Tobolandia

Today we took the 3 niñas to Toblandia which is a water park just up from us on the carreterra (highway). We have been looking at it for the past 2 years virtually every time we drove home, but had never gone before. It is especially for children. There is one area of shallow water and a number of water slides. In another area are huge slides for older kids and adults. Once they got over a little bit of initial hesitation, they absolutely loved the kiddie area. We did have a problem because the twins began to try to climb up one of the slides backwards. An employee had to come and order them to stop. The photos show a little bit, but it is huge with several different areas. Most families there seemed to bring their own food and refreshments, including coolers. This park is less expensive for working families than the spa and pools at Belanarios in San Juan.

We finally got a bit of rain this morning, but it was only a sprinkle; the weather guy in Riberas recorded only .03 in. (.8 mm). However, this evening, it has again clouded over and we may get more before morning. This is the last night of the festival in San Antonio and usually they have a big entertainment scheduled. Thus, it will be nice if rain holds off. We have had the firecrackers at 6 a.m. for the last 2 weeks. That should be finished. San Antonio is closer than Ajijic so this is the fiesta that we notice more than that of Ajijic in November.

I didn’t cover everything into the last post. I mentioned in May that we had bought 2 ceiling fans. Well, Jose Luis did install the fans quickly before we left for Windsor. They are a great benefit at this hot time of year. Although it does get very warm (mid to high 80s F or 30 C or higher), the humidity is low. Thus, if you have some moving air, the body’s cooling system of perspiration is effective. In the afternoons, the relative humidity can often be between 20 and 30%. In fact, the weather guy in Riberas recorded a 6% reading on May 28th when the temperature reached 91. Some people here use what are called ‘swamp coolers’ in the US. These are just a box with water and a fan. The fan blows the hot dry air over the water; the evaporation uses a lot of heat. As a result, the air that comes out is a bit moister, but quite a few degrees cooler. It is very effective in desert areas; it uses a lot of water but not much electricity compared to compressor type air conditioners. If fact, this kind of system is widely used in places like California and Nevada for cooling large buildings. It probably is used in malls and supermarkets here as well. As I have mentioned before, electricity rates are very high if you use more than 250 kwhs per month. Thus, not too many people use condenser air conditioners.


While we were in Ontario, the house/dog sitters, Chris and Stan, again looked after the dogs and house. That worked out fine. Chris and Stan are an interesting couple. Originally from Oregon, they have been here about a year or so longer than we have. Chris is in charge of subscriptions for the Music Appreciation Society and is also involved in the Little Theatre. Mostly, she had been backstage, but landed her first acting role in the season finale in April. She did a good job in her part. Stan, who had been in the choir, Los Cantantos, is writing a screenplay. His first draft was almost 50% too long. He was revising and shortening it. He said that our house is a quiet, good environment to work. They will be looking after things again in July when we go to Nova Scotia.

Chris and Stan live in Chula Vista which is only about a mile from us on the east side of San Antonio. It is an upscale fraccionamiento with a 9 hole golf course and country club; there are many, large, expensive houses built up the mountain. Like our own La Floresta, its services are managed by a board elected by the property owners. It has been the centre of a 9 or 10 month war. One group, the old board, had been running things for several years. Last fall, other property owners followed the bylaws with a petition to hold a special general meeting. At the meeting, a new board was elected. However, the old board refused to recognize the new board or turn things over to them. The new board got a court order demanding that the old board comply. The old board then went to a different magistrate and got a counter court order against the new board. The countersuits have paralyzed everything. The new board even visited the prosecutor’s office and the latter agreed that there was sufficient cause to lay charges of breach of trust against some members of the old board. When plain clothes officers arrived to make an arrest, there was some resistance and a scuffle. Those subject to warrants were released, but the charges have yet to be tried. The Mexican court system grinds extremely slowly and the suits are unlikely to be resolved for a long time. Accounts for Chula Vista are frozen; some property owners are voluntarily paying staff, but services, such as water and garbage collection could easily dry up. To break the impasse, the new board published a proposal: everyone on both sides would drop their suits and charges; both boards would resign; a duly called special general meeting under the supervision of court officials to ensure that everything was done according to the bylaws would be held and a new board would be elected and accepted by everyone. There were a couple of other points, but these were the main ones. So far, the only response from the old board was a demand that all suits and charges against them be dropped, but they have not agreed to any elements of the proposal nor offered any counter proposals. It has been very difficult for outsiders to sort out as the charges have been so diametrically opposite. However, this last twist seems to indicate who are the most intransigent, most self-interested and least interested in the well being of Chula Vista. Although quite a few property owners are rich Mexicans from Guadalajara, they don’t live there full time nor seem to participate in the governing. The warring factions are all ex-pats. Mexico has had many civil wars and conflicts in the last 200 years; it must be bemusing to Mexicans to see ex-pats behaving this way.

Things are different in La Floresta, although it too has many big, expensive casas. Our house is kind of at the lower end in size and market value. Many of the property owners are Mexicans (maybe close to half) and most of them are well educated professionals--doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. who live here full time They are part of the new rising class at the forefront of demands for change in Mexico--an end to corruption, more effective and efficient government and respect for the rule of law and human rights. Although there is a long way to go, the amount of change in the last 15 years is amazing. The executive and board who run La Floresta has only one ex-pat; the rest are all Mexicans. From all I have seen, La Floresta is extremely well run. In spite of many rising costs, the board was able to hold fees at the same level as the year before. With the discount for early payment, our annual fees were about 5600 pesos. At current exchange rates, that is just a little over Can. $500. That pays for water, garbage collection, street repairs, street lighting and security. For the last, La Floresta has guards in 3 pickups driving up and down the streets all night. The annual general meeting has simultaneous translations; this is good for us because Mexicans do most of the talking in Spanish. I have been greatly impressed with the seriousness with which they approach these matters of governing. The contrast with Chula Vista is striking.