Zamora and home

I haven’t talked about the concerts yet; there were high and low spots. The theme of the festival this year was Britain. Thus, they were highlighting British composers, especially Elgar and Benjamin Britten. Elgar isn’t too bad, but Britten is too modern for my taste. However, one concert had Beethoven’s wonderful violin concerto; the female violinist was outstanding. That concert was in an open air courtyard; it was quite chilly. I had my wool sports coat, and was warm enough. However, the Mexicans had parkas, gloves and even boots, but still were shivering! The final concert of the festival (which was held in a large, modern theater auditorium) featured 2 Mexican composers plus Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Of the former, the first was very pleasant and not discordantly
modern; however, the second piece was by a living composer (he was in the audience) and it was very modern. For the Mendelssohn, they had prepared a narration (interspersed with the music) that gave a detailed rendition of Shakespeare’s play, but entirely in Spanish. It was almost half way through by the time I realized what they were doing. After that, it was interesting for me because I know the play so well that I could follow even with my limited Spanish. Two women sang a couple of songs as well as acted out parts of the play. However, most of the ex-pats in our group couldn’t follow the Spanish and it did go on for too long. The entire concert, with several speeches by bigwigs (again all in Spanish), lasted for over 3 and a half hours.

We left Morelia at 10 a.m. on Sunday. About a third of the way back to Ajijic, we made a short detour to visit Zamora, a relatively small city. However, they are building a huge Gothic church, called the Sanctuario (see photos); it is not a cathedral because it is not the home of a bishop. They have been at it for decades and it is now nearing completion. It is claimed that it will be the 4th largest church building in Latin America. It has beautiful stained glass windows and marble floors (the second photo shows the central nave). They also recently installed a German made, multimillion dollar organ (see below). After the mass finished (there was a large crowd that almost filled this enormous church), our tour leaders had arranged for a short 30 minute concert by the organist. After the concert, we all went to an authentic Mexican restaurant. The house specialty was a shredded beef stew/soup. It was absolutely delicious; however, many of the ex-pats were chicken and ended up ordering rather bland quesadillas. After that we all got on the bus and resumed our journey home. Probably because we were all tired, it seemed to take longer than going; however, we arrived in Ajijic exactly on schedule at 6 p.m.

Pátzcuaro and Tzintzuntzan

On Friday in Morelia, our tour included being bused to 2 nearby towns, Pátzcuaro and Tzintzuntzan (it has a rythmn). Much of the present day state of Michoacán was part of the Tarascan Empire.[The name of Tarascans was given to the local Indian population by the Spanish. One story I was told for its origin may well be apocryphal; to the local Indians, the Spanish men were promiscuous. When the Indians were hailed by the Spanish, they jeered back refering to the Spanish as “Tarascans” which meant ‘adulterers’ or perhaps stronger epithet. The Spanish did not understand and thought that was what the Indians were calling themselves.] It had successfully resisted attacks and being conquered by the Aztecs. It had more extensive metal working than most pre-Spanish kingdoms. Because some of that metal included gold, the Spanish were soon attacking and conquering it too by the middle of the 16th C. Pátzcuaro had been the original capital, but the latter had been moved to Tsintzuntzan. When the Spanish conquered the area, they made Pátzcuaro their capital. You can read the history in the above links to Wikipedia. The Spanish later moved their capital to what is now called Morelia. The explanation we were given by a guide was that the Spanish were worried by too much inter racial mixing in Pátzcuaro so moved the capital to the newly founded Spanish city. However, the early and rapid emergence of mestizos seems to indicate that concerns about racial mixing had little inhibiting effects on fraternizing with Indian women. There was certainly a rigid chaste system in the colonial period--Spaniards from Spain, those of Spanish parentage but born in New Spain, mestizos, and finally Indians and imported African slaves at the bottom. However, as is usual, males in dominant social positions frequently fraternized sexually with women lower on the social scale. I suspect that there were other, more significant reasons for the move.

What was noticable was how Indian the population of the 2 towns are. Although the area is kind of central in Mexico and subjected to early and continuous religious and political pressures, there seems to be lots of continuing influences from the pre-Spanish past. The area is especially noted for its elaborate ‘Day of the Dead’ celebrations. Oct. 1 - Nov. 1. Although it was a month ago, we noticed that the cemeteries are elaborately decorated. In Pátzcuro, I bought a t-shirt illustrating the humor Mexicans display towards death. I’ll put a photo in a day or so. It has the skeleton people standing at a bar. The inscription is: “Comamos y bebamos que manaña moriremos” It is a very emphatic “Let’s eat and let’s drink as tomorrow we shall die!”

Pátzcuaro has 2 plazas, grande and chico (large and small). The large one is on a grand scale like one sees in large cities planed by the Spanish in the colonial period; itis surrounded by buildings with porticos. In these buildings there are numerous restaurants and stores, many of the latter catering to the tourist trade with correspondingly higher prices. The smaller plaza is more like small Mexican pueblos with loads of street vendors of foods and a wide variety of other things. There were relatively few people in the large plaza while the small one was bustling with local people. Ultimately, it was the more interesting one for us.

In Tzintuntzan we had a tour of the Franciscan convent of San Francisco de Asis (the photo shows the entrance with members of our tour). It was founded by a nobleman who led the order’s mission to the area. He had big, grandeous plans and built to house over 100 monks. However, none of the orders were allowed to recruit Indians and this convent never had more than 10 monks. Eventually, in the effort to separate church and state, most of the orders had their property confiscated and they had to leave or disband. Subsequently, it was used for a number of purposes, including as stables. It was in serious decay and ruin. However, the community has been undertaking a huge restoration, including refreshing the murals and decorations that are left using the pigments that were used in the late 16th and 17th Cs. One wing has been substantially restored and work is in progress shoring up and restoring the cloister in the center square. The community owns the property and gets no money from the government, but they have raised substantial amounts from businesses. The community uses it for weddings and fiestas.

In front of the convent itself is a large park. The monks planted many olive trees and set up processing of olive oil. However, producers in Spain wanted to eliminate competition and got the Spanish government to order the destruction of all olive trees. To comply, the monks cut down all the female trees (except for a couple in the back where they couldn’t be seen), but left the male trees (I hadn’t known that olive trees are either male or female; only the latter bear fruit). As a result, the park has rows of olive trees over 350 years old. The photo shows one.

Morelia

There is so much to tell that I shall take more than one post. Morelia is a great city. They have really preserved the central area with its early Spanish colonial architecture. As in most Mexican cities, the center is a large Plaza de Armas with the huge cathedral on one side (the photo was at night with the lights on) and what were government buildings along the others. All around the plaza, the buildings have large porticos--15 - 20 feet wide. Many of the ground floors have restaurants and use part of the area under the porticos as sidewalk cafes. Many other buildings in the surrounding blocks were originally large private residences of the wealthy. Today, many of the buildings have been converted to hotels. There seem to be fairly strict laws which do not allow large or garish signage. Most of the buildings were built with a pinkish stone, called canterra and the facades are clear and uncluttered.

Our hotel was just half a block from the plaza. As is typical of much colonial architecture, the two-story building is a square surrounding a large courtyard with trees, flowers and fountains; the photo shows the courtyard at night. You can see a large number of candles around the central fountain, both on the ledge and around the base. The ceilings are very high; on the 2nd story where the bedrooms are, the ceiling is at least 13 feet high. Our room looked out on the front and had a small, narrow balcony. Kate and Jack’s room had a king size bed. Ours had 2 ‘camas matrimoniales’ (double beds); it was comfortable and we slept well. Our bathroom had both a tub and shower, although the wash basin was in the bedroom. Most of the streets in the center are very narrow except for the north-south avenue which bisects the city. Thus, traffic often flows at a snail’s pace.

I’ll talk about our day on Friday in another post. On Saturday, we were free all day to explore Morelia. We had breakfast in a cafe facing the plaza and then went looking for a city tour with an English-speaking guide. Most of the bus tours were in Spanish. However, we found a delightful young woman, Maria, who spoke quite good English and drove a van for a tour of about 2 hours. We ended up with 10 of our Ajijic group. Maria was very enthusiastic and had done lots of research with dates and other background. One thing that was very interesting was that many of the churches (there are a lot of them in Morelia) are very heavily booked on Saturdays with one wedding after another. One church we were in (it was incredibly ornamented) had just finished one wedding. We had only about 5 minutes or so before we had to leave via a side exit as another wedding procession was starting up the aisle.


There were things going on in the plaza all day. At one point, some bagpipers and drummers were doing Scottish music. Later a band with huge amplifiers was performing. Other street performers were active. There was one group involving 5 dancers and 4 musicians. As you can see in the photo, the dancers had colourful embroidered costumes and ponchos; they wore masks that made them look like old men. They had sandals with hinged wooden soles. When they danced, the sandals made a loud clacking sound like tap dancing, but louder. The dancing was very vigorous; after they had finished their set, the dancers went over and flopped down with their masks and head pieces off. They were all young--teenagers.

One more little story for this post. Around the plaza were a number of men with stalls shining shoes. I had my old walking shoes which had not been polished or oiled for at least 2 years and were pretty grungy. I thought that it wouldn’t hurt to let one of the men see what he could do with them. He washed them first, and then used a clear wax (the shoes are natural coloured leather). By the end (he worked for about 15 minutes), they were looking better than they have for years. I went back in the afternoon with my dress-up shoes and had him do them too. His price for a shine was 15 pesos, or about Can.$1.30.

Ajijic festival again

Last post, I should have noted that not taking things for granted regarding house wiring does not just apply to Mexico. In 1985, we bought a house on Purcell’s Cove Road near the Armdale Rotary in Halifax. The house, built in the 1920s, seemed to have been renovated and the wiring upgraded. However, when up in the attic installing more insulation, we noticed the old parallel wiring with spool insulators. We thought that they just had not been removed when it was rewired. However, on checking, we found that the wires were live and that all the ceiling lights were still connected to this outdated wiring. While all the rest of the house had been rewired, no one had bothered to go into the attic and rewire up there.

Yesterday, the San Andres (Saint Andrew) festival for Ajijic’s patron saint started. It runs for almost 2 weeks. Today, there have been lots of big rocket firecrackers starting at about 5 a.m. We are far enough away that they don’t bother us too much. However, we were having brunch in the center of town only 2 blocks from the church where the rockets are set off. It was deafening. Every evening after mass, the plaza hums with entertainment, rides for the kids, lots of stalls selling everything, and lots of people. Practically every night, there is a big fireworks display at about 10:30 next to the plaza. Each night’s entertainment and fireworks is planned and paid for by different groups and unions in the town. Each group plans and raises money all year in order to make a big impression for their night. A lot of ex-pats go away for part or all of the festival time and/or complain a great deal. But this is Mexico and the Mexican way. No one is forced to come here and Mexicans are very tolerant of us, even though our being here impinges on their lives in many ways--some good and some not so good. Besides, it is very interesting to go to observe and even participate a little.

Our trip to Morelia is fast approaching; we leave Thursday, 26 Nov. It takes about 4 hours for the drive. From everything I hear and learn, Morelia is a fascinating city. In an earlier post, I gave Jim Cook’s blog with his pictures of Morelia. Below are a couple of websites with more information and photos. The schedule is quite busy. On Thursday, there is a dinner plus 2 concerts even though we get there only shortly after 12. On Friday afternoon, there is a short trip to Tzintzuntzan to the Convent of San Francisco de Asis and on to Pátzcuaro, which was the capital of the pre-Spanish Indian empire in this area. These people were never conquered by the Aztecs. Their capital also contained fantastic stone architecture. There is so much history in Mexico. We are free all day Saturday until 7 p.m. to explore Morelia itself.

Morelia

Google photos

Not properly grounded!

Life here has gotten busier. The arrival of some of our snowbird friends involve a more active social life than we had over the summer. Also, there are more events taking place for the same reason. For example, we went to a concert on Nov. 3rd (another next week) plus to the theater for a production of the Mousetrap on Sunday afternoon. This Saturday night we are going to a dinner/concert benefit in Chapala. People may imagine that because so many retirees live here that this must be a sleepy place. The exact opposite is true. Many of these retirees have been and remain very active; they are busy arranging a multitude of things to do. The problem is not what to do, but to restrict one’s activities to avoid becoming exhausted.

We had a reminder that in Mexico one must expect the unexpected. Barbara was having trouble with the washing machine that we bought only last January. We arranged for a repair man to come. With some initial lack of success, he did get it working properly and declared that it seemed to be alright. However, he had a gadget to measure the voltage. It was registering 140 volts--higher than the norm of about 120 volts in Canada and the US. However, it seems that in Mexico there is more variation, commonly 125 - 140. Most appliances made for Mexico are made to handle this, but appliances imported from up north often burn out the motors. Also, surge suppressors are virtually a necessity for most electronic equipment because there are more random surges here. However, this was not the big problem that was discovered. The repairman showed me that the 3rd prong of the plug (the ground) was in fact live!

I called Jose Luis who agreed to come the next day. He had a gadget which diagnoses whether or not plugs are wired correctly. He found that in that plug, not only was the ground live, but the neutral and live wires had been reversed; that plug outside was also connected to a plug inside the house to which our refrigerator was connected. Of course that plug was also wired incorrectly. I was getting in a bit of a panic. We had thought that the house was all wired with proper, grounded 3 pronged plugs. I was beginning to fear that all the wiriing in the house was bad. However, with one exception, all the other plugs are wired correctly with a ground. Obviously, someone who didn’t know what they were doing had messed around with those plugs. Jose Luis corrected the plugs to the washer and refrigerator by attaching the ground wire to the metal water pipe nearby with a clamp. I’m not sure what electrical inspectors in Canada would think of that, although in many houses the ground is connected just like that to the copper water pipe coming in from the street.

The other plug that was bad showed no proper ground; this is the plug that we were using for most of our computer and internet equipment! When Jose Luis opened the box, there was a ground wire, big as life. When he pulled it, it ended after about 8 inches. Apparently, it had been extended through the wall and connected to a metal post driven into the ground (we found the latter eventually). However, someone had come along and cut it off, probably when the house was repainted during the renovations before we bought it! It was easily fixed. A new ground was extended through the wall and connected to the post. Thus, in the end, it was all corrected quickly and inexpensively, but it is a reminder that you can’t take things for granted. By the way, the washer seems to be working properly now!

El Dia de los Muertos

Halloween! This is not a Mexican custom, but in recent years, it has really caught on. It may have been Mexican kids who had lived in the US and brought the custom back. Or maybe the gringos down here started it. Whatever, the kids love it. They especially head for the areas where there are lots of foreigners, like here in La Floresta and as Rosendo the gardener told me, Chula Vista, an upscale development surrounding a golf course. One group who came here tonight included Letitia, our maid, with her two children from Chapala!

This is also a big day for firecrackers here in Ajijic. It started at 5 a.m. and has been recurring frequently all day. There is a small statue of the Virgin (there are any number of these in Mexico often associated with some appearance of the Virgin and one or more miracles) that normally resides in the small chapel to the Virgin on the north side of the plaza. That chapel is very old dating to the late 17th C. In October, the statue is taken to the parish church just a block from the plaza, but in a long procession that wanders all around Ajijic. There are special masses every day all month in her honor. The statue is even taken to the church in San Antonio Tlayacapan (the village next to us) for 1 night. Anyway, today, the statue is taken back to the chapel where it will reside until the beginning of October next year. Tonight there is a big fireworks display about 10 p.m. We are too tired (we had the 3 girls, plus visitors from Canada staying next door at Steve and Heather’s came over to see the girls and chat). Also, tomorrow Kate, Jack and Sonia arrive.

Actually, the big Mexican celebration at this time of year is El dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead). It really takes place over 2 days--Nov. 1 and 2. It is fascinating for several reasons. It is a pre-Spanish and pre-Christian custom. For a while the Catholic Church tried to suppress it but finally decided to link it to All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1) and try to Christianize it. While Christian elements have been added and mixed in, in essence it is still a pagan custom and very different in sensibility. In the first place, Mexican attitudes to death involve humor and whimsy. It is a time to remember friends and loved ones who have died, but it is not a time of sadness. I’ll describe some aspects of the customs, but there is too much to cover in one post. In general it starts on the Nov. 1 as relatives go to the cemetery to clean up and beautify the graves of family members with flowers, paper streamers, even altars. On some, they may have photos of the loved ones as part of the altar; usually, there are lots of candles. They bring lots of food and drink and in fact celebrate, in some cases all night and into the next day. They sing songs and recite humorous poems. There is no worry about spirits or ghosts. Cemeteries are not scary places for Mexicans.

Everywhere, they build fancy altars, some small, but others very large. In Chapala, there is an entire street where altars cover the entire front yards on both sides of the entire street. They close off the street and different groups build the altars. It is like some places north of border where neighbourhoods used to put up massive Christmas light decorations on the houses. In the paper, it says that in Zapopan (a city that is part of Metro Guadalajara) they are building a huge altar (over 2 tons of flowers) to set a record. Often these public altars honor a person. The one in Ajijic this year is in honor of a man who died recently. A number of years ago, he started a youth orchestra and enabled many young people to play musical instruments. Many musicians who played in his orchestra are giving a free, public concert tomorrow night as part of the Day of the Dead celebrations. In some cases people will make an altar for a friend who is still alive. It is intended as an honor, and not an expression of a desire to see the person dead!

A favorite image here is La Catrina. This is Lady Death; it is a skull and skeleton with dresses. They are very fanciful and artists put them in all kinds of guises. I saw one today in a wedding dress, but often they will be dressed in other costumes, including a sombrero. Again, death is not feared or part of some superstition. For example, they make sugar candies in the shape of a skull and you can have the name of friend written in chocolate on the forehead for a small gift. The ones I saw today were a bit smaller than a fist. Joel, our Spanish instructor, got them for Jim and Carole Cook who are providing their house for our Spanish conversation class.

This very different attitude to death seems to be from the pre-Spanish era. In their cosmology, they did not fear death as they thought a good death would ensure a good afterlife. The indigenous peoples were very warlike. The best death was to die bravely in battle. The next best death was to be sacrificed to the gods! Many indigenous peoples, including the Mayans and Aztecs, made generous use of human sacrifice. Warriors who were captured in battle, hoped to be chosen to be sacrificed as this would undo the dishonor and missed chance for a good death. In fact the Maya played a game thought to be a bit like lacrosse. There are playing fields (like hockey arenas) in many Mayan cities. It is believed that the winners (not the losers) were given the honor of being sacrificed! Thus, this pagan attitude to death seems to underly attitudes in Mexico. While altars often have images of the Virgin or crosses, these Christian elements on the whole are a bit superficial; the Day of the Dead seems deeply rooted in pre-Christian paganism as are the attitudes to death.

Back to regular time

October is going by very quickly. Tomorrow night, we change the clocks back an hour. Mexico is still using the old times for the Savings Time changeover. Mexico did not follow the US (and Canada) when it extended the period for Saving Time. Thus, for a couple of weeks, we shall be an extra hour later than in the areas north of the border.

Surprisingly, we have had a couple of rains recently; we don’t expect it this late in October. The rain a couple of days ago was pretty light. However, late this afternoon, it got dark; we got thunder and lightning, but didn’t expect much rain. However, just as we finished eating, it did rain quite hard for 15 minutes or so. After a pause, we got another heavy rain. Barb did not have the rain gauge out so we don’t know how much it will be, but I would think that it is close to half an inch so far. With several cloudy days, the temperatures have been lower. A couple of mornings the temps have been below 16 degrees (I know, your heart bleeds); however, on sunny days, the temps still get up into the high 20s.

Barb is getting more and more satisfied after testing the irrigation system. This week she set the timer (6 a.m each time as early morning is the best and most efficient time for watering): on Monday, the 2 zones in front of the wall, Wednesday, the 2 zones inside the walls and on Friday the zone for the flower beds. She can adjust the length of time each zone goes depending on how dry things get. This is going to relieve a great deal of time and stress the watering had become.

This past week, Barbara had a flareup of her lupus. She made an appointment to see the rheumatologist in Guadalajara. He has prescribed some new medications to get it under control again. When we were going in for the 6 p.m. appointment, we decided to get some other errands in Guadalajara done, altogether almost 7 hours. Guadalajara is a huge city and it is always a bit hectic going there. However, we managed without any serious difficulties, although coming home, we followed signs directing us to the airport and Chapala and ended up taking a route that we had never taken before. It turned out alright, although it was probably a bit slower as we didn’t get on the cross town freeway that we usually take. Also, it was after sunset; seeing street signs in the daytime is hard enough and almost impossible at night. Thus, we had to follow the signs and hope for the best as we couldn’t see what street we were on!

In another week the snowbirds begin to arrive. Things will get busier; already our calendar for November is getting filled.

October again!

I haven’t had as much to report, at least that is my excuse for not doing a post for a while. The watering system has taken longer than we expected. It is mostly finished now; here is the front of the house in the middle. Jose Luis is coming back to make adjustments to the lawn sprinklers. He finally connected the various zones; when he tested them, he was not happy because the pressure did not stay high enough. We agreed to get a new pump. The gasket on the old one was leaking and I was not sure how long it would last anyway. However, I also discovered that Jose Luis had been pretty anxious about whether or not the system would work properly. He had never done one that had to cover such a large area. Thus, he expressed great relief when it seemed to work. After installing the new pump yesterday afternoon, he was beaming because it is working perfectly. There are 4 zones for the lawn and a fifth for the flower beds. For the latter, he has had his worker, Jorge, embed plastic hose a few inches below the surface all through the beds. Then, he is going to go around and beside each plant, punch a small hole in the hose. It will then leak the water underground around the roots. That is certainly a very efficient use of water for irrigation. The control system allows the different zones to be done separately and can be programed to spray whichever days and times you want. Barb plans to have them spray early in the morning before the sun comes up so that much less water is lost to evaporation. The system will relieve Barb of several hours of very boring work. Here is Barb in her hammock!

We had rain surprise this week. We had had no rain for over 2 weeks and I had concluded that the rainy season had ended. However, Wednesday night we had a thunderstorm (over 0.5 inch of rain). The next day, it was mostly cloudy with short brief showers. Then, it started raining about 6 p.m. and continued all night (another half inch). Even today, although we didn’t get any rain here, in Chapala there was a brief shower. It will be interesting to see if we get any more.

Today, we heard from Elizabeth at Love in Action that the girls would not be able to go out as they were sick or just recovering from colds, fevers etc. We went around to see if they needed anything, especially in the way of medicines. We did get some antibiotic for a couple of the girls. Last week, the girls also tried out the hammock.

Last Sunday afternoon, we went to the Lakeside Little Theater for the first production of the season (we got season tickets this year). It is little as there are only 120 seats, but it is lovely and well equipped. The productions are really quite good in spite of the fact that they are all done by volunteers; most of the actors have had considerable professional stage experience in Canada or the US. In so many areas (music, visual arts, drama, science, academia, etc.), there are really talented and experienced people who have retired here and most, probably because they have always been active people, make use of their talents and experience here. On Thursday night, we went to the final (fifth) season concert of Viva la Musica! It was a jazz quartet from Guadalajara; at least 3 of them, are classical musicians. Jazz is not my cup of tea (I don’t hate it, but don’t feel that I understand very well), but Barbara likes jazz. Starting next month, the Music Appreciation Society begins its season of concerts during the winter. Thus, there are classical music concerts here in Ajijic all year round-- amazing for such a small community. Also, during the winter, Viva la Musica organizes bus trips to Guadalajara concerts and ballet; we have not tried that yet. If one has the energy, there are virtually non stop cultural events available.

In an earlier post (September 13), I mentioned the Viva la Musica 4 day trip to Morelia at the end of November. I thought we were too late and were on the waiting list. Subsequently, 4 tickets became available and I snapped them up. Morelia is about 5-6 hours drive south of Ajijic and about 2,000 feet higher in altitude. Jim Cook, who is in my Spanish conversation class, is a terrific photographer; here are his photos of Morelia on his blog.

The Canadian Club has a big Thanksgiving Dinner at the Neuva Posada Hotel each year. However, I was too slow in getting tickets and they were all sold out. Next year, I shall have to be quicker off the mark. Even without the snowbirds, there are lots of Canadians living here. In fact the American Legion in Chapala also puts on a Canadian Thanksgiving Day dinner each year. We shall probably just have a quiet day at home this year.

Chillies en nogado

Well, the big celebration is over for another year. On Tuesday evening, there was a big rain storm so that I expect that put a damper on some of the earlier festivities; however, it had stopped before the ‘grito’ at 11 p.m. We didn’t go to that as we expected big crowds and we go to bed early. But on Independence Day itself, September 16th, we went to Jardin Retaurante, which is right on the Ajijic Plaza, for dinner. The special dish for Independence Day is called ‘chillies en nogado’; as you can see from the picture, it features red, white and green colours which are the colours of the Mexican flag. Its central feature is stuffed pablano peppers, stuffed tomato, pomegranate seeds and a white sauce. It was very tasty (the pomegranate seeds were zesty) and somewhat, but not overwhelmingly, picante.

After eating, we stayed for while for the festivities in the Plaza. There was a band of young fellows; I wouldn’t say that they were good, but they were enthusiastic. At one point, the young teenage girl who had been chosen queen earlier, went around handing out gladioli to older women sitting around the plaza. A couple of women came and gave Barbara (as well as other ladies) a small boutonniere of white flowers. Everyone was given a bag of confetti and went around throwing confetti at each other and us. You can see that Barb has a lot. Everyone was laughing and very friendly. It was a charming evening and a great custom.


Another step in completing our amenities was achieved when Barb put up her hammock and spent time relaxing in it. There are still a few touchups to finish, but the pergola is done.

Independence Day in Mexico

The Viva la Musica! concert on Thursday was an opera, Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. They used a piano for accompaniment, but otherwise it was a full scale production with a chorus of about 60. The 5 principal singers were all very competent and the soprano had an outstanding voice. She was Hungarian, but is married to the man (also a tenor) who was the conductor. It is amazing what cultural events are available here. Of course, all those in the opera are from Guadalajara, which has a full array of classical and cultural organizations and artists.

This is a big week of festivities in Mexico. Sept. 16th is Independence Day and the culmination. However, there have been events every weekend since the beginning of the month. Yesterday, in Ajijic was the hot air balloon festival (I have a description and some photos in my blog last year in September). This year we took the girls from LIA, but when one of the tissue paper balloons caught fire (as many do), Fatima was frightened and started crying. Dariana then followed suit. Dareli was unworried and took it in stride. However, we left almost immediately. Today, there was a big Mexican rodeo in the bull ring and this evening, the women parade around the plaza in traditional costumes. On Tuesday night at 11 p.m. here in Ajijic and in virtually every town and city in Mexico, mayors and officials reenact the ‘grito’. This was the call by Father Hildago in 1810 to rise up and fight the Spanish for independence. It was mostly Indians who responded. A few months, after some successes, Hildago was captured, tried and executed by the Spanish. However, others took up the cause and eventually independence was achieved in 1820. Hildago and another priest Moreles, who took up the cause and was also captured and executed, were excommunicated by the Catholic Church, but have remained the great heroes of Mexican independence. Just recently, the Catholic Church has been investigating whether or not the excommunications were valid and if they should be reinstated (like Gallileo and a couple of others). Critics here are calling it opportunistic as major bicentennial celebrations are being planned for 2010 (it will also be the centennary of the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1910). Anyway, the Church did not want to be left out it seems. After the reenactment of the ‘Grito’ at 11 p.m. on the 15th, there are fireworks and the partying goes on for many hours.

The mention of Moreles brings up another point. Subsequently, one of the oldest colonial cities in Mexico (founded in the late 16th C) was renamed Morelia in his honour. It is the capital of Michoacan, the state directly south of us here in Jalisco. A major part of the city center remains with the outstanding Spanish colonial architecture of the 17th to 19th C intact. It has been declared a World Cultural Heritage site. Viva la Musica! has arranged a 4 day trip to an international classical music festival at the end of November. With Jack and Kate, we thought that we would like to go, but by the time we got a line on someone to housesit with the dogs, the places have been spoken for. Unless there are some cancellations, we won’t be going. However, I shall keep an eye out for other tours going there. Everyone who has been to Morelia is vociferous in raving about it.

Much of the construction of Barb’s pergola is finished. As usual, they build things to last! The main posts are 5 inch square steel beams. They are anchored in concrete blocks over 2 feet square and more than 30 inches deep; then on top over the entire area is a concrete slab 6-8 inches thick with mortar and flagstones another 3 inches on top of that. There is other work of concrete and tiles out about 2 feet under the veranda where the washing machine and water heater are located. We have also decided to have Jose Luis and his men go ahead with installing an irrigation system. Barb needed to spend over 2 hours, 3 times a week just to water the flower beds. She was becoming a slave to the garden. We did get a really good rain (over 1 inch) on Thursday night. It has been a very dry rainy season. The construction phase always has things a bit disrupted, but Jose Luis always ensures that the job is done well and very inexpensive compared to what it would cost north of the border.

Birthdays galore

We have had a busy week at LIA. I mentioned a couple of posts ago about 4 in the same family who had recently arrived. One of them, Fernanda, was coming up for her 8th birthday last Sunday; we had had our 3 girls on Saturday. Elizabeth, the housemother, asked if we could help because Fernanda does not yet have godparents. We agreed to get cake and ice cream, plus a couple of presents. She is a delightful girl and was absolutely thrilled by her party. Then, another girl, named Monsarret but called Monce, is the same age (same house) and had her birthday on Wednesday. She used to have a godparent, but that is no longer the case. We felt that it wouldn’t be fair is she were omitted; thus, we got more cake and ice cream and bought her a pretty little dress at the tianguis. Again we were rewarded because there was another very thrilled little girl. We are suggesting that the godparents’ group make sure that even those kids without godparents have their birthdays celebrated.

Finally, today was the twins’ 4th birthday; September (along with May) seems to have a plethora of birthdays. We had given Alvia money to buy school uniforms for the twins and with the money left over, she was able to get the pretty little dresses you see on the girls. Barb had also bought 2 Mexican dolls (she was determined that she was not going to get Barbie or princess dolls). The twins’ mother and baby brother, who live in Chapala, were there for the party too. As you can see, more cake and ice cream!

Tomorrow, we go back again because there is a special 15th birthday party for Cenia. In Mexico, the 15th birthday for girls is a special, coming of age celebration, kind of like bat mitzvah for Jewish girls. Her godparents are organizing and paying for this, but wanted as many godparents as possible to come. I don’t know about the kids, but in spite of how good it is, we are getting our fill of cake and ice cream! Actually, we are restricting birthday parties to just the kids in the house of the one with the birthday, not everyone in LIA; that works so much better. In spite of hearing it so many times in the last week, we still have not learned the words to the Mexican birthday song; we must get a copy and learn it.

For months, Barbara has been yearning to get a hammock, but where to put it to find shade all year? The problem is the sun. It is south from September to April, but then goes to the north for the summer. Every place we thought of would be in the afternoon sun for at least part of the year. However, in the back corner on the west wall, we have a very big bougainvillea. Barb had persuaded Rosendo not to prune it since we arrived; if you prune very much you don’t get flowers because they grow only on new growth. Anyway, it is thick and bushy and by the early afternoon, the area underneath is in shade all year. Barb’s solution is to build a pergola to hold up the bougainvillea and provide support for the hammock. We contacted Jose Luis, our contractor, who gave us estimates for about 4 projects; we can spread them out as we have funds available. The first project is the pergola; Barb had been unwilling to wait any longer and bought her hammock in August. The men are to start work on Monday morning. They are also going to replace the grass under the pergola with flagstones in cement; the grass is not doing well in the shade anyway.

Economic downturn in Mexico

I am overdue for a comment on the effects of the economic downturn on Mexico and Mexicans. Mexico seemed to feel the effects of the downturn a little more slowly than north of the border, but the effects are now being felt more and more severely. With NAFTA, Mexico is now a major participant in the continental automobile industry; the drop in the demand for autos means that there are layoffs here too. A second factor is that because of the lopsided and sensationalist news coverage of both the war against the drug cartels and the H1N1 flu outbreak, tourism is way down. Of course those of us who live here know how exaggerated the coverage is. Most Americans who live here say that they feel safer here than they did at home. Thus, we continue to provide some jobs and money in the economy, but large numbers of Mexicans depend upon tourism for jobs and income. Thirdly, because of the economic downturn in the US, many Mexican migrants there are unemployed and unable to send nearly as much money as they were doing. Tens of thousands of families need that to meet their living costs.

Finally, although the government has promised public works to stimulate the economy as so many other governments are doing, the federal government is facing sharply declining revenues. While both the state and municipal governments raise some revenues on their own, both levels receive half or more of their total income from the federal government. Of and on since the end of World War 2, the federal government, which owns the petroleum monopoly, Pemex, has relied on oil and gas for much of its income. This has been both a blessing and a curse. When prices were high and the money was rolling in, frequently the governments of the time frittered and wasted a great deal. Some of the currency and economic crises of the past occurred when the prices fell. Ever since its nationalization in the late 1930s, Pemex has been a sacred cow and public opinion has opposed letting foreign oil companies have any significant participation in the industry. The oil workers union has tended also to protect and expand jobs and in doing so have inhibited technological innovation. The problem is that because of government demands to get as much revenue as possible and union obstruction, reinvestment has been far too low. There has not been much in the way of new finds (Mexico is really lagging in exploring the possibilities of deep water oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico for example). Production in the old fields is declining drastically. At the rate of current decline, it may not be too long before Mexico has nothing to export. Mexico does not have enough refineries (they need to deal with heavier grades of crude) to provide for domestic production, but must import some refined products. There is much more that could be said about the oil industry here, but for my comment the main point is that federal government revenues are declining, even with relatively strong oil prices. This is getting passed down the line to the lower government levels. The latter, on being informed that they are not going to get as much money as they had expected, are now cutting large numbers of jobs.

The loss of jobs is coming on top of the fact that average wages have not kept up with rising prices in the last 5 years (about half the rate). Thus, families were having a tough go even before the economic downturn. On top of this, many of the main agricultural areas in Mexico have been hit this summer with the worst drought in over 40 years. In some places the corn crop has been practically wiped out. Some predictions are that the price of tortillas may double because of higher corn prices. In short large numbers of Mexican families are facing a ‘perfect storm’ economically.

Garden Restaurant

We are finally getting more rain. It has not been heavy, although Thursday morning it rained quite hard for a bit over an hour, with a bit over an inch. However, most of the rains have been about half an inch or less, but they have been frequent--every day and even twice one day. Thus, the cumulative effect has been significant. Also, there hasn’t been too much runoff as the rain can sink down. Our street down from the Carretera is now covered in green grass between the cobbles. I said our rains here in La Floresta have been light, but Chapala, barely 5 kms away, gets much more. On Friday morning we had a light rain (less than 10 mm.), but when we went to Chapala, the streets were small rivers. I hope that it is beginning to raise the level of Lake Chapala.

We have discovered a new outing for the 3 niñas at the Garden Restaurant. They have a blowup plastic trampoline that little kids can jump on. We like the restaurant because it has a huge garden with a number of fruit trees (grapefruit, orange, lime and banana); they also have a peacock and 2 peahens, plus some Bantum chickens. Last year when Jeff, Tarra and Aiden were here, we went there. It was great for Aiden, because he could run around when he didn’t want to sit longer. The waiter there knows us well and is great with the kids. Last week, they made quaesadeas even though it wasn’t on the menu. However, we got hamburgs and cut them up this week. After eating the kids play on the trampoline. After we take them to one of the malecons (walkways along the lakeshore). By the end of the afternoon, they are usually tired out; Barb and I are as well. We ususally come home and lie down for a while. [By the way, if you click on these photos, it enlarges into a full size photo.]

We are doing an information page (with photo) of each child at Love in Action. We are getting more information about their backgrounds. All of their stories are wrenching and some are truly horrific. These individual pages will be sent to the godparents and sponsors of the kids so that they can learn more and feel more in touch. Just in the last couple of weeks, there was another family of 5 brought to the center; the mother would go off sometimes for days and leave the 12 year old girl looking after her younger siblings. They arrived without clothes so are having to share with other kids the same size. We want to try to get some more clothes. It is troubling to learn of kids in such need, but it is also extremely heart-warming to know that Love in Action is giving them a chance to get an education and some hope for their lives. Anabel, the founder and director, also is housemother for the age 13 and over girls (she has 14 girls). Several of those girls realize how important an education is and really put themselves into their school work and are doing really well. Anabel glowed as she was talking about them.

Harper's screwup with Mexico

I feel compelled to comment on the Harper government’s imposition of prior visas for all visitors from Mexico. It is extremely ham-fisted, and in line with other aspects of its handling of foreign affairs (for example, it has screwed up relations with China royally). Mexicans now have to go to Mexico City to get visas to Canada; for some reason, the consulate here in Guadalajara is not being used. In spite of pretty harsh screening procedures for Mexicans at American entry points, the Americans have not done anything as draconian as Canada. Such procedures are usually adopted only by authoritarian regimes and police states. The government claims to want good relations , trade and economic interchanges with Mexico, but is now enraging vast numbers of Mexicans.

Of course, the current system for handling refugee claimants needs to be reformed; it is a hopeless muddle with bogus claimants clogging and taking advantage of the system. A huge backlog and opportunities for endless appeals mean that cases drag on for years. Many Conservative Party supporters want to vastly reduce or even eliminate acceptance of refugees on humanitarian grounds. Harper and his colleagues know that that is not acceptable to the majority of Canadians. Instead of trying to fix the real problem, this policy simply inconveniences vast numbers of people who would not be part of the problem in any case. The policy probably will slow down the numbers of those who would abuse the system, but won’t end the problem. However, Harper doesn’t care about alienating Mexicans or sullying Canada’s reputation abroad when his government’s actions appeal to the Conservative Party’s ‘nativist’ supporters. Harper focuses on nothing but narrow, short-term political considerations.

Harper is now here in Guadalajara for the NAFTA leaders meeting with Abama and Calderon. He might as well have stayed home for all the good he can do for Canada here at the moment.

Back in action

I see that it is more than 3 weeks since my last post. The information on shigella said that although most people recover quickly, it is often some weeks before they get full energy back. Because of a pinched nerve, I had stopped jogging for 3 weeks or so. When I started again, I found that it was much harder and I tired so much more. I didn’t do much work on my Spanish either. On the jog today was the first time that I started to feel even close to what I was before. Also, while Barb was visiting Toronto and Nova Scotia from July 14 - 27, I did not do much and didn’t feel I had anything to say.

We did get our 3 niñas yesterday. It was a real pleasure to see how excited they were to see us after 3 weeks. Barb had brought back a number of dresses and other things for the kids (including the Canada t-shirts); she brought backpacks. Those were a real hit. Once they were given them, they didn’t want to take them off, even while they were eating! When we took them to the play area in the Ajijic malecón, as you can see, they kept them on while on the swings and slide.

The rains in July have been much less this year, although we have had a couple of good rains in the last week or so. Especially, there can be big differences in the amount of rain just a short distance apart. Letitia, our maid, was excited one day. Here in La Floresta, we had a nice (15 mm.) rain and a small amount of hail. However, in Chapala where she lives (not much more than 5 kms. away), there was a great deal of hail and a lots of rain. The latter had meant that they had had to cope with many leaks and drips. Most houses here have leaks; with rains confined to a 4 month rainy season, one forgets. As the end of the rainy season comes into view, why bother? We have had only one leak this year and not every rain. There is only a small puddle which soon dries up. A large number of roof tiles would have to be taken up to find the one small leak. Thus, we have not felt compelled to do anything.

One thing I did do while Barb was away was go to the movie house. It is located upstairs in the small mall where the El Torito supermarket is. Thus, it is only a 10-12 minute walk away. The first movie I went to was the latest Harry Potter movie. Newly released movies appear here very quickly. They are in English (except of course Spanish language movies) with Spanish sub titles. It was distracting because I was intrigued to see how much Spanish I could understand and especially to see how they translate slang. The movie prices are very inexpensive. For the Harry Potter at 6:30 p.m., I paid 38 pesos (less than Can. $3.50). I did go to a second movie matinee on Sunday. The ticket was 20 pesos! However, as in Canada, the money is in the food. I got a medium bucket of pop corn and small pop-- 40 pesos! That is still inexpensive by Canadian standards, but twice the price of the movie.

Moctezuma’s Revenge and Doctora Monica.

It was bound to happen sooner or later, but on Friday about 1 a.m., I was awakened and for the next several hours had recurring bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. At about 9 we went to see our doctor at Maskaris Clinic. Dr. Garcia was not in that day, but his fill-in doctor was Doctora Monica. She has the looks to be a movie starlet. Unlike many doctors north of the border, she was not wearing a formless white lab coat, but slacks and tight sweaters. Of course, good looks are not what is important when one goes to the doctor. However, it does help to take one’s mind off what is ailing you, if only marginally. Fortunately, she seemed to know what she was doing as a doctor also. She got me on an IV immediately as I was dehydrated. Then, after a test to discern what organism was my problem (shigella - a fairly common bacterium, especially in 3rd world countries but about 14,000 cases in the USA each year according to CDC), she started me on antibiotics. Because my nausea did not respond to gravol, etc., she decided that I should stay overnight (the clinic has 2 hospital beds) on IVs. Because they do not ordinarily have a nurse on duty 24 hours, they brought in a nurse, Susie, just to look after me.

Susie, whose regular job is in the Municipal Clinic in Chapala, has been taking English classes at the LCS and was eager to practice; she was also encouraging me to practice Spanish. We had an interesting conversation that went back and forth in English and Spanish. Dra. Monica was there all night (over 24 hours on a shift). She was able to get some sleep in another room, but a man came in complaining of stomach pains so that she was working with him until 2 or 3 in the morning. Susie, who had been sleeping on the 2nd bed, got a matress and slept/rested on the floor beside my bed. If I so much as turned over, she was up to see if I wanted or needed anything. Both she and Dra. Monica kept a close eye on me. Just before noon on Saturday with the nausea finally at bay, Monica said that I could go home. However, I ate little that day and only a bit more on Sunday. When I weighed myself on Monday morning, I was down about 6 lbs.

On Sunday morning at 1 a.m., Barbara suffered the same combination of effects that I had had. I don’t know if I had a more severe case or Barbara is just made of tougher stuff than me, but by noon she was able to begin small sips of water. It had taken me over 24 hours, almost 3 liters of IV and numerous injections to reach the same stage. By last night she was able to eat some shredded wheat. However, today she found that she is down 5 lbs. She had been taking off a few pounds since January, but still had 3 lbs. to go to her target. She is now well below that target, but it is a hard way to lose weight.

On Friday, I had originally had an appointment to go to Guadalajara to see a specialist for an electomiography test regarding my pinched nerve. That was then changed to Monday; at the time we expected that Barb would be able to go and do most of the driving. However, as noted, she was still wiped out. I went in by myself and got stopped by a cop (paying 350 pesos). The test was successful in confirming exactly where the problem is (e.g., eliminating any carpal tunnel involvement). It will now have to be pursued further, although the specialist assured me that while it required treatment, it was not serious. Again, the personnel and the equipment are very up to date and top notch. As with most doctors here, he spoke excellent, idiomatic English. I noticed that most of the specialist textbooks on his shelves were in English.

Altogether then, we seem to be recovering well and our impressions of health care here continue to be that it is as good as what we could receive at home and that specialist care is available more quickly than it would be in Canada. The appointment with the specialist was made while I was in Dr. Garcia’s office for within 2 days. The cost too, although more than the virtually free care that we Canadians get, is still, especially for Americans, surprisingly inexpensive. My visit to the specialist (wirh his fancy equipment) cost 2,000 pesos, or about Can. $180 at current exchange rates. Of course, for working class Mexicans that would probably be close to a week’s wages.

The circus

We have had a busy weekend with the girls. We had taken them on Saturday afternoon. We came here again. We had pizza, but none of them ate much; they seemed more interested in the hot sauce than the pizza. We got them into their bathing suits, but the wading pool seems to be waning in interest. They spent more time running around with the hose, spraying each other and a great deal else. However, we heard that Tobolandia (a water park just 4-5 blocks from us) not only has a big pool and water slide etc., but also has a pool for little kids. Alternately, we may get plastic air bags and use the pool next door. Steven has left us the keys and is urging us to use his pool. We are planning to do so and maybe the kids would get used to it. On Saturday, after the water games and ice cream, we decided to take them to the malecón (water front). Barb suggested that we take them to the malecon in Jocotopec as it would take longer and would be different for the girls. It is just over 20 kms. However, by the time we got to Jocotopec, Fátima was asleep. Barb took the twins for a walk while I stayed with Fatima. On the drive back, all 3 fell asleep.

A circus is in the area; in fact it is just on the Libramiento (the short highway that we take to get to the highway to Guadalajara) and thus about 6 blocks from us. They were giving a special deal for kids from Love in Action--two free tickets for kids with each adult ticket. However, initially we heard that the shows were at 6:30 and 8:30. We thought that that would be a little too late for the little ones. We then found out that there was an afternoon show at 4:30 on Sunday. Thus, we called to say that we would take 4 kids (our 3 and another). Eventually, we ended up with 5. A couple of guys from Canada, who are godparenting 2 boys in the 6 - 9 age group, had taken 6 of the boys to swim at Tobolandia yesterday. They said that they had been determined to take only their 2 to the circus today, but when they got to LIA, the others wanted to go so badly that they couldn’t refuse and ended up with 8! We all sat together so there was a small LIA section. The circus was quite good. I’m sure that it is not as spectacular as the ones in Las Vegas, but the kids were enthralled and Barb and I enjoyed it too. Of course, watching the excitement and enjoyment of the kids was a pleasure in itself. There was a little rough spot at the beginning. Dariana, who is the shiest, was upset and started to cry at the beginning. I think the loud music and voice of the announcer, plus the lights, frightened her; she is the one who cried at the puppet show also. However, Barb held her on her lap and gradually she got calmed. There were an elephant and a tiger as acts; the kids' eyes were as big as saucers. Surprisingly, all 3 girls rushed forward (we were close already) to get a closer look at the tiger. It was a very successful outing.

Puppets and the election

There are not a lot of new things to report. Barb and I have volunteered to gather information on each child in Love in Action and then make up a one page fact sheet (including a photo) for each. These will then be sent to the respective godparents and sponsors. It is a bit of an undertaking. However, fact sheets should be very useful for the godparents and sponsors. Otherwise, with all our friends from up north gone, we have a very quiet life. It is much cooler now that the rainy season has started. We have not had any big rains, but we have been getting frequent short rains of half an inch to an inch. The mountains are green again.

As the photo shows, we did take the 3 niños (plus Sara, a 13 year old girl from LIA who came to help) to the puppet show. It was a bit different from what I expected. I include a photo showing the scene. It involved a good deal of arguing back and forth between the 2 main characters. However, they kept doing songs and music between the spoken sections. Our girls did not seem very interested or absorbed by it. I don’t think they understood what was going on; as it was all in Spanish, I didn’t understand everything that was going on either. In fact in one section the fellow in the chicken costume used a little whip to hit the other character who then made a big show of crying loudly. Dariana got upset and started to cry; Barb had to take her outside. There were a number of other kids from LIA there and the older ones got into it, shouting back and even getting up on stage to dance around. In fact at one point one of the puppeteers led a line of kids all around the auditorium. After the puppet show, we got a pizza and went to our house. Then, the little girls again had a ball in the wading pool. Steve next door invited Sara to swim in his pool (it is too deep for our little ones). Sara enjoyed it. Thus, I think the afternoon was a success.

There are election campaigns on in Mexico with voting day on July 5th. This is the mid-term elections (no presidential election), but representatives in both state and federal congresses as well as mayors and state governors are up for election. All sorts of walls and billboards have been painted touting candidates. We observed another approach to campaigning on Sunday. As we were walking to Open Circle, we noticed a big crowd gathered where the horses congregate on Camino Real about 3 blocks from our house. There was a band, lots of people with bright red t-shirts and a lot horses. We didn’t find out until later what it was about. During Open Circle we heard the band parading down the street. When we finished brunch we noticed a big parade on the street next to the plaza. There were a few young men dressed in women’s clothes and dancing in front of the band. There was croud of people with the red t-shirts; then we could see that they had the name of one of the candidates for mayor. There were also large numbers of horses (over 50 at least). There were also people carrying flags with the PRI banner (Insitutionalized Revolutionary Party). This was the party that dominated Mexico from the late 1930s until the later 1990s. During that time Mexico was virtually a one party state under the PRI. There were other small parties, but the government and the unions ensured that the other parties never got more than minuscule numbers of votes. It has changed in last 10 years or so. Although the PRI still tends to be the largest party, there are 2 other major parties which make elections quite competitive.

Jim Cook's blog

Tomorrow, there is a puppet show for kids at the Auditorio just a few blocks from us. A number of the godparents from LIA are going to take their kids and so are we. All kids love puppets and this is also a benefit for Niños Incapacitados (a charity for handicapped children). I’ll give a report in a subsequent post.

I am really enjoying the Spanish conversation class. As I get further into Spanish, I grasp more of what is being said although I still need to learn a great deal more before I can fully understand and follow all the topics. Also, I am almost as far along as other members of the class, so that I don’t feel so out of place. Although we have had different backgrounds and different experiences, we all seem to share the same values and attitudes to politics and to social mores; we also share curiosity and interests. I guess it is not surprising that people who are interested in and willing to put the effort into learning Spanish and Mexican culture are very similar. For such people Mexico is not just an inexpensive area with a great climate to retire to. Moving here is an opportunity to learn and experience a very different world and provides very different ways of looking at ourselves and where we came from. Our conversations in the class range far and wide. For example, one of the couples lived in and moved to Mexico from Oregon. Someone then brought up the fact that Oregon allows assisted suicide for people with devastating, terminal illness. That launched us into a discussion of that.

The couple from Oregon, Jim and Carole Cook, recently joined the conversation class. They like to travel and have been doing excursions since they moved here in 2007. Jim keeps a blog and used exactly the same term and idea for their actions as we have for ours--Mexico Adventure. The blog is truly outstanding. Jim is a really good photographer. His commentary also gives the background and context for each photo. As I looked at the blog, it was like looking at one of those expensive, beautiful coffee table books. He has developed quite an archive of different places and topics. My impression is that he and Carole research and plan their excursions very extensively before hand; it is not a casual tourist approach but one that includes an effort of study. Mexico has so much of interest. People north of the border are really ill-informed and ignorant about Mexico and that included me before we arrived here. Cities are much older here and have an extraordinarily rich architecture, art and culture. As I am learning, there are huge differences between cities. Thus, getting acquainted with one city or area in no way allows one to assume that he/she knows all about Mexico. Jim’s blog (http://www.cookjmex.blogspot.com/) is an excellent way to get introduced to some of this richness and diversity.

The right to own guns in Mexico

Well, the rainy season seems to truly have started last night. It had been hot and (for down here) humid. About 6, there were a couple of real claps of thunder, but the only dark clouds were at the eastern end of the lake and we were still in sunshine. However, about 2 a.m., we had a dandy thunderstorm. I was sound asleep and Barb had closed most of the windows by the time I got up. It rained for over 2 hours. However, the power went out and didn’t get back on until 11:15. However, the air was fresh and free of dust today.

BTW, a couple of weeks ago, Jeff got a web cam. Our computers have built in cameras so that we can now have video conversations using Skype and see the grandsons, Blake and Aiden. It is certainly not the same aa being there, but it is wonderful to be able to see them when they seem to be growing so fast.

One of the things that came up at the Human Rights lecture last week was the right to possess firearms. It is possible for foreigners to have handguns as long as they are .32 caliber or smaller and are kept in one’s home. It is possible to get a license for rifles or shotguns if one belongs to a registered gun club. However, as it was explained, any permit requires quite an elaborate procedure (and lots of persistence) to get the license; having a gun without a license brings a very long prison sentence. What was fascinating to me were the reactions of many Americans in the audience. This particular article in the constitution is a very short one; however, it took an inordinate amount of time to deal with it as the Americans were asking endless questions. There was one woman who must be at least 80 who kept asking questions and going over the details as if she were planning that very day to begin the process. There were older men also who were equally avid in asking details. The gun obsession is really deep in many Americans. They never pay attention to the fact that fairly high proportions of possessors of guns are injured or killed with their own weapons! Having guns gives a very false sense of security. While many Americans express profound shock at the high murder rate in some border cities of Mexico, a large number of American cities have significantly higher murder rates than Mexico. I just read an article that says that Phoenix rivals the worst cities in Mexico when it comes to murder and kidnapping. However, I have seen no travel advisories or warnings about going to Phoenix! I guess the reference in the Bible to seeing the mote in the other person’s eye has a good deal of validity. Many Americans are vocal about faults in other countries without being aware of as bad or worse in their own country; however, end of sermon for today.

Mexican history

After the rainy season-like weather, this week it has been sunny, hot and dry again. However, the rains we did have brought some green to the mountains. But now we are again waiting for the rain to start in earnest and more continuously.

We are going to change the day we get the girls from Love in Action from Sunday to Saturday. Today, however, when we went, the girls were all sleeping. We were going to come back to take the girls out later, but Elvia, who is recovering from an operation, hinted that maybe we could bring ice cream for all the kids in that dormatory. That was a good idea. We got ice cream and cones; the kids all sat in a row as they got their cones. It became very much quieter than usual as the kids were preoccupied with their ice cream cones.

I have been reading another history of Mexico--700 pages. That is not quite as impressive as it sounds. It is a textbook for a university survey course; thus, it has lots of pictures and big margins. Nevertheless, it is fascinating. From 1810 when the war for independence started until almost 1940, there were numerous revolutions and civil wars and at least 2 major foreign invasions--one American and one French. There was a 25 year period of relative peace from 1885 - 1910 during the dictatorship of Diaz. It was a time of remarkable economic development, but all the wealth went to foreigners and a very small number of very rich Mexican families. Common lands that the Indians had had since before the Spanish conquest were stolen and accumulated by land companies and private families. One guy got about 7 million acres; others had 400,000-500,000. Wages during the period remained virtually unchanged, but the prices of corn and other necessities more than doubled. Thus, the lot of the vast majority got much worse (kind of like in the US in the last 25 years! [sorry, a bit of political commentary]). The rural population were frequently in debt bondage on the huge haciendas. In the mines and factories, workers were required to work at least 12 hour days, 7 days a week.

This was the background for the revolution that began in 1910. It lasted until 1920 and was really a series of civil wars as sides kept changing. During that time, it is estimated that 1.5 - 2 million people (almost 1 in 8 in the population) died as attrocities were committed by people on all sides. Even then, there were revolts and assassinations until well into the 1930s. The problem has been intense disagreements about the kind of political system and distribution of power. Frequently, they could join together against something or someone (Spanish domination or a dictator), but as soon as they were successful, their differences led them to begin fighting each other. Reading Mexican history helps one to appreciate our own history. Differences have not been sufficiently great that the sides have felt it necessary to resort to violence. I still have to read the section from 1940 to the present. Fortunately, in that period, violence was much less. Also, since the 1990s, power has changed hands via the ballot box, not via revolution and alternate political parties have had a real chance of being successful.

Human Rights in Mexico

May has been more moderate than I remember from last year. We have had 3 rains; 3 nights ago it amounted to about 1 inch and altogether between 1.5 and 2 inches so far. We are beginning to see some green spots on the mountains. The temperatures have been more moderate as the highs in the afternoons are only about 30 C or so. We have not even put the fan on at nights for several nights. Most afternoons, it clouds up between 4 and 5 p.m. We are hoping that that presages a good rainy season and raising the level of the lake even higher towards its maximum.

Tomorrow night we are going to Monte Coxala (the lovely spa in San Juan Cosala) with our new neighbours from Toronto. They bought and have been renovating the house next door. We have been interested and have followed their changes. They plan to split their time between their farm in Ontario in the summers and here during the winters.

Today we attended the first of a planned 6 weeks of lectures on human rights in Mexico, especially as they apply to ex-pats. The 3 men who are presenting the lectures are Mexicans who belong to a recently established human rights association. This is a good example of the enormous progress made in Mexico in the last 20 years or less. The press has become very free (especially as compared to previously) and the last 3 elections have been widely regarded as open and above board. Mexico has had a far-reaching statement of human rights in its constitution since the mid-19th C, but practice was often far removed from the ideal set out in the constitution. Now, there seem to be large strides to making the ideals more of a reality.

This human rights association had a big success last year. The governor of the state of Jalisco, where we live, was being very free with public funds without authorization of the state congress. One of his big donations was to the Catholic Church to build a monument and shrine to the ‘martyrs’ of the 1930s. The Mexican constitution from the 19th C had decreed an absolute separation of church and state. However, in the 1920s in the wake of the revolution and civil war 1910-20, a Catholic political party was formed and participated in politics. Later, other political parties decided that this violated the separation of church and state and outlawed religious political parties. The supporters of the religious party revolted and in the suppression of this revolt many people were killed; these were the ‘martyrs’. The main center for this revolt was in the state of Jalisco and the influence of the Catholic Church is still greater in Jalisco than most other states in Mexico; the opposition to abortion, sex education, etc. is greater here than many other states. The governor argued in defense of his donation of public money that the proposed monument and shrine would be a tourist attraction and therefore be a public benefit. However, the human rights association launched a suit and publicity campaign arguing that this contravened the separation of church and state and was unconstitutional. In the storm of protest, the Church returned the money (or most of it). This is representative of the changes and the demands for greater accountability of officials that is taking place in Mexico.

Two of the men giving the presentation are lawyers; I don’t know what the other does besides this involvement as a volunteer in the human rights association. One of the men who spent part of his early life growing up in the US said that a main reason for mounting these lectures at the Lake Chapala Society is because he has heard so many ex-pats declaring that they don’t have any rights in Mexico. He says that that is untrue; any one living here has the same rights as Mexican citizens. Of course, legal procedures and even many principles do differ from what exist in Canada and the US. That came out in questions that members of the audience raised. Also, I think that the gap between the ideals of the constitution and actual practice may still be fairly wide at times. However, I think that the lectures are going to be very interesting and illuminating. These men are at the forefront of the efforts to stabilize the rule of law and to put into general practice respect for human rights. Such movements are usually seen as evidence of a strong, middle class which demands public accountability and due process in public affairs. It also disproves the stupid statement by the Bush Administration drug czar that Mexico is in danger of becoming a ‘failed state’ dominated by drug gangs.

Yuliana

We had been having a rain tease. As I mentioned, on May 8th we had a short rain with thunder storm. Then, on Monday, the 11th, it clouded in the afternoon and about 7 p.m. there was a very little rain, only enough to wet the surface. We were just finishing dinner under the gazebo; unlike last year, we did not have to grab everything and run into the house. On Tuesday, it was mostly overcast so that it did not heat up very far. However, today we got the real ‘llovia’, again, as sunny day clouding over around 4. Barb had walked into Ajijic. This time we got a good shower with heavy rain for about 15 minutes and gradually tapering off. It was enough to bring water cascading down Paseo de la Pesca. I drove in to pick up Barb. There was one good sized leak, although I was not quick enough in closing the windows and had to mop up a bit under a couple of windows also. It is lovely, fresh and cool after the rain.

Last Saturday, there was the godparents’ monthly picnic. We took our 3 niños, but it did not work very well. The pool was great for the older kids, but even the shallow end was over the heads of our little ones. They were frightened by all the splashing of the other kids. All 3 ended up crying. I think that we’ll pass in future until they get a bit older and can cope with the deeper pool. On Sunday, there was the birthday party for Yuliana, the Princess; you can see that she merits the title on her first birthday. She is being sponsored by our friends, Dawn and Gordon Whitehead. This is also a good picture of Elvia. Sunday was also Mother’s Day in Mexico; the little red button on Elvia'a blouse is for Mother’s Day and says in Spanish, “I am loved.” It was quiet in our neighbourhood, but I understand that one tradition is to hire singers and musicians to serenade your mother in the street in the middle of the night.

As we have just passed the first aniversary of our arrival in Ajijic, we have been assessing our decision and move. We have learned a lot and are much more comfortable in going about our day to day living. A year ago, we knew practically nothing and still had questions in the back of our minds about whether or not we would discover that we had made a big error in our hasty decision. Such questions are no longer a concern. We love the climate, the culture and our involvement with Love in Action. The adventure has not palled.

First rain & birthdays galore

We had our first rain of the season early this morning. Yesterday afternoon about 5 or so, there were some clouds (although we still had sun here) and we could hear thunder some distance away. However, it wasn’t until almost 2 a.m. before a thunderstorm began. There was a fair amount of lightning and thunder over the next hour or so. It did rain, although it was not heavy. This morning we did find a few places in the street where the water had been flowing. I looked up this blog for last year and discovered that the first rain last year was on May 12th, only 4 days after we moved into our house here. I had forgotten that it was that early. It was cooler today, but more humid (according to our little humidity indicator, it was around 50% today). That may seem low compared to up north, but it has been hovering 25-35%, more or less, for months. Anyway, the heavier rains did not really come until June and July last year.

We are having a busy time these days. Today was Fatima’s third birthday; we got a big cake and bucket of ice cream. They dressed Fatima in a lovely dress and fixed her hair. Here she is with her proud godparents. We had asked Elvia what she thought Fatima needed. She said, “Dress shoes” but with accents, Barbara thought she heard, “Red shoes.” Barb spent 4 hours running around yesterday and then again today--nada decent red shoes. We did get some sandals, but they barely fit. Thus, late this afternoon we went back to the shoe store (called “Canada") and got some dress shoes.

Then we found out today, that tomorrow afternoon is the monthly picnic for godparents and children; somehow we got left off the list for the notice. Elizabeth and Elvia were wondering when we had said nothing about attending; with so many snowbird godparents away, they really want all who live here to go. We have agreed to pick up our three and possibly a teenage girl in our car. It’s the same venue as the March picnic, about 8 miles or so east of Chapala. They have a big pool.

Then, we have another birthday party on Sunday for Yuliana, the baby sister of Fatima; she will be 1 year old on Monday, but Elvia wants it on Sunday. I think that Sunday afternoons are slow; there is no school and there is not the schedule of things going on that takes place during the week. Elizabeth and Elvia always look a bit worn out when we take the girls back around 6. Elvia has had Yuliana since she was less than a month old. She says, “She’s 'my' baby.” Elizabeth teases Elvia and calls Yuliana, “The Princess”. I had thought that Elvia might say to combine the birthdays in one celebration when they are so close together as the housemothers have extra work--however, not for Elvia’s princess! To be honest, Yuliana is just about the best baby I have ever seen. She always smiles and never cries; she never ‘acts strange’, even with strangers who pick her up.

We won’t have other birthdays for a while. Elizabeth’s son, Leo, is next in July. The twins’ birthday is not until September. One little boy, José, who was brought to the center a little over a month ago and is being sponsored by Barb's sister Wendy, was found in a cave. No one knows exactly how old he is or when his birthday is. If they are not successful in getting more information, some date will have to be selected arbitrarily to give him a celebration. There is a problem because children who do not have a birth certificate are not allowed to go to school. Anabel and her assistant, Dina, have become very proficient at tracking down this kind of info and documents, but José is a real challenge.