San Lorenzo Zinacantán and Casa Na Bolom

Zinacantán is very close to Chamula geographically and the people are closely related linguistically. However, they have reacted very differently and we were told that the two groups do not mingle or intermarry. In Zinacantán, they have adopted a more or less orthodox Roman Catholicism. Outside the cities, all the indigenous grow staples, such as corn, beans etc. However, the groups have different specialties for cash crops. In Chumala, they grow vegetables, especially for San Christobal. In Zinacantán it's flowers. As you come down into the valley, you see dozens of plastic covered greenhouses. The flowers are taken, not only to San Christobal but also into the tourist cities and resorts in the Yucatan. While traditional weaving is carried out by women in all the indigenous groups, women in Zinacantán also embroider white cotton blouses around the neck and shoulders.

The biggest event in Zinacantán was our visit to Maria's house. This was an opportunity to get some insight into daily life of Maya families. The adobe house is a single room, about 15 feet wide and close to 30 long. There is a single door with no windows and no chimney even though they cook on an open wood fire with a flat iron surface. However, there is a gap of several inches between the top of the walls and the roof, which provides ventilation and exit of smoke. We were told that 11 people (3 generations) live in the house. There was only one bed; most of the family sleep on mats woven from reeds on the ground. In one corner is this family altar (see photo above). One of the features of the visit was to experience the basic diet. In the background behind the pink covered table you can see Maria’s daughter-in-law cooking on the wood fire.She is making tortillas in the (almost) traditional way. Corn is cooked and then mashed rather than using corn meal. Finely ground calcium carbonate (limestone the same as used in such preparations as Tums) is added in small amounts. This helps in digestion and in the absorption of nutrients from the corn. With small amounts of water, this is mixed into a paste. Our cook rolled some into a ball. Then, she placed it in a small hand press that smoothed it into a flat tortilla shape.

She is making tortillas in the (almost) traditional way. Corn is cooked and then mashed rather than using corn meal. Finely ground calcium carbonate (limestone the same as used in such preparations as Tums) is added in small amounts. This helps in digestion and in the absorption of nutrients from the corn. With small amounts of water, this is mixed into a paste. Our cook rolled some into a ball. Then, she placed it in a small hand press that smoothed it into a flat tortilla shape. Of course, traditionally, the women worked the dough between her hands, much like pizza makers in Italian restaurants. The tortilla was then placed on the iron plate over the fire and cooked. When cooked, we were given a tortilla; beans had also been cooked and we could spoon some onto the tortilla, roll it up and enjoy. These home made tortillas were thicker and had more texture than the machine made tortillas that we buy or are served in restaurants. I’m not sure if it was just an effect of it being early afternoon and we had had no lunch, but it was rather tasty. Of course, most Mexicans would normally spice it up with generous amounts of picante salsa.

The children are, I think, members of the family, but I’m not sure if all live here. The other photo shows some of the beautiful textiles that Maria had for sale. Near the top, you can see a few of the adobe blocks of the house. More and more, cement blocks are being used, but they are not really as good for temperature control as adobe.

Casa Na Bolom

After our return to San Christóbal in the afternoon. We went to Casa Na Bolom, House of the Jaguar rebuilt and expanded by Frans and Trudi Blom. It is a large, beautiful property that functions as museum, Maya research center, hotel, restaurant and tree nursery. (Google search of Casa Na Bolom has about 15 photos under Images.) There is a large garden behind. One of the statues in the garden is a funny tribute to Diego Rivera the famous Mexican artist who had stayed here as a guest. From the front it just looks like a statue of Rivera, but from behind you see Rivera with a bottle of booze and a prostitute on each arm, a tribute to his well earned reputation as a drinker and womanizer. The Bloms devoted their lives to the Maya and the Lacandón. Trudi had a decades long, close friendship with Chan K’in Viejo, the spiritual leader who lived to be almost 100 years old (see the post on the Lacandón).

San Juan Chamula

In Chamula, the people have developed a unique religious syncretism of Catholicism and earlier religion. At first glance, this looks like a Christian cross; in fact, it is a Mayan cross and is displayed frequently in Chiapus! The symbol in the shaft of the cross is for maiz (corn) which was the basis of mesomerican civilization. BTW, the Mayan cross (there are a great many versions) is now the basis for a religion and kind of astrology if you do a Google search. The fact that the Maya were already familiar with the cross as religious symbol undoubtedly helped the Maya descendants to accept aspects of Christianity. As usual the Spanish assigned a patron saint for each village and the monk missionaries built a church. The original church, whose walls still stand without a roof, burned and was replaced by the current church in the photo. The other photo shows detail of the decoration around the door.

The Spanish assigned John the Baptist as the patron saint of Chamula. When the people learned the biblical story that John had baptized Jesus, they decided that he was more important than Jesus. The main painting at the front of the church is John, while Jesus has his icon relegated to a corner at the entrance; he is respected but not regarded as preeminent. All mesoamerican religions were polytheistic and the people here (as is common among most of the indigenous people of Mexico) have pragmatically adopted the pantheon of Catholic saints; both sides of the sanctuary are lined with images of about 40 saints, each with his/her own specialty. Thus far, this adoption of the catholic saints as replacement of pre-Christian deities is fairly common for the native peoples in Mexico. For example, there is a good case that the worship of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the most revered saint in Mexico, was really a continuation of the pre-Christian, mother goddess Tonatzin.

However, the people in Chamula went much further. At some point, they expelled the priests and the story is that they took the confessional into the square and burned it. Now, individuals and families communicate and make their requests directly to whichever saint they wish. There are no pews and the tile floors are spread with fresh pine needles, renewed frequently. The church is open 24/7; individuals and families come in, clear on the floor in front of one of the images, and fix candles with wax to the floor. Sometimes, it is only a few, but we saw other cases where the worshipers had fixed rows with 50 and more candles. They then pray and make their requests. Some brought in chickens, perhaps because they were making especially urgent requests. At some point the chickens are killed by breaking the neck. No one was allowed to take photos inside the church, but this blog has a photo from the web (scroll down 15 photos).

Scattered throughout the municipality are what we might call individual prayer houses for each of the 40 saints. There, special custodians (majordomos, not exactly priests) burn incense and offer frequent prayers to the saint; people can go to these places to show respect and pray. This certainly seems to be a continuation of pre-Christian religious practice. As part of the religious ceremonial both in church and the prayer houses, they drink posh as well as Coca Cola. Posh is distilled from sugar and thus, in plain form is much like rum (powerful with 40% alcohol or more); however, they also combine it with other flavours in liqueurs. We were treated to a taste. On our last morning in San Christóbal, Barb and I tried to buy some, but the poshería (posh store) wasn’t open.

Chamula has its own municipal government, which is elected; the president (mayor), a few other officials and the police (gobernadores) wear a distinctive 'uniform' consisting of long, black vest reaching to about the knees and a light coloured hat (like a cowboy hat). The police carry a staff or cudgel (about 3 feet long and 1.5 a inches thick) as their symbol of authority--no guns! These men serve without salary for a year. As we were entering the large central plaza, a public meeting with officials was just ending.

The people of Chamula have been very resistant to assimilation; although men and younger people are now adopting some western clothing, most women still wear traditional costumes and clothing. Women weavers are famed for their woollen textiles. Sheep are almost sacred; they are used only for wool and are never eaten. A Google search of ‘Chamula clothing’ had a link to Images, which has a large number of photos which Google has accumulated from many websites. In both religion and culture, those who depart very much from the group’s norms are required to leave. As we were driving out of San Christóbal, our guide pointed out a neighbourhood going up the mountain that is populated mainly by people who left or were required to leave Chamula.

Chiapas trip

After a hiatus of almost a year, I have a great deal to talk about from our recent (Jan. 10-18) trip to Chiapas. I’ll pretty much follow our itinerary in my posts.

Chiapas is the most southerly of Mexican states and shares a border with Guatemala. The state was much in the news in the 1990’s because of the Zapatista movement. The indigenous people had suffered increasing marginalization and exclusion in the 20th C as a result of settlers and logging companies taking more and more of the land. As noted in the Wikipedia article, the Mexican government eventually negotiated and has made considerable efforts to improve the conditions and standards of living of the indigenous people of Chiapas. However, they are still among the poorest in Mexico. After being fairly quiet, just a week or so before we went to Chiapas, the Zapatistas organized silent demonstrations. The next day, a communique from Marcos stated, “We’re still here; did you hear us?” As in the earlier period, the leaders rely on non-violence and have a real knack for generating publicity for their cause. From what we saw (signs and posters), the Zapatistas are very popular with the indigenous people.

We were part of a tour organized by Karuna; she is a fabulous woman who is organizing a number of tours--eg., Mexico City and Oaxaca--although this was the 1st time to Chiapas. Profits from her tours go to support the fish farming coop that has been started in Mexcala which is towards the east end of Lake Chapala. It is hoped that this is a model for other fish farms in the future as over-fishing is rapidly depleting the wild fish stocks. This would provide employment for the fishermen who are losing their livelihoods as fish decline as well as provide the fish protein that many people in the area depend upon. This tour concentrated on the Maya, both ancient Maya from the impressive city ruins that they left and their modern descendants. The latter are divided into 8 groups speaking different languages and having distinctive cultural features, which I shall be expanding on in future posts. Including Karuna, there were 24 in the group. We flew from Guadalajara via Mexico City to Tuxtla, the capital city of Chiapas which we didn’t see as we were taken by bus directly to San Christóbal. The latter is high up (about 7100 feet above sea level and in a bowl surrounded by mountains. The bus trip involved very impressive views from the mountains.

San Christóbal has very narrow, one way streets, although paved with flagstones. Our bus driver had very little margins in making turns at intersections. Nevertheless, cars and the many vans that provide public transport really whiz along. In San Christóbal we stayed at Hotel Bo --first 2 nights and the last night of our trip. It is a medium sized, new or recently renovated hotel as its amenities are very up to date (the first photo is our bedroom). About 5 (after some lunch and a short time to get settled), we all went to a small Regional Textile Museum (see photo).

The manager/guide is known locally by the indigenous as the ‘white medicine man’. He spoke accented, but quite good English; he was enthusiastic and funny. The Maya descendants living in Chiapas are divided into eight distinct groups with their own languages/dialects, distinctive clothing and cultural features. One room of this small museum had both male and female clothing examples for each of the 8 groups; our guide pointed out and explained the features of each group (note the blue, Mayan cross on the wall). In 2 or 3 other rooms, he had various artifacts produced by indigenous artists and artisans. His nickname comes from the fact that money he raises is used to purchase and import medicines for the indigenous people. This was a very interesting beginning for learning about the indigenous peoples.

Afterwards, we explored the downtown area with the usual square and gazebo/kiosko; this one was unusually high (see photo in Wikipedia website). This building was still sporting Christmas and New Year lights and decoration. Radiating out from the central square are at least 3 streets that have been converted to pedestrian walkways for 3 or 4 blocks with stores and many restaurants. One of the interesting features was an ice rink under a large tent on the plaza in front of the cathedral adjacent to the square. From a distance with people circling around, I first thought that it might be roller skating. It was clear that most people had little or no experience of ice skating. However, despite many falls, everyone seemed to be having a good time. Although we did not go until the morning of the last day, there is a large textile market on the grounds of Santo Domingo Church. There were at least 40 stalls with only tarps on the roofs and sides. These were ‘manned’ almost entirely by native people, especially women. In Ajijic, Barbara has trouble getting light cotton blouses with long sleeves. There was a good selection here and in all, she bought about 5!

I must tell of the experience our last day as we were returning home. Approaching the airport in Tuxtla, we noticed a large fire with black petroleum smoke just off the runway. On arriving we learned that a small private plane had crashed; 5 passengers and the pilot were killed. For a few hours the airport was closed so that our plane was not able to land. We were uncertain whether we would have to remain for the night. However, later another plane did arrive to take us to Mexico City and a connecting flight brought us to Guadalajara, arriving at 11 p.m. instead of the 7:30 that had been originally scheduled. The airline, Interjet, reacted very quickly and efficiently. Although a bit late, we were certainly grateful to be home. Our 2nd day was spent visiting 2 municipalities which border San Christóbal--Chamula and Zincantán; they are fascinating because their peoples have developed very different responses to the intruding religion and culture brought and imposed by the Spanish. I’ll discuss these in the next posts.

Christmas in Ajijic

I should have reported on what happened on my return (Dec. 1st) with 3 satellite receivers and a DVD player. When my luggage was put through the x-ray machine, the young woman operating wanted me to open the big suitcase to see what was there. I showed her a receiver and explained; she nodded but asked about the other things. When I explained that there were 3 receivers, she gave me a long hard look, but then waved me to go ahead. Then, I had to press the button and got the red light (only the 2nd time in going to Mexico)! Again the young fellow who was to examine my suitcase wanted to know what the receiver was and then saw the DVD player underneath. He didn’t go below that where the other 2 receivers were. We were chatting about where I lived, how long and was I learning Spanish (I was able to do most of this in Spanish). Anyway, with this he concluded his inspection and I was allowed to continue. Although they could have required that I pay the customs duties, I think that they are told not to hassle ex-pats as long as they do not appear to be carrying anything really forbidden, like drugs or guns. Thus, it all worked out.

With regard to the TV, the antenna we have just gives us marginal reception for the HD channels (the regular ones are fine). A couple we can get most of the time, but others, especially the Oasis nature channel that we especially want, we get only intermittently in the evenings. Luis is supposedly trying to set up a much larger antenna, but I think is having trouble getting it to work properly. Shaw is on 2 satellites; thus, there needs to be 2 separate receptors to get the signals, but they have to be able to switch back and forth as one changes channels. Kate and Jack have one, but I don’t think that Luis has done one himself. He seems to be a knowledgeable technician so I expect that he will get it worked out.

At LIA, the big event for Christmas is Christmas Eve. There is a dinner after which there are piñatas and Santa gives a gift to each child. We are planning to have our gift-giving with the girls here at our place in the afternoon. Some things (clothes) they can take back to LIA, but other things we’ll keep here for them when they come. BTW, the kids love the big TV in the spare bedroom so they can lie on the bed while watching their movies. We found out that they do not get much time to watch TV at LIA. Only on weekends are they allowed to watch TV or a movie. Thus, watching a movie at our place is a treat.

For Christmas Day, instead of going to a restaurant like last year, Jack and Kate are hosting dinner. They are providing chicken, Barb is doing sweet potatoes and veggies, Sonia is providing hor d’oeuvres and Paul & Kay doing dessert. It should be very pleasant and Kate & Jack’s place is lovely with a nice view.

Raffle

There are many charities operating here and a great many fundraising activities. We try to give some support to as many as we can. Recently, I was approached by a woman selling raffle tickets on a TV for Niños Incapacitados (Children with Disabilities). It helps families to deal with and get treatment for such children and also do horse therapy for some (it seems to be very beneficial for many kids). I bought a single ticket for 100 pesos without any expectations. About 2 weeks ago, I got a telephone call saying that my ticket had been drawn as the winning ticket and would I please come and pick up the TV! The TV is a 40” LCD made by Sharp (actually assembled here in Mexico); Bev, who I mention below, told me that it is the very model he has been lusting after. The surprise was great and provoked the issue of what to do with it. It wasn’t as easy as you might suppose.

When we moved to Mexico in May 2008, we fully intended to buy a TV--doesn’t everyone have one? However, we had to plan our priorities in line with our monthly income. A TV was several notches down the list of things that seemed more compelling. After some months, Barbara and I decided that we were not missing a TV, remembering that in Nova Scotia it had been difficult at times to find anything that we wanted to watch in spite of large numbers of channels via satellite. Besides, we would have to decide what route to take for TV service. Mexican cable has some English channels (all American) or one can go to satellite service. There are a couple of American companies or Canadian Shaw Direct (formerly called Star Choice). With new, more focused signals, the American services are more difficult to get as there is less spillover into Mexico. So far, Shaw has the best signal. Also, one has to decide if you are going to get someone to set up an illegal receiver or go for a legal approach.

Well, we have decided to keep the TV and have had to find out our options. Shaw is the best choice. There is a local outfit linked with a small company in Ontario that ships Shaw receivers and installs antennas. This is quite an expensive route. I found that I could buy the Shaw receiver I want at Futureshop in Canada, on sale for $150, but would cost close to $400 here. I have had Larry buy one for me. However, there is the process of getting an account with Shaw. Because Shaw allows more than one receiver on an account, it is the custom here to share an account with 2 or 3 others, which means that you also share the monthly cost. A couple of individuals were advertising for people to share their accounts and we have hooked up with one of them, Bev. With another couple, there will be 3 of us on the account. When I talked with Bev, I mentioned that we wanted a couple of extra HD channels. This has stimulated the others to think in this direction also. They have asked me to get 2 more HD receivers for them. I shall have to take a carryon suitcase to bring them all back! Fortunately, these new models are smaller than the older ones. I also managed to find a fellow in Chapala who has the antennas for Shaw (it is different from most satellite antennas because it has to pick up 2 satellites). He came and installed the antenna last week.

We have decided to put the TV in the guest bedroom. Few people are coming to visit us anyway and the TV is thin and doesn’t take up much room. Also, with curtains, the bed and a big new wall hanging, the sound should be improved as a result of fewer echoes than is the case in the living room. With all the hard surfaces in the latter, it can be difficult to make out dialogue, especially if the actors have accents.

I mentioned a new wall hanging. Barbara gave away the very cheap painting that had been in the guest bedroom since we arrived. Finally, she decided that we should get Mexican hand made carpet for the wall. She spent a lot of time looking around Ajijic last week. We also went to the 3 day Feria (fair) for artisans in Chapala. The latter brings a large number of artisans, some from as far away as Oaxaca, to show and sell their wares. Anyway, although there was nice stuff, we didn’t see exactly the right colours, size etc. On Sunday, our usual friends were not at Open Circle, just Barbara and I. We went to the Garden Restaurant, which is one of our favourites, but not of the others. Next door is a small shop with knitted stuff and lots of woolen rugs. We found one that is the right size (about 4’x6’), good colours and a nice scene (a tree with many different coloured birds. We bought it.

The annual festival for Ajijic’s patron saint, San Andres (St. Andrew), began on Sunday. We are having lots of rocket bangers, morning, noon and night. Mexicans really party; the different groups who each sponsor the festivities for a day (entertainment and fireworks every night) have been planning and raising money all year since the last festival. By the way, I have watched people launching the rockets from their hands; the rockets are over 6 inches long and go up more than 100 feet. The guys hold the rocket with one hand and with the other light the fuse with a cigarette! The rockets explode with a deafening bang so there is a significant amount of explosive. I’m sure that there must be accidents, but the guys are so casual about doing it.

Catching up

There has been a long hiatus. I shall try to fill in the blanks in the next couple of days and then get back into the rhythm.
When we went to Canada in July, we had another break in. We had taken our computers, iPod etc. to Kate and Jack’s; as a result the thieves apparently didn’t find anything that they wanted to take! However, in the aftermath, we decided to do substantial upgrades (see photos). The thieves got in by using a large screwdriver to pop open the lock on one of the doors from the patio. We have added padlocks and screens that are very difficult to cut on all the patio doors. We put iron bars on all windows that open (these are almost universal in Mexico and we should have done it earlier). We put a new gate with bars on the front entrance; as you can see, we had the old solid door repainted yellow so the iron work on the new gate stands out. Now, we can see who is there before we unlock the gate. Finally, we had a sliding door with steel bars (like in a prison cell) installed on our walk in closet; that makes it a strong room with a heavy padlock. We now put money, computers, etc. there when we go out. All this means that thieves will now have to come prepared with heavy tools to get in. It is discouraging, but necessary and not just in Mexico.

After early predictions of heavier than normal rainfall this year (June and July were pretty good), rainfall in August and September was extremely low. Lake Chapala ended the rainy season almost an meter below the levels of the previous 2 or 3 years. There was a respite in October because of a hurricane that blew in from the Pacific. It did a lot of damage to some of the beach communities in the vicinity of Puerto Vallarta. For us, it meant 4 days of heavy cloud and rain--about 100 mm (4”). Nevertheless, rain this year (we are unlikely to get any more) is only about 750 mm. (29.7”) as compared to the recent average of 850 mm (33.5”). In spite of being careful, four days of cloud were too much for the solar water heater and we ran out of hot water after 3 days. I had to turn on the gas heater. But after 1 day, the sun was out again and I could turn off the gas heater. With lots of sunshine every day, we have oodles of hot water.

Love in Action wants to teach the kids English as a means of getting them better prepared for jobs. English is especially useful here where there are so many ex-pats, but is beneficial for many jobs elsewhere with foreign companies established in Mexico. They had several teachers last year, but most were snowbirds and the program practically ground to a halt when they left. I have volunteered to teach a small group (4 at the moment), one hour a week. I have been there 3 times and so far it has not been a roaring success. It has been a very long time since I was teaching at this level (9-10 year olds). Also, it has been difficult to get a schedule so the kids arrive on time. I’m sure that we’ll all get into the swing of things soon.

Last Sunday, the speaker at Open Circle was Richard Rhoda; he is coauthor (both are geographers) of a book, Geo-Mexico published a little over a year ago. It’s a fascinating book which I read in just a few days. Much of his statistics are in the book, but he did update some in the presentation. He was pointing out how significant Mexico is in the world in terms of size and diversity of its economy and of its population, its diversity in languages, animal species, climate zones, cultural aspects, etc. It has made enormous strides in many areas in the last 20 years or so. Since its meltdown in 1994 when it required a $48 billion bailout (completely repaid earlier than the terms), Mexico’s governments have been very careful in managing its finances; it is coming out of this recession faster and better than the US--in fact not unlike Canada. It is certainly no longer accurate to think of Mexico as a 3rd world country, although some of the native people still live in 3rd world conditions (as indeed there are pockets in Canada and the US). It is only a couple of years behind the US in terms of life expectancy (a huge jump from earlier in the 20th C), but is also 2nd in the world behind the US in terms of adult obesity! He pointed out (he’s an American) that based on last year’s statistics, an American is 25 times more likely to die in traffic in the US than in visiting Mexico. Furthermore, as long as they don’t visit or connect with drug gangs, their chances are further greatly reduced in Mexico. The ignorance of people NOB (north of the border) is truly astonishing; I know from myself before I came here.

I am leaving for Windsor, Ontario on Thursday (Nov. 24th) to visit with my family there. Dad seems to be having problems with balance and has fallen several times in the last 2 or 3 months, one requiring 6 stitches for a cut on his head and another requiring an x-ray on his hand. He is 95 now and in other ways his physical health is pretty good. As last year when I went at the same time, I shall be there for Rosemary’s birthday on the 27th. I return on Dec. 1st.

The Spirit Level

The solar water heater is working well, lots of hot water. We are certainly pleased. In addition, the company that sells the heater, also sells a gismo, called ScaleWatcher. The water in this area is fairly hard; the water in La Floresta is not as bad as other areas, but still it can be a problem. Most water softeners use salt and require a lot of maintenance. This product involves putting a wire coil around the water pipe directly after the pump; the gadget then passes a current through the coil to create a magnetic field. It rapidly changes direction and fluctuates the frequency. This then changes the ionization of the calcium and magnesium molecules in the water so that they don’t stick and pass through the system. The effect lasts, so they claim, for about 48 hours, long enough for the water to go out and down the drains. It also claims that it will remove existing scale from pipes gradually over a 3 month period. I don’t know for sure, but the water does seem ‘softer’ and soap lathers very well. We don’t want the heating coil in the water heater to clog up with scale.

Well, the rain has started as about the 7th of June. That means that from Sept. 29th we had only 1 modest rain in April. However, we have had 4 rains now in June for a total so far of 3.5 inches. Most have been mild rains, but last Friday we had a really strong storm with high winds and 2.4 inches in less than 4 hours. The high winds drove the rain against our north facing windows and a lot of water came in under the windows as they are not designed to keep water out. I did some mopping and by morning the rest has dried out. Other people were not as lucky; some developers divert the drainoff channels and this causes some houses to get inundated in heavy rains. The temperatures are cooler now--most days in the high 70s or low 80s.

We have gone regularly to the Sunday morning forum called Open Circle. I had offered to do a presentation on the book, The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. It finally got scheduled and I did my presentation on Sunday, June 12th. The authors are British epidemiologists; they bring together the results of over 200 studies, the majority of which show that greater inequality in a society leads to worse outcomes on a number of health aspects (life expectancy, mental illnesses and addictions, obesity, children’s educational performance, homicide rates, imprisonment rates, etc 9 measures in all). What is astonishing is that in comparison with 22 other rich countries, the United States, the richest country on earth, comes out at or near the bottom on every measure. Average incomes do not seem to matter; it is the degree of inequality within each society that largely determines how well or poorly each country does. This in fact is a stark contradiction of the claims of laisser-faire liberals/neoconservatives that inequality is ‘good’. If you would like to read my presentation, use the link for MY WEBPAGE and then click on the link there.

We shall soon be making our trip back to Canada--leave July 7th & return July 24th. We are going to Toronto first to spend 3 nights with Faye and Keith; then to Nova Scotia. We shall be spending part of the time in the next 2 weeks at White Point Beach with Jeff, Tara & the boys the first week; then with Angie, Matt and Sam in the 2nd week. The rest of the time we’ll be in Halifax doing errands.

Going solar

More news. First the bad news. Last week we were robbed for the 2nd time. This time it happened some time shortly after 2 in the afternoon. I had been home all morning, but had to leave at 2. Barb was out in front of the wall working in her flower gardens. As far as we can figure out, they came over the wall from the house behind. Our neighbour there has an electric security fence, but had been having some work done. Apparently, the fence was not on. The person who is living in the house left about 2 also. In any case, they came in, took money from Barb’s purse and found the money I kept in a drawer. I think that we lost about $400 - 500 dollars. We are going to get a bit more upgrading to the security. Again it seems evident that someone in the neighbourhood is watching and takes advantage of any opportunities.

We are in the midst of having a Mexican incident. On Saturday when we came home, the water pump was not working. I finally got it going briefly and decided to do a load in the dishwasher. However, while the timer worked, the pump inside didn’t. We began to notice other things; lights would dim, then brighten; the fan would slow down and then speed up. In fact, the power was fluctuating. I got the water pump and the dish washer going just before bed. However, Sunday we were back to no water pump and fluctuating power. I called Jose Luis and said we should get a new pump as this one had caused us a great deal of trouble. He came and thought that it wasn’t the pump malfunctioning again.He took it to check and he was correct. He had a voltage tester and sure enough the voltage was fluctuating massively; the juice was never enough to run the pump. He checked all our circuits; we then went next door to Steve’s house and the situation was the same there. Finally, he called the power company, CFE. They said that they were aware of the problem. Our street plus the next cross street were affected. Finally, at 5:40, I tried the pump and it worked; hallelujah. Altogether, it was over 50 hours.

The other news is that after talking about it for about 2 years, we have finally moved to have a solar hot water heater installed (the small photo is from the company site, but you get the idea). There are several different systems. Ours uses evacuated tubes (i.e., a vacuum) to collect the heat. The water circulates by convection up the tubes into the tank. Because we have a pressure system, this water is not connected to the domestic water system. Instead, there is a copper coil in the tank and the domestic water is pumped through the coil where it is heated.The unit was delivered last Friday and the plumber has done a bit of work already. It should be installed by the end of this week. In the end we decided to get the 280 litre tank. It cost $300 more than the 210 litre tank which is said to serve 4 people. However, this tank will give a bigger margin, not just when we have guests, but also on those rare occasions when we have several days in succession of rain and cloud. It has happened only once in 3 years. When we decided on the size, we weren’t sure that we would be able to keep the existing gas heater as backup. However, the plumber figured out a way to do that. The company says that during the hot weather especially, the heater can heat the water to 75º C (almost 170º F).

We have been spending 600 pesos a month (about $55) for propane. We recently discovered a small leak (now fixed) so that might not have been just our consumption, but the price of propane has been going up. Just last year it was about 4.75 pesos per litre. This year it is 5.6 pesos (about Can $0.49)--still pretty cheap as it is subsidized by the government. They say that heating water accounts for 75 - 80 % of power costs in a home. I figure that the payback on the water heater should be about 3 years, more or less. If so, that’s over 30% per annum as an investment--not too shabby. It will also make a small reduction in our carbon footprint. The heater is being installed on the flat roof over the bathrooms. Thus, an additional advantage will be that we won’t have to wait for 2 minutes running the hot water for a shower the way we do with the gas heater, being on the opposite side of the house. We will have to run the water longer for the kitchen, but the only time we use hot water there is to run the dishwasher, less than once a day. It has taken us a long time to take the plunge, but we are pretty excited.

Lake Chapala Society

I am now a Director at Large on the board of the Lake Chapala Society. I was not looking for such an ‘honour’. In January I met Fred Harland, vice president, at LCS. Barb and I had gotten acquainted with Fred and his wife on the trip to Morelia over a year ago. They are Canadians and very nice; we always chat a bit when we meet. At the encounter in January he asked me if I would let my name stand for the board. The new constitution, which was approved last December, called for 3 or 4 additional members on the board so they were looking for new bodies. I thought for a couple of minutes and finally agreed. I was certainly not eager, but I thought of all the people who volunteer to work at LCS. Almost everything is done by volunteers, many of whom give quite a few hours a week. I had already decided to stop doing my online courses so no longer had that as an excuse. The Nominating Committee, by whom I was interviewed, provided only sufficient nominees to fill the vacancies. There were no nominations from the floor at the annual meeting in March, so I and the other nominees were elected by acclaimation for a 2 year term. Actually, this was all indicative of a salutory situation. Two years ago, everything was in a turmoil as some previous members of the board were very unhappy with a new constitution proposed by the new board. They were attempting to put the organization on a more business-like approach and some of the people were unhappy that the old, ‘club’ approach would bechanged. However, the board brought some of the former members in and revamped the proposed constitution sufficiently. When the revamped constitution was put to a vote in December, there was opposition voiced and only 2 or 3 people voted against the new constitution. Everything has calmed down; things are running better. I have attended 2 board meetings and have been appointed to 2 standing committees.

Once again we have evidence about how quickly we can get medical stuff done. I had a recurrence of a pinched nerve in the lower back. Last time was just shortly before we were to leave to drive to Mexico in 2008. I was given a couple of exercises plus a very good book, Treating Your Own Back. The exercises cleared up the pain very quickly and I had no problem driving to Mexico. However, with no pain, I long ago stopped doing the exercises. This time, there was referred pain down my right thigh above the knee. I should have read the book and started the exercises again before going to the doctor, but I didn’t. On Wednesday, Dr. Garcia arranged for me to see a specialist in Guadalajara the next day. The latter did electromiography; that uses small electrical charges to the nerves to locate exactly where the problem was. By that time I had already decided that it was probably a pinched nerve in my back and he confirmed it. When we expressed our amazement that we got in so quickly, he laughed and said it was probably because it was the week after Easter and a lot of people had not returned from holidays as a lot of businesses and schools shut down for 1 or even 2 weeks. Anyway, he gave me the report and I took it to Garcia the same afternoon as he had requested. Garcia then called a physiotherapist to make an appointment for the next morning, Friday. It turns out that the latter lives only a block or so away. As a result, she came to my house for the 2nd and 3rd treatments. Some of the exercises she gave me weresimilar to those in the book. The exercises are the real answer and I have been having little pain most of the time.

More people are coming down here. A friend of Kate’s, Carol, who has been visiting here regularly for 7 years, finally got her husband Joe to come here in March. Joe really liked it and they decided to buy a house as Joe is finally thinking about retiring. The house they bought (they were down to close last Friday) is just a block and a half west of us on Camino Real so they will be close neighbours. They are very nice; Kate and Jack were unable to go out on Friday night to celebrate with them, but Barb and I did.

For 2 Saturdays we were invited to Jack and Kate’s with the girls to swim in the pool in their new house (they moved in about April 10th). It is a lovely pool and especially good because, as you can see, there are steps at one end. The twins are well on the way to being able to swim, Fatima not so much.

Back online

It has been rather up and down since my last blog; I’ll try to fill in before resuming (I hope) on a more regular basis.

In January, Angie & Matthew had a baby, Sam, and making a third grandson; this is a recent photo. Barb wanted to see this new addition and went to Halifax from late January until Feb. 7. Then, while she was away, we had a burglary (about Feb. 2nd). I am certain it was someone who had been watching us and the house. Barb walks the dogs every day about the same time about 9:30 or 10 a. m. for about an hour. However, with Barb away, I was walking the dogs about the same time. On Tuesday, when neither the gardener nor maid come to the house, I took the car to Guadalajara. Sometime, not too long I think, after I left (i.e., just before or at noon), the burglars (there had to be at least 2) climbed up the wall beside the water aquaduct ditch and in. There was only about 30 inches space (see photo) there beside the little bodega (storage shed); all the rest of the wall has virtually impenetrable bougainvillea. My 27 inch iMac plus my old laptop, which were both on my desk, were stolen. The external hard drive for our backups was also taken.I should have taken care of that gap in the bougainvillea and not had both computers and the hard drive on my desk. I was feeling too secure.Fortunately, I had saved most of my personal files on the iPod about a year ago. Thus, I was able eventually to recover the older stuff.

With that lesson, we did some work to add more security. At the side where they entered, we had them install about 20 feet of concertina; that is circular barbed wire and razor wire. Then, along the front wall, we added about 3 feet of wrought iron fence with barbs at the top to the wall (see photos). It was very upsetting and I was certainly kicking myself for being so blaise. I have replaced the iMac and tried to get back to normal.

With the illnesses and the trip to Nova Scotia, Barb has had a hard time getting her energy back. She seemed to be alternating good and bad days. However, this past week has been quite good.

We have had other work done. Pam, a friend of Kate’s of many years standing, last summer bought a house here. However, she decided to renovate virtually the entire house. First, she wanted to replace her gas stove. It is a very nice Bosch but she in putting in a separate stove top and oven. She sold us the stove at a very good price. As our stove was old and not very good, Barb was delighted. Thus, we had Jose Luis’ men install it. Then, subsequently, in fact just last week, she offered us her dish washer at an even better price. The men were back to install the dish washer. It was a very tight fit, but they chipped out the floor and wall a bit to squeeze it in (see below). While they were at it, we had them run a gas line from the stove in the kitchen and out to the BBQ in the patio. Now, we don’t have to worry about filling the little tank periodically as the BBQ is now connected to the big propane tank. It was good timing because it was only 5 or 6 days since the little tank had gone empty just as we were cooking leg of lamb. Fortunately, with the new stove, the oven works well and we were able to finish the lamb in the kitchen. The oven door in the old stove did not close properly so we never were able to use it. Thus, as the song says (taking a bit of liberty), “Everything’s up to date in La Floresta.”

Since we arrived, we have had dressers and bedside tables in the bedrooms that were not well made. There were no sliders on the drawers and they all had a tendency to fall out when you went into them. We finally gave them away to LIA; Anabel, the director, was pleased to get them as the older girls need them for their clothes. They are young and can more easily cope with drawers. We brought so few clothes with us that we didn’t really use the dressers; instead she got a table which you can see above). She did get new bedside tables (below). All of these were very inexpensive. The style is called ‘rustico’ which is what we have in most of the house.

Maintaining my past habits in this blog, I have to talk briefly about the weather. After the cool weather in Nov. and Dec., the weather in 2011 has been warm. In fact since early March, it has been hot. It hit 90º F (32º C) on March 28th. That matched the high temp for the last 2 years (usually late April and May). We have been getting temps in the middle to high 80s (28 - 32º C). There had been no rain since last Sept. 29th (i.e., 200 days with no rain). However, Saturday late afternoon, we had a thunder storm and rain! It only amounted to .7 inches (18 mm.), but it is rain. Usually, there is about 2 inches Oct. - Dec. and another 2 inches or so from Jan. to the end of May. The average for April is .3 inches so we have more than doubled that for this year.

Out with the old and in with the new

I have not kept up with posts for this blog. Barb and I have been busy and have had illnesses since my last post in November. I’ll review very quickly. Barb got a very taxing flu just before I went to Windsor, Ontario on Nov. 25 for RoseMary’s birthday. I suggested that I call off the trip, but Barb wouldn’t hear of it. Thus, she was left alone trying to recover while I was away for a week until Dec. 2. On Dec. 4, Jeff, Tara and the 2 grandsons arrived for a visit. Barb was eager and determined to see and do as much as possible. She had not fully recovered and after they left, she had a relapse and complete exhaustion. Then, I got sick on Dec. 22nd. I ended up spending most of 4 days in bed, including Christmas Day. Then, just after the New Year, Barb got a cold from which she is just recovering.

We are hopeful that we have turned the corner. Most of November and the first 3 weeks or so of December were cool. We probably wouldn’t have minded it so much if we had not been fighting the bugs we had. However, since late December, the temperatures have been rising. Saturday, Jan. 8th, the high temperature was 77 F or 25 C; Sunday was even better at 78 F or 25.5 C. This is very pleasant and should help our recovery.

This past week we had some significant work done. It started when we discovered that one of the big ceramic pots that we had bought for the palms (see the post for June 28, 2008) had broken. There was an absolute jumble of roots. After considering various possibilities, we contacted Jose Luis. We decided to have holes cut in the patio where the pots have been sitting and plant the palms in the ground underneath. Only one pot had broken, but it would only be a matter of time for the other one. One of Jose’s jobs got put off. As a result, his men were free to start immediately. At first they tried to use an electrical jack hammer, but it couldn’t make a dent in the concrete. Thus, they had to do it with hammers and chisels! Also, under the top layer which had been done in the renovations just before we bought were 2 more layers, one of brick. The photos show the palms duly planted just where they had formerly been in the pots.

As is usual, once we got started, we ran into another problem. The roofs on 3 sides slope to the patio. Thus, during the rainyseason a lot of water comes into the patio. There is a catch basin in the middle that has drains to take the water eventually outside the wall to the drainage aqueduct beside our lot. We had forgotten about the tile drains. They were right in the middle of the first hole that was dug. They would keep the palm too high but also, the roots of the palm would probably eventually clog up the tiles. Thus, it was decided to dig a new ditch into the catch basin to install a new PVC drain. Mexicans are amazing when working with concrete. They chiseled out the flagstones and set them aside. Later, after installing the new drain pipe and filling in the trench, the flagstones were replaced and already, it is blending in with the old.

In addition, Barb had 2 little tables and 4 lamps made of metal. She wanted them all painted the same colour. Also, we had a patio table with 4 chairs that we had bought second hand. But the paint had chipped and peeled. Barb had found a chaise-lounge in the same metal and style, but it was painted white. We decided to have them all painted; Barb had thought of light brown for the patio furniture, but I urged for yellow and as you can see in the photos, Barb agreed. Also, the fireplace in our bedroom was a bright orange that Barb had never been happy with. It is now toned down with a kind of burnt orange. It was all done in less than a week. It has been quite a while since we had any major work done, and it’s not quite done yet, so stay tuned

Lily, the watch dog

Well, we did take the girls for 2 swimming lessons. The first one went well (see photos). The woman instructor (about 50) was terrific with the girls. Every 10 minutes or so, she would change the activity so that they didn’t get bored for the 90 minute lesson. However, they were tired on the way back to LIA. The next week we had a cold spell, which I’ll come back to in a minute. By 4:30, the pool was in shade and it was too cold. Fatima lasted about 15 minutes until she simply wouldn’t do anything. The twins were trying, but lasted only a little over half an hour. We’ll wait for the weather to get warmer before doing more lessons.

We did have a cold snap. It started with high winds that, as usual, brought down an enormous amount of debris from the eucalyptus trees all over the property, although we had only a brief power outage during the middle of the night. Usually, we have little or no breeze, but for the next 3 or 4 days, we had strong breezes which kept the temperatures low in spite of bright, sunny days. On 2 mornings when we got up at 7, the temperature was 9; it doesn’t usually get much colder than that. In the afternoons, the outside temps did not get much above 20. As a result, we have had to dress more warmly. I abandoned my normal shorts and sandals (see the 3rd photo) for long pants, socks, shoes and heavier, long sleeved shirts. However, the high pressure system that brought the cool temperatures has dissipated and the temps are 5 or 6 degrees higher and very much in the perfect range.

We had an interesting experience on Sunday night with Lily. She pounces on any spiders or cucaraches that run across the floor and kills them; we have been worried that she might do the same thing with scorpions, which are dangerous. She went over to the chest of drawers near the front door and began to bark and was very excited. This was different behavior so we immediately got up to investigate. We moved the chest, but whatever it was moved under and we couldn’t see what, if anything, was there. We sat down again, but Lily knew something was there and kept watching. Then, she began yipping again and we noticed that she was jumping back when it moved towards her. Sure enough, it was a scorpion. Lily followed it, but stayed several inches away at all times. Even after I killed it, she stayed away. We had heard that the most venomous are the small, light coloured ones; this was large (over 2 inches long) and black. It is very unusual to find one in the house; it’s been months since the last one. We are relieved because not only did Lily know not to touch a scorpion, but she also warned us and followed it like a good watch dog.

Virgins in Mexico

We have now had 28 days without rain. The lake level has started to go down, about 8 cm. (about 3 inches) so far. Nevertheless, it was a good year for the lake. Also, there was much less lirios (water lily) infestation this year. Another good sign as the lirios bloom is based on water pollution (often fertilizer runoff).

In Mexico, the cult of the Virgin is really important. Fairly early in the Spanish colonial era, an appearance of the Virgin was proclaimed at Guadelupe and the Virgin of Guadelupe has been an object of veneration ever since. It is believed that for many of the Indian population, she became a substitute for an Aztec goddess. In fact, Catholicism was conflated with a great deal of Indian religious ideas and motifs. Later, the Inquisition was brought with full fury to try to stamp out this intrusion of ‘paganism’. Despite the tortures and executions, it was only partly successful and Catholicism here still has lots of pre-Christian elements. Some statues depict Guadelupe with a very dark skin. She became a virtual patron saint of Mexico. Father Hildago’s army fighting for independence from Spain carried banners dedicated to Guadelupe in the war for independence 1810-21.

However, there are a multitude of other ‘Virgins’ highly venerated; most of these are little statuettes, dolls really. Many have corn stalks or husks for the body and many are very old. However, they are beautifully dressed. In fact the Virgin of Zapopan seems to have a lot of gold (her halo and her cloak, for example). Here in Ajijic, there is the Virgin of the Rosary. No one knows how old she is. There is a definite reference to her in 1733, but many believe she is much older. Franciscan missionaries arrived here on Lake Chapala about 1530, only a few years after the Spanish conquest. Shortly after, they built a shrine to the Virgin and later a church here in Ajijic to the Virgin. The little chapel on the north side of the plaza replaced that building in the early 18th C. This little chapel is the home of ‘Rosario’. However, for most of October, she is in the parish church and subject to daily masses. On the last day of the month late in the afternoon, there is a big parade to take her from the church back to her normal ‘home’ in the chapel; there is music and celebrating all evening.

The Virgin of Zapopan (Zapopan is one of the 5 cities in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area ) is the most celebrated in this area. Her normal home is in the Basilica of Zapopan. There are a number of miracles attributed to her, including stopping at least one plague in the Guadalajara area. Every year in September and October she is taken on a peregrination to a number of churches in the region, including to Chapala during its festival honoring Saint Frances, Chapala’s patron saint. Last week, her annual visitation was brought to an end. After spending several days in the cathedral in Guadalajara, there was a hugh procession along the approximately 5 mile route to the Basilica. People gather along the route the night before and an estimated 1.5 million observe the procession, with floats and thousands of dancers, etc. Many people offer prayers and requests as she passes believing (or hoping at least) that she answers such requests.

A few years ago when the level of Lake Chapala had fallen very low and many thought there was a danger that it would dry up completely, special prayers were offered to Zapopan requesting that she save the lake. Now that it has recovered, many credit her. (Of course, the agreement by all the states that are part of the watershed to limit the amount of water used in irrigation is much more relevant.) As a result, she was given a new title, Queen of the Lake. This week she is being brought from Zapopan to Chapala for a parade and special service of thanksgiving for such a bountiful year for rain. With all these Virgins, this seems to me to be polytheistic, rather than monotheist, but that is true of all the saints in Catholicism which arose from the amalgamation with pre-Christian polytheistic religions during the Dark Ages in Europe.

Although Guadalajara is very cosmopolitan and a declining percentage of thre population are Catholic, the influence of the Church is stronger here in Jalisco State than in many other parts of Mexico. However, the archbishop of Guad., who is the highest Catholic prelate in Mexico, currently has 2 lawsuits against him: one for alleging that the Mayor of Mexico City had bribed the judges who had ruled that refusing to allow gays to marry was unconstitutional. (Many areas are in the jurisdiction of the states, and Mexico City has many more liberal laws, allowing gay marriage and abortion, to name a couple.) The second lawsuit was launched because of some strong, inflamatory antigay remarks the archbishop made while denouncing the idea that gays should be allowed to adopt children. The Governor of Jalisco, a member of the PAN party which has close ties to the Catholic Church, also has a lawsuit against him for his antigay comments. Who knows where these lawsuits will go, but they do show that the conservative influence of the Church is being challenged strongly, unlike the US where religious conservatism seems to be growing in influence.

Last week we took the 3 girls to Tobolandia. As usual, they had a great time and we had a fairly easy time sitting in the shade and watching them. They give swimming lessons there late Saturday afternoons, 4:30 - 6 p.m. We are planning to take them there this Saturday. It will be less nerve-wracking to take them next door to Steve’s pool if they can swim as it is over their heads everywhere.

Kate and Jack arrived on Wednesday night. They were very relieved and pleased to be here to recuperate. Jack is trying to fight off a case of pneumonia and Kate fell and sprained here ankle the day before they left Halifax.The weather is perfect. They are planning to stay for close to a year.

Tree trimming

We have been having trouble with our internet service for some time--before we went to Nova Scotia. We would have to repeatedly request it to download something. Finally, I noticed that the little LED green light for the internet would go off and even the red light would come on. During that time, we could not get or send anything to the internet. It has been getting worse. Finally, I went to Telmex to report this. The man I talked to said very decidedly that that should not happen. The green light should stay on; it flickers when anything is being uploaded or downloaded, but it should stay on. He entered a report. The very next day, I was called and they located a fellow who could speak English. I described the problem and he said that it could be a problem in the line and noticed on the phone that there was some static. Anyway, they would send out a repairman to check the line and things here. It took 2 days, but the fellow showed up and checked things out. I was able to show him the problem eventually. He went back and reported that the line was all right. The next day I got another call asking if we still had the same problem; we did. I suggested that maybe it was the modem and he agreed that that was possible. He gave me an order number to get a new wireless , modem/router. I went down to the Telmex store in Ajijic and soon had a new modem. The new one has worked perfectly since and that was over a week ago. The modem was obviously the problem. We got it new when we arrived in May 2008 and usually they last longer than that; however, there are big fluctuations in voltages and spikes. I have always used a surge suppressor, but we did not get the voltage regulator for the house until less than a year ago.

We have been very pleased with the speed with which we can load things from the internet. Telmex is fairly expensive; we pay 1000 pesos per month (approx. $85). For that, we get local phone service, unlimited long distance in Mexico (which we use infrequently), some special deal on calls to the US (which we do not use because we have the VOIP phone) and the internet Since we moved here, they upgraded the service; it is now claimed to be 5 million bits per second, but when I test it, the best I get is 4.3 or 4.4 million bits (i.e., over 500 K bytes/second) which is not too bad. However, upload speed is rather pathetic and well under 100K bytes/second. However, I am impressed by the customer service. Once I had reported the problem, I got a call every day following up.

On Monday morning Sept. 20th, we had a knock on the door. A workman was there to ask if we wanted to trim one of our eucalyptus trees. It had some boughs that were dead and other branches that were looking kind of sickly. We have been thinking that we should do something. This seemed like something we should do. He didn’t have any English and my Spanish is limited; as a result, communication was not perfect. However, we knew that we had to get permissions and he knew all about it. He took me to the La Floresta office and the manager agreed to give the initial ok, even without doing the usual inspection. Then Jose, that is the man’s name, got the documents needed and took them all into the municipality office in Chapala which gives the final permission. Jose was running around for 3 or 4 hours. He got started on Tuesday. He had waved his hands making some cutting motions and we thought that he was intending to take down only the obviously dead limbs. As it turns out, we had not really understood what he intended to do. What he ended up doing was cutting off all the limbs about 15 to 20 feet above the ground as you can see in the photos. It is now dwarfed by the other 2 in the front lawn. Finally, when we began to remonstrate with him, he managed to convey the idea that this way, new branches would sprout out, not up, in a kind of mushroom fashion. Barbara says that she has seen this done at other places and it seems to work. Rosendo, the gardener, gave his opinion that it was the end of the tree. Thus, it is a grand experiment; Jose said it would take 2 years to really branch out. I wouldn’t be surprised. The eucalyptus trees get about 35 metres high (over 100 feet). It must take a lot of energy to get water and nutrients that high. As a tree gets older and weaker, it may be easier to feed lower branches than very high ones. However, it does show the need to get better at Spanish so that we know what people are saying to us. Barbara is now studying Spanish everyday using the lessons on CDs that we brought with us when we came down. She practices Spanish with Rosendo and he seems happy to help her. At the same time, I am teaching Edwardo to speak English. We all seem happy with the process.

It seems that our rainy season is coming to a close. There has been a decided change in the last few days. There have been absolutely no clouds and the humidity has been plunging. The rain has been very heavy this year. The average rainfall by this time is usually just above 770 mm (just over 30 inches) with another 75 mm. (3 inches)--mostly in October--by the end of the year. This year, we have already had 1070 mm (42.2 inches). Lake Chapala is still rising and is now just 10 mm. (4 inches) below the peak in 2008. The heavy rain has meant that the reservoirs upstream are much higher than a year ago and that means that farmers are likely to get bigger water quotas for irrigation during the coming dry season.

Globos

Tonight is the big night. At about 11 p.m in every city, town and village in Mexico, there will be a reenactment of Fr. Hildago’s call for rebellion against Spain for independence; it is called “El grito” or ‘the shout’. No one knows for sure what Hildago actually said and it almost certainly was not a declaration of independence. At that point, 1810, Napoleon had invaded Spain, deposed the king and installed his own replacement. Thus, they were not really rebelling against the real king. However, the Mexican born Spanish, referred to as ‘Creoles’, were very resentful of the fact that the Spanish born in Spain were dominant. Actually, those who responded to Hildago were mestizos (mixed parentage) and ‘Indios’, who were even more repressed than the Creoles. In Mexico during the Spanish imperial period, there was a rigid, racial hierarchy. In the ensuing 11 years during the war until independence was recognized, both sides were guilty of great brutality. At the time of Hildago's grito, there was no 'Mexico'; it was part of New Spain. However, by long established tradition, at the end of the ‘grito’ reenactment everyone, including the entire crowd, shouts, “Viva Mexico!” three times. Then there are fireworks, followed by dancing etc. late into the night. Tomorrow there are big parades in most towns. Most restaurants feature a special dinner, chilies en nogada. This features the colors of the Mexican flag--red, white and green--stuffed poblana pepper, white rice and red pomegranate seeds. In 2008, we went out, but this year we are home tonight; tomorrow we are taking Sonia to Chac-Lan, the restaurant up the mountain in San Juan Cosalá as she has not been there. It has a wonderful view of the lake and sunsets are gorgeous.

Last Saturday the Regata de Los Globes was held; globo is the Spanish word for balloon. This is the annual event featuring the tissue paper, hot air balloons. They are powered by burning wads of cotton soaked in kerosene fastened near the bottom of the balloons. Here are a few photos of this year. As you can see, some are really large and spectacular. The one with the long cylinder like the Mexican flag and with 'Centenario' actually did very well and flew very high and far. The big fancy ones often don't make it because they have to be balanced well or they start to swing; then, they catch on fire. Teams come from various places in Mexico with balloons that they have taken months to make. It starts about 3 p.m. and goes until dark with dozens and dozens of balloons. Many fail to make it and burn. However, others do make it and remain air borne for half an hour and travel to great heights and distances until they are mere dots in the sky. We brought the twins; Fatima had been misbehaving and was not allowed to go with us. Of course, it is pure Mexico as authorities north of the border would never allow such an event as too dangerous.

We had a small tragedy this past week. Each year, swallows build nests and raise young. This year (as last) a pair built a nest in our entrance. Their droppings create a bit of a mess, but it’s not something we worry about. Also, it is against the law to knock down nests, although lots of people do it. A couple of days ago, we went out and noticed 4 little heads peering over the edge and down. We thought it very cute, but it was more serious than that. Apparently, the chicks were looking for their parents, but none showed up all day. By bedtime, we noticed one chick had fallen out and was dying. In fact by noon next day, all 4 were dead or had disappeared. The next day we did see adult birds inspecting the nest, apparently the parents, but it was too late. It was too bad as the chicks had lots of feathers and I expect would have fledged in a week or so. This was the second brood as 3 had fledged in July before we went to Canada. We don’t know what happened or why. This is about the time of year that the swallows all disappear; they return just at the start of the rainy season.

Celebrations

As I mentioned earlier in my post of Aug. 16th, we have to get a new wallet sized FM3. On Wednesday, we went to Chapala to be taken to Guadalajara for the last step of getting a fingerprint and signature to receive the new visa. Mago’s office had 2 vehicles to take 10 of us in. One was Stan who has stayed here with the dogs while we go away. Another was a woman I know from Spanish conversation class. Because of the new card system, all foreigners need to do the entire system, not just the annual renewals. Thus, the office in Guad is packed all the time. The week before, our friend Sonia went in, but was unable to get processed before the 1:30 closing time and had to return a week later on Wednesday as well. When we arrived, the office was crowded and out into the hall. We then learned that the government computers in Mexico City, which are required to process everything in this new system, were down! We waited for over 2 hours and then decided to leave as there was no indication that the computers would be operating again soon. Our friend Sonia was arriving as we were leaving. The group she was with stayed on and just before closing, the computers came up briefly; only a couple of people got processed but Sonia was one of them!Anyway, we were scheduled to go in again today. Everything went as planned. We found out their system. An agent who is a lawyer goes in very early; apparently, today he went in at 7 a.m. before it opened at 8 to get in line and get a number!We were back in Chapala shortly after 11 and they called this afternoon to say that our cards were in; I picked them up.

Stan and Chris, who have been house/dog sitting, are really up to their necks. They bought a property in Chula Vista 2 years ago for the view even though it needed a thorough rebuilding. Stan has been an engineer and builder in the US so thought that he could manage this massive makeover. They also got a grandiose plan for the remodeled place, really a mansion. They got in the midst of it and ran out of money; they fixed up 3 rooms so that they can live there, but the rest is still very much in a preliminary stage--foundations and walls have all been shored up. Stan was with us again today in to Guad; we gave him a ride home after and we had the tour. Chris was not with him because on Wednesday, she is leaving for LA to get her shots before going to Saudi Arabia for 11 months to teach English as a second Language. She will wait until she comes back to get her FM3. Stan freely admits that had he known then what he knows now, he would never have taken it on. However, they are in so far now that they seem to feel that they have to see it through. In spite of the ordeal, they seem to accept their fate and are buoyed by the dream of what it will be like when they finally finish it. It will be a very grand house with a lovely view, but we don’t envy them at all.
The twins’ birthday was yesterday (Sunday), but we arranged to do the birthday party thing on Saturday (see photos). After the usual chicken dinner that we take in every week, we took them and Fatima to Tobolandia, which is the water park just 5 blocks from us. They had been asking to go there again, so we made it part of the birthday celebrations. It is a wonderful place for kids (and us). There are 3 separate areas, one just for little kids. There are 6 or 7 water slides and the water is only about 20 inches at the deepest. The kids are running around on all the slides and we mostly sit in the shade and watch. The 3 girls on the blowup lobster are ours; they borrowed it briefly from someone else. After that, we returned to LIA with birthday cake and ice cream for all the kids. It was very successful and we were less tired than usual. Also, an American woman who works in LIA gave us acard that let us in at half price.

Shortly, there are huge celebrations planned leading up to and around September 16th. That is Independence Day in Mexico celebrating Father Hildalgo’s call for rebellion against Spain and for independence in 1810. As you can see, this is the bicentennial of that event. However, the Mexican Revolution and civil war started in the fall of 1910; that resulted in the overthrow of the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz. Thus, this is the centennial. Both are being celebrated together. Every state, city and town in Mexico is having celebrations over several days with cultural events, concerts, parades and massive fireworks. I forget how many millions of dollars the federal government is spending, plus all the other levels of government.