Big spenders

With the end of June, our cash situation improved a bit. The gazebo is out for now, but Barb was finally able to buy her BBQ. It is bigger than the one we had in Bedford. This one allows a special roaster to BBQ a whole chicken. She felt constrained in only having a fry pan and wok. With the BBQ she has more options. However, although the BBQ was delivered, they were out of the gas tanks. Today, when we went back, they had the tanks, but no gas. Monday they have promised to deliver the tank filled.

In addition, she wanted some large planters. We took the plunge and got 2 large, colourful, Mexican ceramic planters (see closeup of one above) and 2 good sized butterfly palms. These have a cluster of smaller trunks, rather than one big one. They told us that they are slow growing, but reach about 10 feet; they are about 6 feet now. She also bought 2 hibiscus shrubs; the latter were only 55 pesos (i.e, $5.50) each! She had the gardener transplant a couple of potted plants so she has at least one pot available for the hibiscus. One of the plants was a small lime tree. It is now planted in the yard so that in future years it can grow much bigger. She is in 2 minds about the gardener. On the one hand, she doesn’t mind having someone to dig holes for planting (I did that in Bedford). However, she likes planting things herself, but the gardener does that too. Anyway, the plants, BBQ, etc are transforming the courtyard and giving it a much more lived in look. Rosendo, the gardener seemed to think that the palms were too big for him alone, even if we helped (I think that he does not think we are capable of doing much). However, today Barb & I potted the smaller of the 2 palms (see the result in the left photo). It is quite big and in the middle, I wasn’t sure we would be able to finish. We persevered and finished. Rosendo is going to bring a friend to help him next week, but I think that he will be surprised when he finds that Barb & I did the one by ourselves.

Plans

I think that this house is well built for this climate. Like most houses in Mexico, it is kind of along the lines of adobe construction. The walls are thick and built of bricks or cement blocks covered with stucco. Along with the tile floors, they can absorb a lot of heat. We also have high cathedral type ceilings, except in the 2 bathrooms which have the arched bricks. This means that the house does not heat up that much in the day. Even when it goes well above 30 C outside, it is usually in the mid to high 20s inside. It does not cool off that much at night. When it is down to 17-19 outside at sunrise, it usually remains about 22-24 C inside. I also think that it is going to work well in the winter. Because we have a lot of 6 feet high windows facing southwards, we shall have passive solar heating. In the sunny weather in the winter, the sun coming in will warm up the house during the day and the stored heat should keep the house relatively warm during the night, especially if we have the windows closed. I don’t know if we shall really need propane inserts in either of the fireplaces; we’ll see.

We want to get a gazebo built in our courtyard. The umbrella is a bit small, especially if there are more than 2 people. We are thinking of one about 15-16 feet in diameter; that will still leave space from the roof to let in light and sun. We contacted a contractor, who had been recommended by Cathy and Gary (the couple from Three Islands Lake who were introduced to us by Jack and Kate) for the good job he did for them. We just got the quotation. It is more than our budget can stand right now. However, hopefully by late summer or early fall, we’ll be able to go ahead with that project.

More Camelot

It is interesting weather here in the rainy season. It doesn’t rain every night, but quite often. Nevertheless, it gets sunny most days, well before noon. We had quite heavy rain (with lots of lightning and thunder) last night (no leaks again!). By dawn, it was sunny again. One substantial difference is the humidity. During the dry season, it was around 30% or so most of the time. Today, after the big rain, it was well over 60%, although it was down into the 50s by this afternoon. However, the temperatures are lower now (usually not much above 30 C for the highs and that is only in the middle to late afternoon) so that it is not unpleasant. The forecast is for a low of 14 C tonight. That is fairly cool. We can see a bit of the mountain out our front windows and it is a very different colour--green, not brown. Also, with all the rain, grass is growing between the cobblestones on some of the streets, especially here in La Floresta, where some of the streets are really wide. As of June 20th, the level of Lake Chapala is up 20 cm (about 8 inches) since the start of the rainy season and about 10% higher than a year ago. There is a great deal of interest in the water level. A few years ago it was very low and there was real concern. The recovery is being cheered.

I go for another Spanish class tomorrow. It is coming, but very slowly. I have learned the numbers, at least to ten thousand, the months, days of the week and so on. I still can’t understand much when people speak to me, but I can formulate some simple sentences. I knew that it would be a slow process and am not surprised or discouraged.

Jocotepec

The concert on Sunday was great; it was in the Anglican Church in Ribera, which is a community about 2 - 3 km on the east side of San Antonio on the way to Chapala. The pianist, who is the piano instructor at the music school at the Univ. of Guadaljara, was very good. He is Mexican of Chinese heritage. I think that we’ll attend their concerts regularly and will probably join Viva La Musica; tickets to events are cheaper for members and thus one gets one’s membership virtually free if you attend many of their events. After the concert, We explored around away from the highway in Ribera. It is much less built up with lots of vacant lots and spaces.

Today, we decided to go to Jocotepec, which is about 17 kms to the west away from Chapala, near the western end of Lake Chapala. Two women have started an organic farm (I mentioned them after attending their weekly session at LCS last week). The farm is about half way to Jocotepec. We missed it and went right into Jocotepec. The latter seems to be bigger than Chapala and much more Mexican. We drove around a bit to get a sense of what it is like. We found the organic farm on the way back. It is not huge, but they are doing market gardening type farming and one can grow quite a lot on a small piece of land. They say right at the end of the dry season/start of the rainy season that they don’t have too much produce but will shortly now that the rainy season has started.

There were open houses at 2 houses for sale across the street on our block; we went in. In one house, the agent there said that he used to handle the rental of our house. He was able to tell us a bit about the house. As we suspected, the previous owners bought the house on speculation to turn a profit. They replaced the front wall which had previously been a stone wall like the side and back. They also redid the roof. We are not sure how much else they did. He said that they bought it for about $240,000. At $271,000 that we paid, he said that they just about broke even. He asserted very strongly that we got a good deal. He also said that houses in La Floresta commanded the highest price per square meter of anywhere in the area, even more than beside the golf course. He contended that houses in La Floresta are easier and faster to sell if one needed or wanted to. This is all reassuring that in spite of our haste, we did not do badly.

¡Viva la Música!

Well, today is the first official day of summer. Yesterday was the same pattern: cloud over and a few sprinkes at 5, then clear up. However, during the night after 3 a.m. extended rain and thunderstorm. On investigation in the morning, no leaks except for a tiny bit of moisture in one spot. My theory is that during the dry season, the wood dried out and shrank, leaving a couple of small cracks for water to come in. However, with the start of the rainy season, the wood has soaked up moisture, swelled up and sealed the cracks. On another note, Bijou seems to be recovering nicely, although she has gotten sick a couple of times from the antibiotics.

Sunday afternoon, we are going to a piano recital put on by ¡Viva la Música! [By the way, that is the correct way to do exclamations and questions in Spanish--an inverted exclamation or question mark at the beginning and a regular one at the end.] We shall probably join Viva. It is putting on 5 concerts during the summer featuring muscians from Gradalajara. They also arrange bus trips in to Guadalajara, usually involving dinner and a concert. There is an extraordinarily rich cultural life in Guadalajara at various concert halls around the metropolitan area; the English language weekly newspaper has long lists each week of various events. They look very interesting, but the mechanics of finding our way is too daunting. Going on an organized bus trip would take most of the hassle of getting around such a huge metropolitan area, finding parking, etc. Viva also provides scholarships for students from the Guadalajara areas to continue their musical studies in Guadalajara or US universities. It also supports the Northern Lights Festival in February when Canadian musicians come down to give concerts in the Lake Chapala area and master classes for advanced students in Guadalajara. Viva is only one of several cultural organizations in the area, including theatre. There seems to be a lot to do here.

Mexico has long fostered and honoured its visual artists, much more so than Canada does. There are large numbers of galleries and public buildings are adorned with murals and statues. I’ll talk more about this in a future post as I am just learning about it myself. There is also so much historical tradition to be explored and learned about. There is absolutely no reason to be bored, not that anyone who lives here complains of that.

Poor Bijou

The weather has been a bit strange. After 8 straight days of rain, day and/or night, we are now into the 4th day without rain. Each afternoon about 4 - 5 p.m., it clouds up, we hear thunder off in the distance and we even get a few drops; then it clears up. This afternoon, it actually started to rain; Barb had clothes on the clothes line (we don’t have a dryer). She rushed out to get them; just as she finished bringing them in the house, the rain stopped and it appears to be clearing up again. This is apparently unusual for the rainy season. The earlier rain had made a good start and raised the level of Lake Chapala by 2 cm. As a result of drought and overuse of water flowing in, the lake had gotten pretty low. However, in the last few years, it has been regaining higher levels. Last year the rainy season raised the level of the lake by 1.7 meters; the dry season lowered it by 1.1 meters. Thus, it started off this year about 0.6 meters (just under 24 inches) above last year. They are hoping and expecting that this year will raise it more again.

Today Bijou was attacked by another dog. It was a surprise because they had met and played on a previous occasion. The owners of the dog (a standard poodle and thus quite big) were surprised and said that it had never happened before. Bijou ended with a gash in her shoulder. We took her to the animal hospital to get stitched up. The vet had left for the day and a technician did the stitching. We have to take her back in tomorrow. This was the second time she was attacked, although she was not hurt the first time. Barb is getting a bit nervous; she and Bijou go for long walks almost every day.

Who knew?

We went to see Angie & Matthew in Tlaquepaque in the afternoon yesterday. We saw more of their hotel. It is really nice. It is also very close to the shopping area. The latter is several blocks long with one of the streets closed to cars with pedestrian traffic only. There is also a big public square. We spent a couple of hours looking through the shops. There is beautiful stuff, although a bit more expensive than some shops in Mexico. We went to a restaurant recommended in a guide book they had. It was very good and the menu was very different and Mexican. For example, I had chicken with a sauce that included chocolate and peppers; it was an Indian (Mexican) recipe. Of course, chocolate by itself is not sweet and this sauce was not. It had a bit of pepper in it but not really hot. It was also served with 2 large slices of banana grilled. Very interesting and delicious. In the evening after we came back to Ajijic, Matt sent us an email saying that they not only had a big thunderstorm, but also lots of hail in Tlaquepaque. We saw a bit of far off lightning, but no rain or thunderstorm in Ajijic! We are only 40-50 kms, but there are mountains between us and Guadalajara. Actually, the last few days, when it has rained, it has been at night and before noon, the clouds are cleared away; we have sunny days.

At LCS every week the organic gardening group puts on an event. A couple of weeks ago, Barb went and there was an entire session on doing salads. This afternoon, it was a BBC video about food and dieting which included information on the latest research. There were some surprising findings. For example, they proved that eating lots of dairy products inhibit the absorption of fats, in fact about 50% less! It seems to be the calcium and especially effective when using low or none fat dairy. Another fact is that drinking water before a meal does nothing to reduce how much people eat and may in fact cause people to eat more because the water leaves the stomach so fast that people do not feel full. On the other hand, if given the exact same amount of food and water, but this time it is blended together into a soup, people go at least an hour longer before feeling hungry. In this form, the water stays in the stomach and people feel fuller. The session next week is going to be all about the many different kinds of peppers and how to use them.

In the discussion after the video, the leader (she is a Canadian and one of the forces setting up and operating the organic farm near Jocotepec) brought up the argument that coconut oil is in fact good for people and that the rap against tropical oils, like coconut and palm oil, were not based on science and the propaganda campaign to discourage use of these products was largely at the behest of soy bean and other vegetable oil producers in the US to reduce the competition. She said to check it out on the internet and I spent a couple of hours; it seems that she is correct. I did a Google search of ‘coconut oil’ and there are a lot of sites and articles. It is very interesting and makes one rethink one’s entire approach to one’s diet. The science on what constitutes a heart-healthy diet is very complicated and much of the ‘facts’ that we have been handed are not supported by research, but are based on unsubstantiated theories.

Going batty

We had an interesting experience. I mentioned that we had put up a hummingbird feeder. It has been a great success with lots of hummingbirds coming, although there is one bird (grey back, white chest and bright red beak) who had taken to guarding the feeder from other hummingbirds. It sits on the wire on our back wall watching. It then zooms in to chase off other birds. There is a real whir from the wings. However, other birds manage to sneak in.

However, after Barb & I had gone to bed Friday night, Matt called us out to look at the courtyard. After the lights had gone out, there were a bunch of ‘birds’ swooping around the courtyard and some seemed to be going to the feeder. By morning, the feeder was completely empty. Matt looked up on the internet and concluded that what we had seen must be bats, not birds. The next night, he was ready with the camera. Sure enough, they were back again and he got a number of pictures. Indeed, they were bats and quite large numbers of them. Again in the morning the feeder, which holds about a litre of sugared water, was completely empty. It was all very interesting and exciting, but we decided that we can’t continue to feed the bats. It takes over a cup of sugar to make a batch of liquid for the feeder; we would go through a lot of sugar feeding the bats. Last night, we took the feeder down and brought it inside for the night.

Yesterday, we took Matt and Angie in to Tlaquepaque where they had booked a small hotel. It looked very nice and has a small swimming pool. It is also just a couple of blocks from what is considered one of the best shopping areas in Guadalajara. In fact, while we were still on the way home (i.e., after about half an hour), Matt called to ask that we bring the big suitcase (they had decided that they didn’t need it for the return home). We are planning to go in this afternoon to look around Tlaquepaque (pronunciation, approximately, ‘tla-ke-pa-ke’) and have dinner. They are leaving very early on Tuesday to return to Halifax. Tlaquepaque is only 5 or 6 kms from the airport and thus a short taxi ride. It was short, but a very successful visit.

Fiesta San Antonio

We went to the fiesta in San Antonio last night. The night was perfect. It was quite a big deal. There were a number of rides for kids--merry-go-round, cars, ferris wheel, small roller coaster, etc. All are really small as the ride has to fit in the very narrow streets of Mexico. It was really a small carnival. When we arrived, there was a local musical ensemble (about a dozen players, plus a couple of singers) playing in the band stand, much like the one in the Public Gardens in Halifax only a bit smaller. However, in the afternoon we had seen them erecting a good sized rock band platform. However, that band did not start until just after 10 p.m. They had very large amplifiers and we were only a few feet away--much too loud. We only stayed a few minutes after they started. However, the crowds were also becoming huge so that it was becoming difficult to move around. Last night (June 13th) was the last night of the fiesta which started on June 1st.

Earlier in the evening, there was an Indian dance troup called Dansa Azteca from a neighbouring town; there were about 30 dancers plus a couple of drummers. Most of the dancers were children ranging age from about 8 or so to early teens, although there were a couple of adult women also. Although Christianity has been adopted by the Indian population, there is a good deal of syncretism so that pre-Christian aspects are mixed in. Apparently, in some areas, a pretty strong Indian culture survives and some still speak an Indian language. Mexican politicians have often celebrated Indian culture as a way of differentiating Mexico; however, treatment of the Indian people has often been very poor and the latter tend to be the poorest Mexicans. Altogether, another very interesting and enjoyable experience. Angie and Matt brought me A Concise History of Mexico as a gift. I have only read a chapter or so, but am looking forward to reading the entire book. Except for very vague knowledge of Cortez and the Spanish Conquest, I really know practically nothing of Mexican history.

Hummingbird feeder

Well, as it turned out, it cleared up and was a beautiful night. We ended up walking to Tango and had a terrific meal. This afternoon, we walked into San Antonio. They are getting ready for the final night of the big (14day) fiesta. There was a mass in the village church and a number of young girls taking their 1st communion, all dressed up in beautiful white dresses. They were also setting up for big entertainment tonight. We are planning to go. This afternoon was sunny and gorgeous. It looks like tonight will be also clear and warm. I’ll report next post.

We also now have a hummingbird feeder. We had not found one in any of the stores. However, we were at a big selloff of furniture and things of an American couple who are moving back to Texas. We found the feeder for sale there and bought it. We finally got a hook to hang the feeder and got it up Wednesday. Within half an hour we had hummingbirds visiting. There is also a bright yellow bird (a bit bigger than a sparrow) that also has been feeding. It tries to keep the hummingbirds away; the latter also are very territorial and keep trying to drive each other away. We had noticed this in February. Anyway, it is another source of interest and entertainment.

Llueve mucho--It rains a lot!

On Wednesday night, we went to the Nuevo Pasoda restaurant. It is in a nice little hotel and on the lake; we had been there for brunch with Kate & Jack with others in February. It is very nice and again the food was very good. However, it was what happened after that made the night rather memorable. We had walked down (about 12-15 minute walk) and during dinner it began to rain, really pour down. When we came out, the street in front of the hotel going down to the lake was a river, kind of like a rapids going over the cobblestones. We talked about getting a cab, but there was a lineup of other patrons waiting for cabs. Barb insisted that we should walk; although the rest of us were dubious, she set out and we all followed. Actually, getting across that street was the most challenging (about 6 inches of fast rushing water). Although we had to wade through a couple of the other streets going down to the lake, none were more than an inch or two. Needless to say we were all pretty soaked in fairly short order. However, before we got home, the rain had tapered to a light drizzle. The temperature was quite warm so that it was a bit of a lark really. While we have high opinions of ourselves, none of us is made of sugar so we didn’t melt (one of my mother’s favourite sayings).

Today, it was raining quite heavily all morning, but about noon, it had virtually stopped. We decided to drive to Chapala; actually, the sun did come out for a short period while we were walking around in Chapala. Although Barb & I had been there several times to go to the large supermarket, we had never explored the waterfront. Chapala has long been a tourist centre with an extensive developed waterfront area. However, they are doing a good deal of construction work to improve it even more. We went in to a hotel restaurant for lunch. We had Bijou, but dogs are allowed on the front porch part of the restaurant. While there, 2 guitar players/singers asked if we wanted them to play for us. Today is Angie’s birthday so Matt had them play for her birthday. For 25 pesos, they gave a song, and then sang ‘Happy Birthday.” Tonight for Angie’s birthday, we are going to Tango, another restaurant introduced to us by Kate & Jack. However, we have already decided that we will take the car. It is not raining at the moment (5 p.m.). but it is overcast and could easily start again. We needn’t go ‘singing in the rain’ for 2 nights in a row. They really mean it when they call it the ‘rainy season’.

Gas prices in Mexico

We did go to La Bodega for dinner Monday night. The food was really great and there was a singer there with electronic keyboard providing entertainment. There was even a dance floor and Barb & I had a few dances.

Another storm during the night knocked out the power and it was still raining when we got up. We decided to go into Guadalajara to the giant mall. It was an outing for Matt & Angie and a chance to see some of Guadalajara. It had stopped raining by the afternoon (even some brief sun) and today on Wednesday, although it is overcast, it is not raining. Matthew cooked a terrific stir-fry dinner last night. Today, everyone went to the Ajijic market. It is an experience itself.

By the way, several people had been asking about gasoline prices. I had not figured it out, but yesterday while getting a fillup, I discovered where to look on the pump for the price. This will hurt because I know that prices in Canada are away above $1 per litre and over US$4 per US gallon. The price I paid yesterday was 7.2 pesos per litre (i.e., about Can. $0.75/litre or about US$2.74 for a US gallon). Obviously, like many oil producing countries, Mexico is shielding its citizens from the high cost of oil.

Angie & Matt arrive

Angie & Matthew arrived safely and on time on Sunday. They had had a very hectic week before and then had to get up at about 3 a.m. Thus, they were tired by the time they arrived. However, we plied them with margaritas. Then, we walked them all the way to the park and the pier in Ajijic. There is a restaurant on the pier with a great view of the lake and the mountains on the other side. There were parties and great activity in the park, including a birthday party for a little girl with a miriachi band to provide entertainment. By the time they got finished walking back, they were pretty bushed and went to bed just after 9 (11 p.m. Halifax time). Oh to be young and able to keep going that long!

It rained again starting about 4 a.m. It had stopped by the time we got up and had cleared up and very sunny by noon. By 5 it had clouded up and we can hear some thunder, but away off in the distance. I expect that we shall have more rain sometime this evening. However, so far it is like Camelot, rain only after sundown.

Angie and Matthew seem to be having a great time. Matt has a new camera and has already taken way over 200 photos. Last night on the way home, we discovered a restaurant with entertainment really close to us. The menu seems to feature more Mexican dishes than many of the other restaurants. We may be going there tonight unless it starts raining soon (about 6 p.m.). It is great showing new people around and sharing their delight.

Rainy seasons begins

Well, the rainy season appears to have started and with a bang. Just about 8 p.m. on Friday, we heard a bit of thunder and then a few minutes later, it started to rain. Almost immediately, the power went off and with the heavy clouds, it was pretty dark. There was a good deal of wind; we had to close all of the windows, at least from the north. Then, a few minutes later our backyard neighbours’ alarm system went off. They have wires around above the walls. After about 10 minutes or so, the alarm finally was turned off, thank God.

This is now Saturday. The heavy rain lasted for about half an hour, but continued to rain, gradually tapering off after about an hour and a half. The power remained off until almost noon. It is cool and the air is fresh today. It is pretty sunny. We have discovered a couple of leaks in the roof. Also, the windows in the courtyard go right to the floor and are not sealed. Thus, a bit of water runs down the windows and then a bit spreads on the tile floor. However, it had all dried up by this morning. One spot we had to put a bucket under.

I can hear a saw going on the next street so a crew must be cleaning up. We went outside to look. A lot of debris came off the trees--bark, leaves, small branches, etc. Thus, the lawn inside and outside the wall is littered. Also, the street from the highway down (named Paseo de la Pesca--Path of the Fish) ends at our street, but a pathway to the next street behind and a large ditch for a storm drain continues beside our house. A large grill allows the water coming down de la Pesca to go into the storm ditch. The grill has over a foot of debris covering the entire length, well over 30 feet. There is a man out clearing that now. I expect that de la Pesca had in fact become quite a river during the rainstorm. However, I was certainly not going to go out to see.

The forecast is for some sun early every day, but chance of thunderstorms in late afternoon and rain every night. Even some rain during the day for some days next week. Matthew and Angie are coming on Sunday, just in time for rain, rain, rain. However, we are very excited as they are our first visitors. Yesterday, we got 2 small water pots for the bathrooms and a big one for the big water carboys. Everyone down here says to use bottled water to drink, even with a water purifier. It was fun looking at all the brightly coloured, Mexican waterpots. Barbara had quite a time choosing.

I had better stop and save something for another day and post.

This and that

We are more settled all the time. Yesterday, we ventured into Guadalajara to the huge mall and shopping area. This time we had no difficulty in making the journey both ways. It was a bit disappointing in that we didn’t get some of the things we went for. Especially, on an earlier trip to Costco we had seen a large umbrella that we thought would give more shade on the inner courtyard. However, there weren’t any this time. We did get other things, there or at other stores. One of our priorities is to get a desk for me; Barb is getting sick of my having computer and papers on the dining room table. There is an Office Depot in Guadalajara but on a huge long main street. We had the telephone number, but that doesn’t help if you don’t speak any Spanish. I have learned a bit and I thought out the questions to ask before hand. I did ask, in Spanish, if someone could speak English. But the fellow who came on really didn’t know enough to answer my question. He got someone else, but I had my questions in Spanish ready. Between the English that she knew and my questions in Spanish, she did tell me which way to go and what the street number is. We'll venture in on a search tomorrow and eventually find our way around Guadalajara. Also, a few more weeks on the Spanish and I shall be able to stumble my way through simple conversations.

Ever since Friday night (this is the 5th night), we have been hearing fireworks every evening and often at 6 a.m. It seems to be a fiesta in San Antonio (there doesn’t seem to be anything in Ajijic). All the streets for a block around the San Antonio town square are blocked off with tents and small car rides, etc. for little kids; it looks like a mini carnival. Perhaps it is for the town’s patron saint.

In the house next door to us there is a Mexican couple with 2 girls--one about 7 and the other perhaps 9. Usually, it is very quiet. This afternoon, there is some sort of party for kids who seem to be having a whale of time in their swimming pool. I’m interested to find out more about this couple. Obviously, they are very well off compared to most Mexicans. Their house is at least as nice as ours; with a pool it likely cost more than ours. [Our house is kind of at the lower end of houses in La Floresta; the majority are bigger and much grander than ours.] They also have 2 relatively new vehicles. Maybe in time we’ll find out what they do and where. One of the huge changes in Mexico in the last 20 years or so is the rapid growth of a middle class. Our neighbours would seem to be in the upper levels of such a middle class.

Violence in Mexico

You undoubtedly hear lots about violence in Mexico. US newspapers are full of the wild west type of goings on in the border areas of Mexico. Top police officials being assassinated, gangs riding in and shooting up a town for several hours, etc. It’s clear that part of the reason for all the violence is that the new Mexican president is trying very hard to root out corruption among Mexican police and enforcement officials. However, no one comments on the real cause of most of this; it’s just left implied that ‘Mexico is so corrupt.’ In my view, the real cause of this is the demand for illegal drugs in the US and the American government’s war on drugs. The supporters of the war on drugs put the blame on the producers and suppliers of the drugs. However, the producers have few other choices for producing something that they can sell. The American government subsidizes US farmers so heavily that they can’t compete in producing ‘legitimate’ products. Making supplying the drugs illegal means that this profitable activity is perfect for criminals. The more the US government ramps up the war on drugs the higher the profits for the criminals who then have the means to bribe and build powerful, ruthless organizations. However, the NY Times had a long article on a growing number of agents in US agencies (Border Patrol, Immigration, etc.) who are working for and helping the Mexican smugglers and criminals.

You really wonder if humans learn anything from past experience. The US went through the same thing in the 1920s with the prohibition of alcohol; as soon as they legalized selling alcohol, the gangs got out because the profit was gone and the authorities were finally able to break up some of their networks. Unless you can reduce the demand for a substance with addictive properties, it is useless to try to cut off the supply. If we completely banned the sale of tobacco, we would soon have the same development of criminal gangs to supply it. In Canada we have enough brains not to ban tobacco outright. The approach has been to raise taxes; that works to some extent, especially with teenagers and there has been a decline in teen smoking. However, because American cigarette prices are lower, there has developed a considerable smuggling traffic from south of the border, especially by Indians who straddle the border in Ontario/New York and Maine/New Brunswick. If Canada doesn’t lower cigarette taxes, then we will turn our Native people into smugglers and criminals. Canadian governments (both federal and provincial governments) should lower the taxes. Other measures, such as banning smoking in almost all public places, seem to be having a significant effect in reducing smoking without creating an opportunity for criminals. In Canada, it means that people have to go outside in the freezing cold and rain to smoke. The point is that even when there are very good reasons, such as public health, to stop consumption of some substances, authorities still have to use their brains and try to find ways that are not counterproductive. The US war on drugs is a prime example of the worst possible and most counterproductive approach. I could go on at much greater length, but I’ll curtail my rant.

The point is that there are powerful and ruthless criminal gangs in Mexico. It is not as bad as in Columbia, but very serious. They are corrupting American as well as Mexican enforcement agents. The war on drugs is as counterproductive in stemming the drug trade as the invasion of Iraq has been in stemming terrorism. However, it is important to keep perspective. Most large Canadian cities have criminal and youth gangs who perpetrate serious crimes and kill innocent people. Mexico is not unique. Sorry that this is more serious than other posts, but it is no good skirting the issue. I’m sure many of you have been thinking as I rave about many things here, “Yes, but what about the violence and crime?” Well apples still have worms, even in the Garden of Eden.