, acts of violence, threats, insults or mistreatment toward co-workers
• a lack of probity or honesty, acts of violence, threats, insults or mistreatment toward the employer, their relatives or of the administrative personnel of the company conducted outside of work if they render the fulfillment of the work relationship impossible
• sabotage of company buildings, works, machinery, instruments, raw materials and other work-related objects
• causing serious damage not with ay malicious intent but with negligence that ends up being the sole cause of the damage
• putting oneself, ones co-workers or the establishment in danger by imprudence or inexcusable negligence
• committing immoral acts in the workplace
• revealing industrial secrets
• missing work for three days in a period of thirty days, without permission of the employer or just cause
• disobeying the employer or his representatives, without cause
• refusing to adopt practices prescribed to prevent accidents or disease
• being in a state of inebriation on the job or under the influence of narcotics or stimulants, unless, in the case of stimulants, a medical prescription exists (and the prescription has been given to the employer)
• being sentenced to a term in prison
• offenses that are analogous ones to those mentioned above, when equally serious and resulting in similar consequences

   - Title 2, Chapter 4, Article 47, Sections 1-15

The employer must provide the fired employee with written notice including the date of and reason for his being fired. If the employee refuses to receive this notice, the employer must file the notice with the Conciliación y Arbitraje office within five days of the firing date. Failure to notify either the worker or the Conciliación y Arbitraje office is sufficient for the firing to be considered unjustified.

   - Title 2, Chapter 4, Article 47, Section 15

Severance Payment

When a firing is not considered to be justified, a severance payment is required of the employer. This payment consists of three different elements. Bear with me. It gets a little complicated.

• Indemnización - The formula for this varies by the type of work done and the amount of time worked. In Shawn's case, as it is in most types, it is calculated as 90 days times the daily salary, which is itself calculated by taking the monthly salary and dividing it by 30. (Temporary workers, domestic servants and employees in a "position of trust" are paid six month's pay plus twenty days for each year worked thereafter; if they have worked for less than one year, it is a payment equivalent to half the time worked.)
• Prima Vacacional - The formula for this is the number of vacation days granted per year times the daily salary, then this product is divided by four.
• Prima de Antigüedad - Calculating this requires knowing the daily minimum wage. The formula is one day's pay for every day worked, but it is capped at two times the daily minimum wage. If one earns less than that (may God help them), the formula is just the daily wage times the number of months worked. If it is higher than that, it is the number of months worked times two times the daily minimum wage.

If the employer dismisses the employee without just cause and fails to pay them this severance package, they can be taken to court and sued for it. If the case is decided in favor of the former employee, the employer is responsible for a full day's pay for every day between the date of the firing and the date the decision is handed down. This is known as salarios caidos. Since the court system is bogged down and an employment case can easily take a year or more to be decided, this places the employer at a definite disadvantage if they are taken to court over disputed severance.

The prospects look even more grim for the employer when one considers that employees win 90% of such cases in Mexican courts.

Due to the heavy caseload in the courts and because employees are often in a position where they need the money after being fired, a special office of Conciliaje y Arbitraje has been established as a speedier alternative to a court hearing. Yet unlike court decisions made by judges, arbitration proceedings run by lawyers are not binding and employers are not even required by law to show up for arbitration meetings.

We will discuss arbitration in our next article on this topic.

Posted by crispy at 04:31 PM | Comments (1)

January 18, 2008

Tosca

Ticket for Performance of "Tosca," Teatro Degollado 17 February 2008

Shawn and I will be attending the performance of Tosca at the Teatro Degollado next month with Miguel Chico (the equivalent of "Jr."), an opera aficionado that lives downstairs in our building. It is a "Special Presentation" of the Orchestra Filarmónica de Jalisco, and for some reason, we were not able to buy tickets online. We had to have Charles take us down to the box office at the Teatro Degollado to buy them, but they confirmed for us that it will be a full staging of the opera (not just the music), and we were able to get pretty killer seats.

Posted by crispy at 03:30 PM | Comments (2)

January 07, 2008

Bus Union Demands Fare Increase from 4.5 Pesos to 6

The Friday edition of the El Publico newspaper carried a story about how the Bus Alliance and the Chamber of Transportation for the state of Jalisco are demanding an increase in bus fares from the current four-and-a-half pesos to six. The state government has the final say on such increases in fares, so it is not a done deal.

The union argues that the price of a liter of diesel went up 23 centavos, and next year, it will go up 29 centavos (the gas company is a state-run monopoly, so increases in gas prices are more or less programmed by the government and known in advance). It is also complaining that bus companies were forced by the state to buy new buses, but not allowed to charge enough to make up for these new capital expenditures.

While I understand the plight of the bus companies, I have to say that it is hard to feel much sympathy after one spends time riding the buses here. I wrote before about how it brings out the worst in everyone. After you ride it a few times, you see why people are not at their best after dealing with it. The drivers often blow right by the stops, when people are obviously trying to flag them down. The buses are often extremely crowded. They are never as frequent as the Guía de Rutas says they are. They are terrible polluters. The drivers drive them like they are sportscars. On top of the fact that they're calling for an increase of 33% of the current fare, I do not think that they are going to have a lot of public support because the thought of the bus is not a happy thought.

It is too bad, really, because the city needs decent public transportation. Yet like many things in Mexico, they don't even think about making the system as good as it could be, but rather just good enough to work at some level.

Posted by crispy at 04:58 PM | Comments (1)

November 07, 2007

Ana María Salazar In a Taxi Honey

Ana María Salazar

It's not a regular phenomenon, but there are times when I am swept off my feet by a woman.

The most recent occurence happened when I learned of the Mexican news broadcast in English by Imagen Informativa, a news/talk network out of Mexico City. As I mentioned before, it's difficult to get hard news about what is going on in Mexico in English. Delivery of The News in Guadalajara, at our local Librería Sandi has been disappointingly sporradic, and the Guadalajara Colony Reporter, well...they seem hesitant to allow their gringo reporters cover political news.

It took a while to track it down. All our Mexican friends knew there was a news broadcast in English, but nobody knew any specific details that would help me find out where I needed to set my dial to hear it. Finally, the ever-helpful Charles told us that it was broadcast on Imagen News, and that helped me locate it over the Internet. On the Imagen web site, I learned that it is only on at 5:30 AM and 11:00 PM, but luckily, they carry MP3 files of each broadcast on their web site. I downloaded all the ones they had available, ranging back over the previous four or five days.

From the first "Hello Mexico," I was hooked. I check in almost daily to get my regular fix. Not only is it great to have such an easy way to keep up with what is going on in Mexico, but to have it presented by such a savvy host is a real treat. Salazar was raised in a bilingual household, got her bachelor's degree from Berkeley, a law degree from Harvard, served as the United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Drug Enforcement Policy and Support from 1998 to 2001, and now, in addition to being the head of her own international consulting firm that specializes in negotiation and mediation training, Grupo Salazar, she hosts two radio shows, Imagen News and Living in Mexico, a tv show called Seguridad Total, and writes for two blogs, Mexico Today and Mexico Decide. Phew.

On top of all that, she's got a really, really sexy voice.

Even you extranjeros can listen to the MP3 files of her weekday and weekend shows, if you want to keep up with important things going on in Mexico. If you are fortunate enough to be living in La Republica, you can find your local Imagen affiliate and tune in.

Posted by crispy at 01:27 PM | Comments (0)

November 04, 2007

Flood Relief

Most of you have probably heard or read about the flooding in southern Mexico, in the states of Tabasco and Chiapas. Thousands have been evacuated, but many will be left homeless. It's really terrible.

In the event that any of you wish to donate to relief efforts, you can do so easily online through the Red Cross, but the above banner, lifted from the Tabasco state web site, indicates that if you donate to one of the accounts run by either Banamex or Banorte, the bank will match your donation.

I am not sure if those of us in Mexico can take advantage of this offer by donating in cash in the local branches of these banks. That would be a lot easier than having to do a wire transfer to the accounts. I will look into it though and report back here in the comments of this entry. That is, unless any of the readers in Mexico happen to know one way or another and would care to enter a comment letting us know.

Posted by crispy at 10:33 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 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 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 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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)

September 26, 2007

Björk @ La Barranca

Tonight, Alberto and his lovely wive Roxana took us to a friend's British-style pub, Brit Public House. (More on that later, after I go back and take some photos.) At the Brit Public House they distribute a music magazine called "Ciento Uno" - small, free and famous for its pink pages - that covers musical events in Jalisco.

The edition for 7 September 2007 announces (and her web site confirms) that Björk will be performing on Saturday, 8 December 2007 in Huentitán, when ground will be broken for the construction of our Guggenheim. Unfortunately, no other details seem to exist, like how one can get tickets, how much they will cost, or where she will actually be performing. As of this date, the web site says she will be performing in the Huentitán canyon, which is also known as the barranca.

This is very strange and mysterious because, while people all know where the barranca is, there is no concert space whatsoever there. Will they build a temporary stage just for the event? Will she perform on the grounds where the Guggenheim will eventually stand? At this point, nobody knows. I'm dying to know though, as Björk is one of the few pop performers that I would go through the expense and hassle to see live.

Her performance here is part of an exciting trend in Guadalajara. As the second-largest city in Mexico, one would think that we would get big musical names here now and again, but up until about the end of last year, that just was not the case. Because the city is known as being very conservative (not like "conservative" in the United States, but more like "very traditionally Mexican"), many rock acts did not want to play here and tapatios generally did not want them here. Just this past year has seen a thawing of this attitude, with some very big international acts coming here, like Shakira and Ricky Martin. Granted, those two have a particular appeal to a Spanish-speaking audience; such is not the case with Björk.

More details as they become available...

Posted by crispy at 11:45 PM | Comments (1)

September 13, 2007

Independence Day

This Sunday, 16 September, is Independence Day here in Mexico. It's kind of like Cinco de Mayo, but for Mexico. Everyone cruises around with Mexican flags tied to their cars, there are big fiestas with plenty of beer, tequila, music and dancing, all in the name of a historical event about which the revelers know little.

I will waste no time walking the readership of this blog through the country's struggle for independence from Spain. There is plenty to read online, if that sort of thing interests you. (It is quite a fascinating history, especially the part where the decapitated heads of the four leaders of the independence movement were hung in cages from the corners of the Alhóndiga in Guanajuato.)

Shawn is upset because Independence Day falls on a Sunday this year, and unlike in the United States, it is not the custom for employers to give an adjacent day off when the national holiday lands on the weekend. He has to go to work on Monday just like every other week, but if the 16th fell on a weekday, he would get a paid day off.

Juan José, a co-worker of his, said that not getting a day off does not bother Mexicans. He explained that the partying always happens on Friday and Saturday night anyway, no matter on what day of the week the holiday falls. Since nobody parties on the actual 16th (except when the 16th happens to fall on one of those days), getting the day off does not really matter.

I think this illustrates quite nicely a difference between the Mexican and American states of mind. Of course, they are both talking about different things, really. Yet what each focuses on is very telling.

Americans maintain a certain sense of entitlement to justice of which Mexicans have been disabused through years of systematic injustice and living a little closer to reality. That is, there are a lot of things that probably should be different than they are in Mexico, and while Mexicans might agree, they do not waste too much energy getting upset about those things. Gringos can go on and on about how and why things should be different - at least 40% of this blog consists of that very exercise - often imploring our Mexican hosts to see the logic behind our reasoning. This probably just seems pointless to them; they do not understand why we allow what is already an annoyance to drive up our blood pressure and cause us greater frustration. We, on the other hand, wonder at times why they do not stand up for what is right and enact changes that would improve their lives.

This indifference is popularly known as valemadrismo, or in a rough translation to English, "just not giving a damn." The idea is that by dismissing the importance of an issue or an event (through not caring about it), one can circumvent the pain of heavy emotions or avoid pointless worrying about things beyond their control. In The Labyrinth of Solitude, poet Octavio Paz wrote about it, attributing the phenomenon to Mexico's indigenous heritage, but one sees it throughout la vida mexicana.

From an outsider's perspective, I understand this attitude by different terminology. To me, it seems like a kind of mass learned helplessness, or perhaps even an expression of depressive realism. Both of these terms are used to describe cognitive biases generally considered to be dysfunctional, at least by academics and therapists. Can it be that Mexicans are less troubled by negative outcomes because they share a national mental illness?

One sees an indifference that exists here toward all kinds of annoyances, from the merely uncomfortable to the life threatening. At times it is like waking up as Yossarian in your own private Pega veintidós, where everyone seems to be just fine with circular logic, repeated ad nauseum like a mantra, but nobody can explain what it means nor how they got there.

I often find myself in a discussion about something breaking, going wrong, or not coming together as expected.

"Why is the traffic so heavy on La Ermita?"

"Oh, you know the construction that they just finished a few months ago?"

"On López Mateos?"

"Yes. When they built the tunnel. They pipes they needed to put in to service this entire neighborhood properly are this size." Alberto makes a gesture with both his arms that is not unlike the body gesture for the "Y," when properly dancing to the song Y.M.C.A. by The Village people. "The pipes they put in were like this." He does a perfect performance of the ASL sign for ashtray.

At this point in such a conversation, I usually ask how such a ridiculous thing could have happened. Mexicans are often surprised that I ask this and rarely know the exact answer. The information about that does not pass down the grapevine like it does in the United States. I suspect this is because people here focus on the problem less.

At this point in such a conversation, a Mexican will often state a conclusion that is at once accurate and concise, sublime in its zen-like simplicity.

"So we are going to have a lot more traffic."

Since knowing the cause does not change the fact that mistakes were made, there is truly no point in knowing who to blame and why it was allowed to happen. I automatically think, "There must be a punishment!" I do not believe that I think that out of a simple thirst for revenge. I at least think that it should be prevented from happening again, and that the people responsible will held accountable for their mistake in some way. Is that not the way justice works? Are we not all in agreement that justice is a good thing?

Yet when I think about it, who am I kidding? I am a guest in a foreign land and I contribute very little to things that go on here. There might be a time where I have been here long enough to effect positive change in Mexican society, but at the moment, I barely understand the culture. What good does my indignation do anyone? Does anyone really want it? It seems like it just is not done here.

I let it go. And I feel a strange sense of freedom in just not caring any further about it.

Time and time again in worldwide surveys of happiness, Mexicans are some of the happiest people on earth, and they are consistently more happy than Americans. Of course, it could be argued that happiness is inextricably intertwined with expectations, and maybe Mexicans are only happier than Americans because they have lower expectations. Yet the bottom line is that happiness is a relative thing, and if one feels happy, how can anyone else argue that she is in fact, actually unhappy and merely does not realize it?

Is life truly that much more enjoyable here in Mexico? For me, it has been so far, but it might not always be. Life in Mexico can be hardcore. Some people here live in a state of poverty that is simply unknown in the United States. While there is great variation betweeen various parts of the country, it is part of the third world. Guadalajara is a major city with all the modern conveniences, but still, things come up from time to time that are very difficult to deal with mentally. For example, one of our friends here was driving along on the periferico, the freeway that circles the city, when all of a sudden, he saw a severed arm fly past his window.

Valemadrismo is a defense mechanism that helps Mexicans deal with things that are so horrible that it is unbearable to think about them, and a surprising number of those things happen. You wake up one day and your your savings account is worth half of what it was the night before. You are enjoying a night out with friends at a bar when soldiers from a local drug cartel come in with guns, force everyone to the ground, and toss a bunch of decapitated heads on the dance floor. The network of sewer pipes running through your neighborhood fill up with gasoline and explode, killing hundreds of your neighbors. It is difficult to get your head around such things, and a bit of denial can help people continue on with their lives in the face of such events.

It is easier to understand why people invoke valemadrismo with such extreme cases, but as an outsider, I see the same effect at work in all kinds of lesser situations, like employees not worrying that they get one less paid vacation day because what they insist is the important thing - going out to party - is not disrupted. The practice of valemadrismo still seems a little nutty to me when I witness it, because I am not used to accepting injustice or irrationality so gracefully. Still, I can see some value in valemadrismo. Chances are, next Monday morning, Juan José will be looking back fondly on the fun he had Saturday night, while Shawn will still be in a bad mood about being cheated.

Posted by crispy at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)

August 07, 2007

DOH! No More

UPDATE!

With a little help from a chilango, Shawn and I found a theater in Mexico City showing The Simpsons Movie in English with subtitles. It's showing (currently) at the Cinemex in Santa Fe, a huge, burgeoning area of the city where a lot of multi-national corporation headquarters are. People fly in and out from all over the world to go there, so it's one of the most multi-cultural parts of the city. In fact, our favorite Indian restaurant in the city, Kohinoor, is there.

Maybe they figure enough gringos go there that it is worth it to show an animated film in English. Maybe they're actually hip enough to realize (unlike the rest of the cinema industry in this country) that some animated features are not intended for kids. Or maybe that's a pipe dream and it just turns out that enough gringos traveling on business to Santa Fe take their kids along.

One thing I have learned living here in Mexico is that you shouldn't waste your time questioning why something good happens. You should just kick back and enjoy it. With The Simpsons Movie, we certainly did.

Thanks Cinemex!!

Posted by crispy at 06:26 AM | Comments (1)

July 28, 2007

DOH!

Shawn and I were deeply saddened today when we went to see The Simpsons Movie, and were told that at the time we wanted to see it, it was dubbed into Spanish, not in the original English with Spanish subtitles. We were devastated to learn that we cannot see it anywhere in Buenos Aires with subtitles. Every single showing is dubbed in Spanish.

We looked to see about Mexico, and it appears it will only be dubbed and not subtitled there as well.

I'm crushed. BOO! Shame on you Cinépolíis for not screening animated films in their original laguages!

Posted by crispy at 10:30 PM | Comments (5)

July 20, 2007

Friendship Day

Today, 20 July, is 'Friendship Day' in Argentina ('el Día de Amistad'). We were informed of this at the meeting of the English-speaking group, when one of the members advised me to make any intended dinner reservations a few days in advance. He told me that the holiday is relatively new, but it is growing in popularity, being celebrated with friends getting together to go out for dinner. Apparently it is even more popular than he knows, because even following his advice and trying to book in advance, I could not get a reservation for tonight.

The porteño that told us about the holiday is under the impression that Argentina originated this holiday, and that other countries around the world think it is so interesting that they are copying Argentina. Perhaps the idea of celebrating it on 20 July is an Argentine idea; it is the same day as the first moon landing in 1969, but nobody here seems to know if that is mere coincidence or intentional. Yet the truth is that in 1935, the United States Congress proclaimed the first Sunday of August as the National Friendship Day, and it has been celebrated as such there every year since. Of course, that does not mean that anyone knows that in the US, but supposedly, it's on the books.

Maybe the Argentines were the first to actually celebrate a Friendship Day. I suppose that should give them some claim to fame. It is only a social holiday though; everyone still has to go to work.

Posted by crispy at 09:21 AM | Comments (2)

July 15, 2007

Copa América Final: Argentina vs. Brazil

We are lucky enough to be in Buenos Aires when the Argentine team has made it to the Copa América finals. The match, in which they face Brazil, begins at 18:05 local time (15:05 in Mexico, 13:05 in Los Angeles) today. If we can score a table, we'll be watching it at the restaurant across the street.

Posted by crispy at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)

July 13, 2007

Calderón Sends Elite Forces to Terrorism Locations

The Boston Globe carried a story by Héctor Tobar today which reports that Mexican president Felipe Calderón is sending a 5000-soldier special forces brigade to protect strategic energy sites in the country, after a wake of terrorist activity by members of the Ejercito Popular Revolucionario (Popular Revolutionary Army). The attacks, which targeted three pipelines and a switching station in Guanajuato and Queretaro, were said to be in retaliation for the disappearance of two EPR members in Oaxaca last year.

read the full story

Posted by crispy at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)

June 22, 2007

Miami Herald Mexico Edition Ceases Publication

I learned only recently that the Miami Herald Mexico Edition, which featured a section of local news in English, stopped publication at the end of May. This is really a shame, since it was the only English-language daily you could get in Mexico. There is another English-language periodical that originates from Guadalajara, The Guadalajara Colony Reporter, but it is published only weekly.

Foreign Native points out that one can get "access to newspapers anywhere in any language" over the Internet, but the truth is, it's hard to find good news about Mexico in English online. The online version of the Miami Herald Mexico Edition was the best, most consistent source out there.

I have long held that The San Diego Union-Tribune has the best reporting on Mexico you'll find in a United States newspaper. The problem there is, unlike the Miami Herald Mexico, any stories they carry on Mexico are not located in a separate Mexico section. One has to enter "Mexico" into the site's search box and run that. The Union-Tribune web site does not even have a distinct section for international news.

Yes, there are other sites out there that carry "news" about Mexico, but they all tend to carry only soft news and target tourists or retirees. Such articles can be informative about the history and culture of Mexico, but they do not allow one to keep up with local current events. The Guadalajara Colony Reporter falls into this category, although they are getting a little better. Maybe now that there is no daily English-language newspaper in Mexico, they'll step up to the plate and focus on serious news a bit more.

Posted by crispy at 03:54 PM | Comments (2)

February 22, 2007

Discount Domestic Airlines

Mexico has a get set of budget airlines that fly within the country. Like the bus lines, most cover only specific regions or airports; sometimes to get to where you need to go, you have to make connecting flights with different companies. Unfortunately, these don't seem to be linked into online travel search websites like Orbitz®, tripadvisor®, or my favorite, Kayak®. One has to visit the web sites of the airlines directly.

To aid in that, I'm going to list the ones I know of here. The next time you travel in Mexico, check them out for cheap fares. They give their values in pesos, but you can easily convert that to dollars online to see what you're paying. I have not had a problem using a credit card from the US to buy tickets on these sites either.

• http://www.alma.com.mx/
• http://www.avolar.com.mx/
• http://www.click.com.mx/
• http://www.interjet.com.mx/
• http://www.volaris.com.mx/

Posted by crispy at 03:39 PM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2007

Hoarded Corn Recovered

An article in the Wednesday, 7 February edition of El Publico reported that 118 thousand tons of hoarded corn were found hidden in storehouses throughout the state of Jalisco. This is the first case where hoarded corn has been recovered since the federal government announced that it will prosecute anyone hoarding or speculating on corn, in response to the high inflation that has recently plagued the Mexican corn market.

The article mentions that the two businesses involved in the hoarding were Accel S.A. and Dekalb.

Under the Federal Penal Code of Mexico, those found guilty of hoarding or speculation can be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

Posted by crispy at 08:58 PM | Comments (3)

February 06, 2007

Farm Week: Ethanol not to blame

A reader of this blog submits the following recent article from "Farm Week," which addresses the issue of rising tortilla costs in Mexico. The links are my doing and not in any way an endorsement of anything by Farm Week.

FarmWeek
Page 12
Monday, February 5, 2007

Ethanol not to blame
Mexico dealing with spike in tortilla prices

BY DANIEL GRANT
FarmWeek

Those who will travel to Mexico Feb. 12-20 as part of an Illinois Farm Bureau Market Study Tour will discuss a variety of agricultural and trade issues with their neighbors south of the border.

One issue that likely will corne up is the rising cost of corn flour and its effect on the price of tortillas - a staple of the Mexican diet.

While estimates of the price increase have varied, Mike Doherty, IFB senior economist and policy analyst, said Mexicans probably are paying close to 30 to 40 percent more this year for tortillas.

"There has been some concern about high corn prices and increases in corn flour prices and their relationship to the overall Mexican tortilla price," said one industry analyst who works with U.S. companies that produce tortillas.

Doherty agreed higher corn prices are at the root of the spike in tortilla prices. But he said it's a "stretch" to lay the blame on the U.S. ethanol industry.

The hike is due in large part to a shortfall of white corn used for tortilla production Doherty said. U. S. ethanol is produced from yellow corn, so the two industries don't directly compete.

"Last year (Mexico) had a deficit of 6.8 million metric tons (about 267 million bushels) of all corn, so you've got to import (to make up for) that," Doherty said.

"Then, when (the Mexicans) place a high tariff on white corn, they're setting themselves up that if they have a shortfall of crop, they're going to see some pretty dramatic price increases."

Mexico, which currently has a 54 percent tariff on white corn imported from the U.S., slashed its imports in recent years. Meanwhile, Doherty believes Mexican farmers may have shifted acres from white corn to yellow corn to feed a livestock industry that is "growing rapidly."

Pork production in Mexico increased a reported 23 percent from 1995 to 2005.

Meanwhile, labor and processing costs for tortilla production also have increased in both Mexico and the U.s., according to both analysts.

"It's likely that half the cost of tortillas is not even the cost of white corn," Doherty added.

Therefore, until Mexico increases its white corn production and/ or removes or lowers tariffs to reduce the cost of imported white corn, tortilla prices in that country likely will remain high.

[NAFTA Notes: While this article mentions high Mexican tariffs on white corn, (1) yellow and white corn are treated as the same commodity, and (2) that although NAFTA provided for a 15-year phase-out of Mexican tariffs on imported corn, the Mexican government removed nearly all tariffs on corn imports within three years of the ratification of the treaty. http://www.tradeobservatory.org/headlines.cfm?refID=19304]

Posted by crispy at 09:17 AM | Comments (1)

January 31, 2007

Not-So-Classic Cinema in Guadalajara

Of course, not all movies we get in Guadalajara are old and interesting. We also get all the latest Hollywood crap!

There are a handful of different chains here, but our favorite group of theaters is that of Cinépolis. They're all new and in great shape, and they even offer a specific line called Cinépolis VIP where you sit in leather recliners while waiters serve you drinks and sushi. There's also a Cinépolis IMAX in Plaza Galerías. All day Wednesday and for matinee shows on the other days, tickets are reduced in price.

'Regular' shows are MXN $50 (USD $4.55), matinees and Wednesdays are MXN $30 (USD $2.73). Cinepolis VIP tickets are MXN $96 (USD $8.73) at all times. Of course, children, students and seniors pay reduced prices (matinee prices). Like with the gas at Pemex, the Cinépolis ticket prices listed are good through the entire country, so it doesn't cost any more to go to the movies in Mexico City than it does in Ciudad Obregón. The price of concession stand items will still make you see stars, but at least they're a little cheaper overall. You can get two large Cokes® and a large popcorn for MXN $76 (USD $6.91). To be fair, the large popcorn in Mexico is slightly smaller than the large in the United States, and you can't get refills like you can at some chains in the US.

We tend to get great majority of the films we want to see. While there are some films that are released worldwide on the same date, most of the American films we get here arrive here a few months after they're released in th United States. We're still waiting to get Borat here, although it's already showing in Tijuana, Monterrey and Mexico City. I can't wait. My mother said it's "pure pornography," but I suspect I'll be disappointed.

On occasion, we get films here from Spain (notably the Almodóvar films) before they're released in the US. That's kind of cool, but the problem there is that they don't have English subtitles, and my Spanish isn't good enough yet to completely understand films that are only in Spanish. I find it easier to understand films that are, say, French, but subtitled in Spanish.

However, the Hollywood crap that I was talking about earlier, it's almost always subtitled, instead of dubbed, with Spanish. The one exception is animated films, which I suspect they dub because they're supposed to be for children, and therefore, a large portion of their target audience can't read (yet). This has Shawn and I terrified that we will not be able to see The Simpsons feature film when it's released this summer. Well, if the schedule for the release of the feature film follows the schedule for the release of the DVDs, it won't open here until about five months after it's released in the US.

Perhaps the funniest thing to me about the movie theaters here in Mexico is the fact that they sell nachos at concession stands. They are the same exact nachos that you get in movie theaters in the United States: stale chips with liquid cheese food out of a can that is a color that doesn't occur in nature. It's either that or the fact that they run public service announcements here trying to curb piracy. They always feature children doing unethical things like cheating on exams who have supposedly come to see such acts as acceptable because their parents buy pirated copies of movies on DVD at a flea market for two bucks. They always end with a reaction shot of the felonious parents, their eyes misting over with tears upon the realization that they have undoubtedly condemned their child to the depraved life of a flagitious miscreant through their thoughtless villany. Because newly released DVDs here go for like USD $30 or $40, I laugh out loud at these spots in the theaters.

Posted by crispy at 05:58 PM | Comments (1)

January 26, 2007

Classic Cinema in Guadalajara

Something that has been a bit of a comfort for us here after moving from the United States, and away from Turner Classic Movies in English (they carry that on digital cable here, but it's all dubbed), has been the two videosalas run by the Centro Universitaro de Medios Audiovisuales. They show a lot of great classic films from all over the world on a semi-big screen, and they always show them in their original language, with Spanish subtitles as necessary.

They actually have two locations; one is at the CAAV (Lerdo de Tejada 2071, Colonia Americana, 33/3615-8470 or 33/3615-6603 or 33/3810-2821) and the other at the Ex-Convento del Carmen (Av. Juárez 638, Centro Histórico, 33/3614-7184). Unfortunately, although it seems it would be relatively simple to do so through the CAAV website, they do not post the month's calendar of films online. You can only find out what they're showing by going by one of the two locations and picking up a print schedule for the month, or by looking up the week's schedule in the Ocio, which comes in the Friday edition of El Público (which is El Milenio in the DF).

It is rare that they show classic old Mexican films, which to me is really quite a bummer. There are a lot of classic old Mexican films that we're lucky to be able to watch on the small screen, which is perhaps why they figure they don't need to show any at the videosalas.

Posted by crispy at 05:50 PM | Comments (1)

December 10, 2006

Chivas of Guadalajara Win National Championship

Las Chivas, our local football team, has just won the national championship, beating Los Diablos Rojos of Toluca in the second and last game 2-1. The first game was a tie, at 1-1.

There is an incredible racket throughout our apartment building, where people are screaming and cheering, and in the streets of our normally quiet residential neighborhood, with all the cars passing by honking their horns.

Posted by crispy at 12:44 PM | Comments (2)

November 06, 2006

Explosions in Mexico City

Three bombs exploded early this morning, Monday, 6 November, in Mexico City. They were distributed around the city; one was at an electoral tribune (Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación), another at the offices of the former party that ruled Mexico for decades, the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) and another at a bank office (Scotiabank). Another bomb was deactivated outside another bank branch, and police were investigating a backpack found outside a Sanborns.

A PRI representative commented to radio station Formato 21 that he believed that the bombs were used by groups trying to destabilize Mexico before President-Elect Felipe Calderón is sworn-in on 1 December, but no groups have yet claimed responsibility for the bombs.

[read more in English about this story in English | en español]

Posted by crispy at 11:14 AM | Comments (1)

October 18, 2006

Advanced Ironing

After a recent visit to the United States, where the hotels had ironing boards and irons, I decided this was a modern convenience of which I could no longer deprive myself. However, unlike the ironing boards I've had in the past, this time I wanted one that was tall enough that it didn't give me a back ache bending over to use it. Little did I know what a luxury that would be.

I went to Ekar de Gas, the place where I've bought every other appliance I have, save the oven, and looked at both irons and ironing boards. I got a nifty T-FAL iron for $800 MXN. This was more than I expected an iron to be, and sure enough, they did have some cheaper ones. However, the one I got is pretty nifty - lots of steam holes, enameled soleplate, vertical steaming - so I am not too upset with that.

Yet the ironing boards, ranging from $180 MXN to $220 MXN, were all kind of rickety and all seemed to be made for someone 5 feet tall or shorter. To get a taller one, they suggested that I try Fábricas de Francia, which is kind of an overpriced department store. It's like Sanborns without the chic (or the restaurant, for that matter).

They had a beautiful Spanish number there, with single-leg feet that curved out of the way of the user and a silicone support for resting the iron. Best of all, it nearly came up high enough that I could actually bend my elbow to use it. The problem was that it was something like $2200 MXN (which is over $200 USD)!

My taxi driver suggested that I hold off on buying it there, because he suspected that he could find one cheaper. Taxi drivers here can nearly always hook you up with anything you need, and sure enough, later that night he called me, from inside Sears, to report on his find of a decent substitute that was wide and tall for only $750 MXN (and that's just below $75 USD). We went back the next day and bought it.

While I am still shocked that the ironing board cost nearly $75 USD, it is a very nice one.

When we first moved here, our friend Joseph told us that ironing boards were expensive. In fact, I seem to recall his saying that if I wanted one, it would set me back about $70 USD. I am not surprised that he hit it more or less on the head with that one, as he is invariably right about such things.

I'm not sure what the conclusion is about ironing board costs in Mexico. It seems that in the US, you'd never pay $70 for an ironing board, but then again, all the ones I've seen in the US are neither as wide nor as tall as the one that cost me that much here. One could buy an ironing board for less than $20 USD here, so there are cheaper options.

Since I saw the same iron that I bought selling for $1260 MXN at Fábricas de Francia, I guess the one thing I can say is that if you can buy something at Ekar de Gas instead, do it. If not, check Sears.

Posted by crispy at 12:43 AM | Comments (4)

September 11, 2006

Café de Olla

There are so many gastronomic delights in Mexico that I'd never heard about until I moved here. One of my favorites is café de olla, a spiced coffee made in big terra cotta pots.

Supposedly, the stuff started out on ranches and in small towns in central Mexico, but its popularity has spread throughout the country. You can get it at traditional Mexican food restaurants where it is made the old-fashioned way, but it's so popular that someone has come up with a packaged mixture that you can put into your coffeemaker and brew it like regular drip coffee.

I am sure that even considering making it that way would bring down generations of shame on ones household though, because the pot used to make it is reportedly the one element that must not be omitted. After all, it is named "café de olla," and the "olla" is the pot.

All the ingredients are combined in the pot and simmered, and there are a couple that are interesting Mexican things that you might not know about.

One is piloncillo, unrefined cane sugar that comes in cones. In fact, the name means "little pylon." In India it's jaggery, and in Colombia, it is known as panela.

[This was confusing to me because in Mexico, panela is a type of cheese, but in Colombia they have a drink called agua de panela. I thought this sounded less than delicious, thinking that it was "cheese water," but really this just means hot water with piloncillo dissolved in it. The kicker though is that in Colombia, people melt a chunk of cheese in their agua de panela, so when it comes down to it, a Mexican thinking "they're drinking cheese water!" would be right.]

Another ingredient in some café de olla recipes that is perhaps foreign to those readers that live outside the sphere of Mexican influence is Mexican tablet chocolate. In Mexico, this means Ibarra chocolate de mesa, or "table chocolate." In English, it's called tablet chocolate because it comes in round tablets that you can break into smaller pieces. It consists of sugar, cacao nibs, cinnamon and lecithin and it is most often used to make hot chocolate by melting it in milk.

There is a competing product on the market, but in my opinion, anyone that uses that instead of 100% mexicano Ibarra table chocolate is a traitor and should be drawn and quartered. I might be a bit biased though, because Ibarra is made right here in Guadalajara. I guess there's also Chocolate Moctezuma, made in Michoacán, and that's also acceptable. But that other Swiss crap...I wouldn't use it to clean my toilet.

In addition to these ingredients, various spices are added. Cinnamon is universal, but the other spices vary. Some recipes call for anise, others orange zest. Cloves seem to be a popular addition too.

Below are some recipes for café de olla if you want to try making it at home. Note that most of these recipes do not even mention the use of a clay pot, but as I mentioned before, you're supposed to use one or it's not real café de olla.

• Astray's café de olla: one & two
  
• Gourmet Sleuth's café de olla
  
• Kill Vehicle's café de olla
  
• Food Network's café de olla
  
• About.com's café de olla
  

Posted by crispy at 01:39 AM | Comments (5)

August 31, 2006

Jack Acquires a Taste for Tequila

Brown-Forman Corporation, the company that owns the Jack Daniels and Southern Comfort brands, announced Monday that it is buying tequila brands Herradura and El Jimador by acquiring Mexico's Grupo Industrial Herradura SA for $876 million USD.

These two brands of tequila are some of the best-selling in Mexico, yet they are performing slugishly in the United States, where the market for tequila is growing rapidly. Herradura's exports currently account for only 20% of their sales. Brown-Forman thinks they can correct this problem with better distribution.

I for one look forward to the day when I visit friends and family in the US and Herradura tequila will be as omnipresent as Jack Daniels. WOO HOO!

Posted by crispy at 02:23 PM | Comments (4)

August 30, 2006

Franz Ferdinand at the Teatro Diana 10 September

I just saw that Franz Ferdinand will be playing at the Teatro Diana on 10 September. Tickets range from $250-$800 MXN ($23.00-$73.50).

This is pretty exciting as Guadalajara doesn't tend to get big musical acts, or at least not ones that are still relatively popular. We usually get people like James Taylor - good but hardly hip. We did recently have Shakira, so maybe things are looking up for us.

(In the not-so-hip-but-still-cool category, The Alan Parsons Project will also be playing the Teatro Diana, in December.)

Posted by crispy at 01:27 PM | Comments (2)

August 29, 2006

XIII Encuentro Internacional del Mariachi

The XIII Encuentro Internacional del Mariachi, or as we refer to it, the Mariachi Festival, starts this weekend. Mariachi groups come from all over the world (including Japan) to participate, and it is regarded as the biggest and best mariachi festival in the world.

Although there are some events on Friday, it really gets going on Saturday with a parade that runs along 16 de Septiembre, from Niños Heroes to Jesús García and Alcalde, through the Plaza de Armas, and then past the Cathedral. They expect about 30,000 people along the parade route.

We will be attending the gala on Monday the 4th with Joseph, Larry and a group of other people. It will be in the beautiful Teatro Degollado, and the featured singer will be Eugenia León.

I'll file a report on that event and hopefully others from the festival. As you all probably know, I'm crazy about mariachi.

Posted by crispy at 12:08 PM | Comments (2)

August 17, 2006

Jaliscan Restaurants Online

I started to do a piece on the fact that many businesses here give URLs to websites in their print advertisements that do not work. I still might do that piece, which would continue on to talk about how many major bus lines have phone numbers listed in the Guadalajara yellow pages that do not work and have not for years. The lack of follow-through when good money has been paid for advertising here really surprises me sometimes.

However, after taking a deep breath, I reasoned that it would probably be more helpful to list a few websites for local businesses that I've found to actually work, instead of linking to a bunch of sites that don't (even though they should) work.

It has been my experience that it's awfully difficult to find a web site in Mexico using search engines, even if you enter the name properly, the location, the phone number...for some reason they just don't come up on search engines like Google unless they're really popular. Sometimes you'll get pages that list a business, its address and phone number, but you'll not get the actual web site for the place in the search results. Often, the only way you can find out where the web site is for a place is to ask them at the restaurant, or find it printed in a print advertisement. Then you just have to cross your fingers and hope it works.

Or, you can check out the following list of places that are all listed in the Guía Gastronómica del Estado de Jalisco a new publication put out by the office of the Secretary of Tourism, which seems to be basically a little information booklet paid for by advertisers. While it's far from exhaustive in what Guadalajara has to offer (let alone the entire state of Jalisco), a number of popular places have paid to put their name in, and it's worth checking out a few.

La Fonda de San Miguel
Karne Garibaldi
Carnes Asadas Rubens
La Gorda
Nude
Polibio
Rojo Café
Tinto y Blanco
The Men's Club
Mariscos Progreso
Casa Tequila
Casa Fuerte
Los Compadres
Hacienda Coyotes

Posted by crispy at 08:35 PM | Comments (4)

August 07, 2006

Mexicanos, al grito de guerra

I have not discussed the national anthem of Mexico, or as it's called here, El Himno Nacional Mexicano. It's got a perky melody and there is an interesting story behind it, but the words are ridiculously militaristic for modern-day Mexico.

It makes sense at first, considering the words were written in 1853, shortly after the war with the United States (1846–1848). Mexico lost over 500,000 square miles of their territory in this war (Texas, California, Nevada, Utah, and sections of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming), which was nearly half of the country.

At the time, Antonio López de Santa Anna was president of Mexico. Beyond his famous victory at the Alamo (remember that?), Santa Anna was a larger-than-life character that kicked Spanish butt, overthrew Mexican emperor Agustín de Iturbide so that Mexico could be a republic, and fought valiently against the French in the Pastry War.

He was a hero on numerous occasions, but his popularity was always short-lived. Every time he did something that made people like him, he did something that made people hate him. After the the Alamo, at the Battle of San Jacinto, his troops were ambushed by Sam Houston's troops and thoroughly trounced. Six hundred of the surprised soldiers were killed and over seven hundred taken prisoner in just twenty minutes. Santa Ana was not even present at the battle, but was captured the following day, and shortly thereafter signed the Treaties of Velasco which gave the Texas territory away but spared his life. Mexicans were not happy about this, declaring that Santa Anna was no longer president and therefore the treaties he signed were not valid.

He regained popularity through his bravery in the Pastry War, and was asked to again take the reigns of the country after President Anastasio Bustamante was deposed. The country was bankrupt at this point, having endured two wars and facing internal rebellion. He raised taxes, declared publication of materials critical of his regime to be illegal and threw dissenters in jail. In what was considered his ultimate betrayal of his country, he sold nearly half the territory of the country off to the United States. This is the notorious act for which he is remembered in Mexico today.

He delighted in his status as a great Mexican hero, and was always doing whatever it took to maintain his perception as the modest defender of the nation. In one of his efforts to gain favor with the Mexican public, he announced a contest in November of 1853 for a patriotic composition that would become the Mexican national anthem.

Francisco González Bocanegra didn't have any interest in entering, but penned an entry after his fiancée locked him in a bedroom and refused to let him out until he completed one. It won by unanimous vote and was set to a composition by Spanish-born composer Jaime Nunó entitled "Díos y libertad."

The entire song, accepted as official on 16 September (Mexico's Independence Day) of 1854, consists of 10 stanzas, all overwrought with nationalistic sentimentality, and at times, violence and gore. In 1943, President Manuel Ávila Camacho signed an order making the official version consist of only the chorus, first stanza, fifth stanza, sixth stanza and tenth stanza. Most often when you hear it, it has been reduced even further to be the chorus, first stanza, the chorus, tenth stanza and the chorus (or, at sporting events, only the chorus, first stanza and the chorus).

The last war in which Mexico was involved was World War II. Because corrupt, violent and authoritarian governments (as well as several corrupt, violent and authoritarian rebel movements) have plagued Latin American countries, the general sentiment of the people is that the shedding of blood for patriotic ideals is ultimately a pointless waste of life. Movements are afoot in several countries to hold governments and politicians accountable for their "disappearing" thousands of political dissidents, so the idea that "heaven has given [the state] a soldier in every son" is a bit out of date.

There are some unusual laws surrounding the Himno Nacional also. Like you can be fined for singing it incorrectly.

The law dealing with the proper use of the Mexican national anthem is Chapter 5 of the Ley sobre el Escudo, la Bandera y el Himno Nacionales. It sets forth that the anthem must be played at the beginning and end of any broadcast day for radio and television, and when played on television, the flag must also be shown at the same time. Yet there are more interesting provisions, such as those that state that the anthem cannot be sung for commercial or promotional use, that it can only be used at acts of an official, civic, cultural, scholastic or sporting nature, that it can only be played once within the same ceremony, and that if the anthem is played outside of Mexico, the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores must grant permission for its use and ensure that it's not being played for commercial purposes.

It took the government until 2005 to officially permit the anthem to be translated into some of the indigenous languages of Mexico, such as Mixteco, Maya and Nahuatl.

Below follows the entire set of lyrics in Spanish, and then the translation into English of the current official version.

Pick a version in MP3 format and sing along! Just don't do it in public where it could be considered a performance.

Coro 

  Mexicanos al grito de guerra 

  el acero aprestad y el bridón.

  Y retiemble en su centro la tierra,

  al sonoro rugir del cañón.

Estrofa I 

  Ciña ¡oh Patria! tus sienes de oliva

  de la paz el arcángel divino, 

  que en el cielo tu eterno destino 

  por el dedo de Dios se escribió. 

  Mas si osare un extraño enemigo 

  profanar con sus plantas tu suelo, 

  piensa ¡oh Patria querida! que el cielo 

  un soldado en cada hijo te dio.

Estrofa II 

  En sangrientos combates los viste 

  por tu amor palpitando sus senos, 

  arrostrar la metralla serenos, 

  y la muerte o la gloria buscar. 

  Si el recuerdo de antiguas hazañas 

  de tus hijos inflama la mente, 

  los recuerdos del triunfo tu frente, 

  volverán inmortales a ornar.

Estrofa III 

  Como al golpe del rayo la encina, 

  se derrumba hasta el hondo torrente, 

  la discordia vencida, impotente, 

  a los pies del arcángel cayó. 

  Ya no más, de tus hijos la sangre, 

  se derrame en contienda de hermanos; 

  sólo encuentre el acero en sus manos 

  quien tu nombre sagrado insultó.

Estrofa IV 

  Del guerrero inmortal de Zempoala 

  te defiende la espada terrible, 

  y sostiene su brazo invencible, 

  tu sagrado pendón tricolor. 

  Él será del feliz mexicano 

  en la paz y en la guerra el caudillo, 

  porque él supo sus armas de brillo 

  circundar en los campos de honor.

Estrofa V 

  Guerra, guerra sin tregua al que intente 

  de la Patria manchar los blasones, 

  Guerra, guerra, los patrios pendones 

  en las olas de sangre empapad. 

  Guerra, guerra. En el monte, en el valle, 

  los cañones horrísonos truenen, 

  y los ecos sonoros resuenen 

  con las voces de ¡Unión! ¡Libertad!

Estrofa VI 

  Antes, Patria, que inermes tus hijos, 

  bajo el yugo su cuello dobleguen, 

  tus campiñas con sangre se rieguen, 

  sobre sangre se estampe su pie. 

  Y los templos, palacios y torres 

  se derrumben con hórrido estruendo, 

  y sus ruinas existan diciendo: 

  De mil héroes la Patria aquí fue.

Estrofa VII 

  Si a la lid contra hueste enemiga, 

  nos convoca la trompa guerrera, 

  de Iturbide la sacra bandera, 

  mexicanos, valientes seguid. 

  Y a los fieles bridones les sirvan 

  las vencidas enseñas de alfombra; 

  los laureles del triunfo den sombra 

  a la frente del Bravo Adalid.

Estrofa VIII 

  Vuelva altivo a los patrios hogares, 

  el guerrero a cantar su victoria, 

  ostentando las palmas de gloria 

  que supiera en la lid conquistar. 

  Tornaránse sus lauros sangrientos 

  en guirnaldas de mirtos y rosas, 

  que el amor de las hijas y esposas, 

  también sabe a los bravos premiar.

Estrofa IX 

  Y el que al golpe de ardiente metralla, 

  de la Patria en las aras sucumba, 

  obtendrá en recompensa una tumba 

  donde brille, de gloria, la luz. 

  Y, de Iguala, la enseña querida 

  a su espada sangrienta enlazada, 

  de laurel inmortal coronada, 

  formará de su fosa una cruz. 

Estrofa X 

  ¡Patria, Patria! tus hijos te juran 

  exhalar en tus aras su aliento, 

  si el clarín, con su bélico acento, 

  los convoca a lidiar con valor. 

  ¡Para ti las guirnaldas de oliva! 

  ¡Un recuerdo para ellos de gloria! 

  ¡Un laurel para ti de victoria! 

  ¡Un sepulcro para ellos de honor!

==

Chorus

  Mexicans, at the cry of war,

  prepare the steel and the steed,

  and may the earth shake at its core

  to the resounding roar of the cannon.

Stanza I

  Gird, oh country, your brow with olive

  the divine archangel of peace, 

  for your eternal destiny was written

  in the heavens by the hand of God.

  But if some strange enemy should dare

  to profane your ground with his step,

  think, oh beloved country, that heaven 

  has given you a soldier in every son.

Stanza V

  War, war without truce to any who dare

  to tarnish the country's coat-of-arms!

  War, war! Take the national pennants

  and soak them in waves of blood.

  War, war! In the mountain, in the valley,

  the cannons thunder in horrid unison

  and the resonant echoes

  cry out union, liberty!

Stanza VI

  Oh country, ere your children

  defenseless bend their neck to the yoke,

  may your fields be watered with blood,

  may they trod upon blood.

  And may your temples, palaces and towers

  collapse with horrid clamor,

  and their ruins live on to say:

  This land belonged to a thousand heroes.

Stanza X

  Oh, country, country, your children swear

  to breathe their last in your honor,

  if the trumpet with warlike accent

  should call them to fight with courage.

  For you the olive branches!

  A memory for them of glory!

  A laurel of victory for you!

  For them a tomb with honor!

Posted by crispy at 12:02 AM | Comments (2)

July 27, 2006

I've Got Some Junk Food That's Better Than That

Shawn noted on his recent trip to the United States that sugary cereals like Kellog's Corn Pops® have 1/4 of the protein in the United States compared to the very same brand (Kellog's Corn Pops®) in Mexico. I noticed a while ago too that cookies (the really sweet kind that are like Oreos®, not the panadería kind that are more like homemade) also have considerably higher nutritional content in Mexico than their United States counterparts.

For example, Marinela is a brand of cookies here. They're owned by Grupo Bimbo, which is a vast bakery empire (think Wonder®) that started in 1945 in Mexico and has since gone worldwide. Their USA division owns brands you're sure to know: Oroweat®, Entenmann's®, Boboli®, among others. There are several types of Marinela cookies, including sandwich cremes and chocolate chip. But the Marinela cookies are quite different from the same types of things that you buy from Kraft-owned Nabisco in one detail: they have vitamins.

I'll grant you, they're not something that any nutritionist is going to include in a healthy diet regimen. However, compared to their American counterparts, they have a measurable amounts of vitamins. Check out Oreo® Cookies which have 4.7 calories per gram and do not meet any percentage levels for the RDA of Vitamin A, Vitamin C or Calcium. They do have 10% of the iron and 2g of protein per serving, so that's something.

In contrast, Marinela's "Principes" cookies (a chocolate wafer cookie with white chocolate filling) has 4.8 calories per gram and 3.1 grams of protein per serving. Yet a serving also gives you 15% of the vitamin A, 11% of the vitamin B1, 12% of the vitamin B2, 10% of the vitamin B3, 13% of the vitamin B6, 25% of the vitamin B9, 14% of the vitamin B12, 22% of the vitamin C, 15% of the vitamin E, 29% of the iodine, 15% of the iron, and 12% of the zinc that you're supposed to have daily.

What's up with that? Why doesn't the most powerful country in the world have junk food that's healthier for you than the junk food in Mexico? Granted, it's probably not all that important to most folks. But don't you find it a bit odd?

Posted by crispy at 07:11 PM | Comments (4)

May 24, 2006

Little Fatso

I went to the equivalent of a "big and tall" store in Mexico, the tienda de tallas extras. In fact, the actual store name of this place is La Tienda: Tallas Extras®. It's one of the few names (apart from big, huge conglomos like Jumex®) that I've seen where they actually bother to register their trademark. However, I suspect you'll see that happening more and more often.

I wanted to put a blog entry in on this place just because it's so difficult to find clothes for fat people in this country. A lot of Mexicans are considerably smaller, making it hard for even Shawn to find clothes that fit here. Yet this place has a pretty wide selection (no pun intended), and their staff is helpful. They have two locations in Guadalajara: Avenida Javier Mina 166 (across from el mercado de San Juan de Dios; 33 / 3617-8095) and the one that I went to at Avenida Arcos 617 (between Avenida Niños Héroes and Avenida Inglaterra; 33 / 3122-0252). Another nice thing is that they're pretty cheap; at the fat stores in the United States, you'll pay a lot more for fat clothes than regular clothes, but at La Tienda the prices are comparable to regular clothes here. In some cases, they're cheaper. Not only can I buy clothes that fit, but I can save money too.

The slogan on the back of their tags say:

¡Los gorditos y los grandotes son nuestros consentidos!

which translates (a bit literally, so that I can make a point) to:

Little fatsos and the huge are our spoiled children!

Mexicans crack me up with this. They use diminutive forms at any given opportunity, and they will even double the diminutives in some cases, changing the last vowel not only to -ita or -ito but to -itita or -itito. In fact, I have even heard some Mexicans draw this out even more, but frankly, as a gringo, I don't dare attempt it in fear of rupturing something.

For those of you that don't know Spanish, diminutives are used not only to imply that something is little, but it also helps to soften adjectives or to express endearment. Therefore, translating gorditos as "little fatsos" isn't really fair. In all honesty, it would really mean something more like "chubby people," but the fact that Spanish allows you to make such oxymoronic statements with diminutives like this is one of the funnier aspects of the language.

Posted by crispy at 05:24 PM | Comments (5)

May 17, 2006

Biblioteca Vasconcelos

Mexico City's new "central library," the Biblioteca Vasconcelos opened Monday amid some controversy. It has the capacity for 2 million books, sports 750 computer stations with Internet access and is surrounded by 26-square km of gardens. It is open from 8 am to 9 pm daily.

Posted by crispy at 04:23 PM | Comments (1)

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 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)

March 27, 2006

Bad Jugs

Detail, Public Safety Announcement About Illicit Tequila Vendors

While I have not yet seen anyone selling homemade tequila on the street, the following PSA would lead one to think that it goes on.

I'm not going to provide a complete translation of this document into English at this time, but let me give you the skinny on what it says. You can also open a popup window with a large-sized copy where the text is legible, although Movable Type does not build image popup windows that scroll, so you might have to save the image file from the popup window to your desktop and open it in another image viewing application to read the entire thing.

Basically, the PSA warns people to not buy tequila from some random person in the street, tells them what all authentic (licensed) tequila must show on the bottle, and then describes different classes of tequila. It warns not only that tequila from street vendors in unmarked jugs could not only damage your health, but also that one is putting their "wealth" or "assets" at risk when they do not buy the real deal.

Bear in mind that this is printed in El ocio, the entertainment supplement that is included in the Friday edition of El Publico, a local newspaper, so it is aimed at Mexicans. Therefore, the line that reads, "Cuida tu patrimonio..." is aimed at them, saying, "Take care of your assets..."

To my knowledge, while it is true that the tequila industry belongs to Mexicans more than it does nationals of other countries, all Mexicans do not receive periodic dividends from any of the distillers. In fact, if Herradura were to sell out tomorrow to Coca-Cola®, I don't think Mexicans could do anything to stop it (even though I suspect they would not because they probably think it would make it más rico). So while it is true that certain Mexicans make money from real tequila, it's lame to imply that tequila is an asset like something the average Mexican can put down on a loan application to increase their net worth.

Most Mexicans I've spoken to about it are a little annoyed that the price of tequila has gone through the roof here in Mexico because very effective advertising and a suprising upward trend in the taste of Americans in their alcohol preferences have increased demand for tequila in the United States. Half of all tequila is produced for export, and of that, 80% goes to the US. That's great for the tequila industry, and in the long run, that's good for Mexico. For most Mexicans, it just means that the price for a bottle of good tequila is much less affordable.

Overall, I find the ad funny, for the icon if nothing else. Yet it's mildly annoying to me that the tequila industry is trying to keep people from buying cheaper, bootleg tequila through an appeal to their patriotism and some false notion that they participate in the profits. For many, the street vendors are probably the only means through which they can afford a bottle (or jug) of the national beverage, or a facsimile thereof.

Posted by crispy at 02:56 PM | Comments (1)

March 22, 2006

XXI Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara

Despite the fact that they didn't even have a list of the films being screened on the website until a few days before the festival begins, el XXI Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara [English] is a big deal.

In addition to all the groovy films from all over Latin America that will be shown, they're screening a restored version of Battleship Potemkin, the 1925 classic by Eisenstein, which will contain scenes deleted by Soviet censors and is believed to be as close as possible to the original director's cut.

Gabriel García Márquez will be continuing a workshop in which nine scriptwriting students from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Colombia, Spain and Mexico work on their own short films that will eventually be compiled into a feature film.

Perhaps the coolest thing of all is that Mexican film star Silvia Pinal, who starred in several films by one of the best directors ever, Luis Buñuel, will be in attendance to be awarded the Orden de Isabel la Católica. One of her films, La Soldadera, will be shown at the festival.

By the way, did you know you can download a Quicktime movie of Buñuel and Dali's 1929 surrealist classic, Un chien andalou at the Internet Archives? If you don't already know why you should download and watch this film, you should read about it at Wikipedia. I'll warn you though, since the file is 93.3 MB, if you have no taste for surrealism, you might simply find it disturbing and pencil.

Posted by crispy at 11:45 PM | Comments (3)

March 21, 2006

Benito Juárez

Benito Pablo Juárez García
President of Mexico 1861–1863 & 1867–1872

Today is the birthday of President Juárez, and it is a national holiday here in Mexico. It should be. He rocked.

He was Zapotec and came from a small village in Oaxaca. His childhood was rough, but he was determined to get an education. He studied at a seminary in Oaxaca, and then after graduation, started his study of law. He became a lawyer, then judge, then the governor of the state of Oaxaca. He lived for a while in New Orleans when the military dictatorship of Santa Anna controlled Mexico. He returned to be Chief Justice and Vice-President under Ignacio Comonfort. After a conservative uprising which he helped to defeat, Juárez was elected president in 1861.

One of his first big acts as president was to declare a moritorium on payment of foreign debts, as the Mexican government was on the brink of bankruptcy. This did not please Mexico's European creditors, and France invaded Mexico in 1862 in retaliation. The defeat of the French by a smaller Mexican force at Puebla on 5 May 1862 is now what is celebrated annually on that day in the United States, and to a significantly lesser degree, in Mexico. In 1863, the French were able to establish a foothold in the country, naming Maximilian of Habsburg as "Emperor of Mexico" in the following year. Juárez and his government had to flee to the north, but they continued to do their work from there.

It's a bummer that Maximilian was actually a relatively cool guy, at least compared with other Europeans that had been sent over to conquer and rule Mexico. He shared liberal and Mexican nationalist sentiments with Juárez, and offered him amnesty and the post of prime minister under the monarchy. Juárez refused the idea of Mexico being governed by a foreign monarchy, and with threats of intervention by the United States to restore home rule to Mexico, France began a pull-out from Mexico in 1866. With the last of Maximilian's troops being defeated the following year, Maximilian was sentenced to death for treason. Some sources say that Juárez offered him a chance to escape, but Maximilian was a man of his principles and preferred to accept his defeat instead of fleeing. Juárez was asked by several people around the world to commute the death sentence, but he refused. Maximilian was executed on 19 June 1867 by firing squad. His last words were: "I forgive everybody. I pray that everybody may also forgive me, and my blood which is about to be shed will bring peace to Mexico. Long live Mexico! Long Live Independence!"

In 1872, Juárez died of a heart attack. He is remembered for his defense of national sovereignty and the passage of important liberal reforms that stripped the Catholic church of their power in state affairs and advanced civil rights and capitalism. This year is the 200th anniversary of his birthday, but starting next year, Mexico will celebrate his birthday on the third Monday of March.

Juárez is pictured on the Mexican 20 peso note, with the monument to him in Mexico City pictured on the reverse.

Posted by crispy at 03:23 PM | Comments (5)

Correction: Why Are the Trees White? (continued)

Okay, the latest opinion is that the trees are not coated with concrete, but rather with quicklime, which is known in Spanish as cal. Still, it is applied for the same reason.

Posted by crispy at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

March 19, 2006

Correction: Why Are the Trees White?

Some of you may remember seeing photographs of trees in a past entry which have the first few feet up from the ground seemingly painted white. Mark Allen left a comment asking what was up with the white trees. I answered him in a personal email that this was probably because the drivers here are idiots and that is done to make them more visible so that people don't drive into them.

Recently, Shawn heard another answer that is far more interesting.

He heard this from Charles Nuckolls (pronounced "NACK-els"), a taxi driver that we often call directly and who, being born in Baltimore, is fluent in English. He explained to Shawn that the stuff on the trees is not actually paint but cement, which somehow protects the trees from this really strange type of ant that we have down here known as leafcutter ants.

If you don't know about leafcutter ants, I strongly suggest you follow the link given above and read the brief Wikipedia article on them. If nothing else, just go and look at the pictures. These ants are seen all over the place here, in long caravans toting enormous (relative to the ants themselves) pieces of leaves that they have cut from trees. They carry all these pieces back to their nests where a specific kind of fungus grows on them. This fungus is what they eat. Basically, they are fungus farmers and the fungus feeds on the leaves. Our friends here have seen them strip an entire tree overnight, and all those bits of leaves get tucked away underground, which gives you an idea of the magnitude of their nests and how much fungus they're growing underground.

Go ahead. Read the article.

Now I know you're asking why cement on the trees would prevent these ants from stripping the leaves from them, and at this time, I don't have an answer for you. I'll try to find out and post the answer in a follow-up entry.

Posted by crispy at 02:13 AM | Comments (0)

March 16, 2006

Ha, ha!

Mexico Ousts U.S. From World Baseball Classic

Posted by crispy at 11:09 PM | Comments (0)

March 10, 2006

How Insensitive

I learned yesterday that Hewlett-Packard México, which has several different fa