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.