So many times we have waited to cross the border but this time we sailed right on to the bridge and waited for about three cars to clear out in front of us. A long day of driving but an easy border crossing.
Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Crossing the Border One More Time
So many times we have waited to cross the border but this time we sailed right on to the bridge and waited for about three cars to clear out in front of us. A long day of driving but an easy border crossing.
Friday, January 21, 2011
An Adventure in Queretaro
Every gringo who lives in San Miguel, or Matzalan, or Merida or......wherever in Mexico, has one or probably more of these stories but the stories always make me laugh and think, yes, I am in a different culture. Not just because it happened but also because of my response to the situation. In the States I'd get all demanding and outraged but here, at first I get frustrated and then polite and then totally proud of myself for having gotten through it. I'm also thankful that I have Ned along because he is always calm and polite. If he goes through my frustrated/outraged stage I don't think anyone knows it. Me, I'm like an open book. The Mexicans probably know I am not a happy camper. But I'm getting ahead of the story........
I had a paper jam in my printer and after clearing it I started getting a message that read, Service Call Error 1224. I found out on line that the error had to do with the paperfeed mechanisms being out of synch. I couldn't fix it. On October 13, 2010 I sent a Customer Care request to Epson in Mexico City asking where I could find a authorized repair center for the 3880 Professional Wide Format printer. On November 19 (over a month later) they answered and told me that ALL of the authorized repair sites were on their website. The list had not been there the month before. Yea! I started down the alphabetical listing and there was one in Queretaro which is about 40 miles away from us.
Ned called them this week. He was prepared to do the call in Spanish but he asked if someone spoke English. Yes! So he told them the problem and he made sure to tell them that this was one of the professional wide-format printers. Yes, they could fix it. He asked for directions. The person he was talking with said just a minute and passed the call on to another person who gave him very detailed directions IN ENGLISH.
So yesterday with the detailed directions in hand and also our map of Queretaro we headed out with the printer. Everything was working perfectly...exit the freeway, be in the middle lane not the left-hand lane, don't turn until the second bridge, turn at the Pemex. Oops, immediately after we turned at the Pemex we were in the right lane of a one way street and the repair place was on the left so we couldn't turn in. This is always bad news. The way the streets are laid out here it is not possible to "circle the block" and come around again. Some 10 or 15 minutes later we were finally able to circle back to the front of the shop and parked the car.
We walked in and told the man at the front desk that we had a Epson 3880 to be repaired. He told us in Spanish that they did not repair the professional printers. We asked him if anyone spoke English. He said, no. No? But Ned had talked to two people who spoke good English. We check with him that the number Ned called was the number of the shop. Si. But no one speaks English here? No.
This is when my frustration and outrage begin to show up. Not Ned. He keeps talking and he finds out that there is another shop in town that handles the professional printers. Ned gets him to draw a map and even go look up the phone number for us. So off we go again.
Just forget about the two people who spoke English on the phone with Ned. We will never know the answer to that one.
We are able to drive directly to the new place without having to "circle back around." As soon as we start to tell them the number of the printer, 38..., they complete the number 80. The man who is helping us is smiling and shaking his head, Si, they can repair the 3880. He goes with Ned to get it out of the car. This printer weighs about 45 pounds and is roughly 20x30x17, plus it is in a box that allows for it to be packed with styrofoam buffers. It is large and awkard to carry. But no problem for this man. He puts it on his shoulder and comes up a tall spiral staircase with it. Amazing!
About this time the Director General, Engineer Carlos Velasco, comes into the shop. In Mexico engineers are addressed as we would a doctor in the States. Ingeniero Velasco. He speaks some English, so we have one of those English/Spanish conversations with him. I have confidence in Ingeniero Velasco. We leave the printer.
When we get home I go back to Epson's website to the alphabetical list of all the authorized inkjet repair places in Mexico. Sure enough, Ingeniero Velasco's company is listed but it is near the bottom of the list since the name starts with an S. There is no way of knowing which of the companies in Queretaro would be authorized to repair the professional printers. We had called to ask the first one and been told Si.
Now if all goes well, in a few days I will get an email from Ingeniero Velasco telling me what is wrong with the printer and what it will cost. A week later it will be repaired. But as all of you who live in Mexico know, this may be only the first half of this adventure.
I had a paper jam in my printer and after clearing it I started getting a message that read, Service Call Error 1224. I found out on line that the error had to do with the paperfeed mechanisms being out of synch. I couldn't fix it. On October 13, 2010 I sent a Customer Care request to Epson in Mexico City asking where I could find a authorized repair center for the 3880 Professional Wide Format printer. On November 19 (over a month later) they answered and told me that ALL of the authorized repair sites were on their website. The list had not been there the month before. Yea! I started down the alphabetical listing and there was one in Queretaro which is about 40 miles away from us.
Ned called them this week. He was prepared to do the call in Spanish but he asked if someone spoke English. Yes! So he told them the problem and he made sure to tell them that this was one of the professional wide-format printers. Yes, they could fix it. He asked for directions. The person he was talking with said just a minute and passed the call on to another person who gave him very detailed directions IN ENGLISH.
So yesterday with the detailed directions in hand and also our map of Queretaro we headed out with the printer. Everything was working perfectly...exit the freeway, be in the middle lane not the left-hand lane, don't turn until the second bridge, turn at the Pemex. Oops, immediately after we turned at the Pemex we were in the right lane of a one way street and the repair place was on the left so we couldn't turn in. This is always bad news. The way the streets are laid out here it is not possible to "circle the block" and come around again. Some 10 or 15 minutes later we were finally able to circle back to the front of the shop and parked the car.
We walked in and told the man at the front desk that we had a Epson 3880 to be repaired. He told us in Spanish that they did not repair the professional printers. We asked him if anyone spoke English. He said, no. No? But Ned had talked to two people who spoke good English. We check with him that the number Ned called was the number of the shop. Si. But no one speaks English here? No.
This is when my frustration and outrage begin to show up. Not Ned. He keeps talking and he finds out that there is another shop in town that handles the professional printers. Ned gets him to draw a map and even go look up the phone number for us. So off we go again.
Just forget about the two people who spoke English on the phone with Ned. We will never know the answer to that one.
We are able to drive directly to the new place without having to "circle back around." As soon as we start to tell them the number of the printer, 38..., they complete the number 80. The man who is helping us is smiling and shaking his head, Si, they can repair the 3880. He goes with Ned to get it out of the car. This printer weighs about 45 pounds and is roughly 20x30x17, plus it is in a box that allows for it to be packed with styrofoam buffers. It is large and awkard to carry. But no problem for this man. He puts it on his shoulder and comes up a tall spiral staircase with it. Amazing!
About this time the Director General, Engineer Carlos Velasco, comes into the shop. In Mexico engineers are addressed as we would a doctor in the States. Ingeniero Velasco. He speaks some English, so we have one of those English/Spanish conversations with him. I have confidence in Ingeniero Velasco. We leave the printer.
When we get home I go back to Epson's website to the alphabetical list of all the authorized inkjet repair places in Mexico. Sure enough, Ingeniero Velasco's company is listed but it is near the bottom of the list since the name starts with an S. There is no way of knowing which of the companies in Queretaro would be authorized to repair the professional printers. We had called to ask the first one and been told Si.
Now if all goes well, in a few days I will get an email from Ingeniero Velasco telling me what is wrong with the printer and what it will cost. A week later it will be repaired. But as all of you who live in Mexico know, this may be only the first half of this adventure.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Mexican Immigration Takes Big Step Forward
We have been doing the FM2/FM3 thing for eight or nine years. Thanks to Ned, we have been doing them on our own. Sometimes it has taken more than one trip to get all the right paper work turned in. And I do mean paperwork....copies of every page of the passport and old FM2 or FM3, copies of bank statements or something to prove that you had a sufficient income level, a utility bill to verify where you live and so on. Most of the time it has been smooth even if three to five weeks slow. Last year everything speeded up. We were down to being able to get the FM2 and FM3 back in a week to 10 days. But the immigration procedure changed big-time this year and Ned just renewed his FM2. WOW! Let me walk you through Ned's FM2 renewal.
The old booklet has been replaced with a laminated card so he had to get a picture made for it. Since he was going to be at the escritorio for the picture, he just let the excritorio fill out the form for him but he could have done that on-line. By the way, Immigration is very particular about your photograph. No smile, no hair on the face, no earrings....just the unglamourized, unretouched YOU.
He got the voucher to make the bank payment and went to the bank and paid the fee.
Came back to Immigration and turned in the pictures, the form and paid voucher. If he had done the form on the computer all he would have had to do was take the pictures and paid voucher. He also took his passport. The agent looked at it but handed it back to him.
The agent gave him a piece of paper that had a tracking number on it so he could go on line and see the progress of his application. And he told him the FM2 would be ready on Wednesday. It wasn't ready on Wednesday but it was on Thursday.
Ned showed his passport, and gave them a fingerprint when he went to pick up his FM2 on Thursday. Now he is good for another year and then he will be eligible for inmigrado status or apply for Mexican citizenship.
How easy is that? Turn it in on Monday, check on the progress on-line and pick it up on Thursday. Just one little problem with the card....it is slightly larger than a credit card so it doesn't fit in a wallet.
Now there is one thing I wonder about. On the old FM2 booklet it was stamped everytime you left and returned to Mexico because, you are not suppose to be out of the country more than 18 months during the five years you hold an FM2. I don't know how they would ever be able to match up all the dates because some were very faint, some were stamped over others. I think it would have taken me all morning to go through Ned's FM2 booklet and figure out how long he had been out of the country in the last four years. So did they do that and is that information stored on the card or in a computer somewhere? For the last two or three years they have been scanning the FM2 and FM3s when we come and go so maybe they were already storing that information. I don't know but this I do know, Mexican Immigration is becoming very computerized.
The old booklet has been replaced with a laminated card so he had to get a picture made for it. Since he was going to be at the escritorio for the picture, he just let the excritorio fill out the form for him but he could have done that on-line. By the way, Immigration is very particular about your photograph. No smile, no hair on the face, no earrings....just the unglamourized, unretouched YOU.
He got the voucher to make the bank payment and went to the bank and paid the fee.
Came back to Immigration and turned in the pictures, the form and paid voucher. If he had done the form on the computer all he would have had to do was take the pictures and paid voucher. He also took his passport. The agent looked at it but handed it back to him.
The agent gave him a piece of paper that had a tracking number on it so he could go on line and see the progress of his application. And he told him the FM2 would be ready on Wednesday. It wasn't ready on Wednesday but it was on Thursday.
Ned showed his passport, and gave them a fingerprint when he went to pick up his FM2 on Thursday. Now he is good for another year and then he will be eligible for inmigrado status or apply for Mexican citizenship.
How easy is that? Turn it in on Monday, check on the progress on-line and pick it up on Thursday. Just one little problem with the card....it is slightly larger than a credit card so it doesn't fit in a wallet.
Now there is one thing I wonder about. On the old FM2 booklet it was stamped everytime you left and returned to Mexico because, you are not suppose to be out of the country more than 18 months during the five years you hold an FM2. I don't know how they would ever be able to match up all the dates because some were very faint, some were stamped over others. I think it would have taken me all morning to go through Ned's FM2 booklet and figure out how long he had been out of the country in the last four years. So did they do that and is that information stored on the card or in a computer somewhere? For the last two or three years they have been scanning the FM2 and FM3s when we come and go so maybe they were already storing that information. I don't know but this I do know, Mexican Immigration is becoming very computerized.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Border Battle and What to Believe
I have a Google Alert for Nuevo Laredo. I get everything that pops up about the city including blogs. These alerts make you think that there is a constant gun battle going on in Nuevo Laredo because every incident is written about and blogged about over and over and over even days after it happened. I could just stop the Alert but we have to drive through Nuevo Laredo if we drive back to Texas and I want to know what is happening there.
Recently the Nuevo Laredo alerts lit up with the news that two ranches near Laredo had been taken over by the Zetas but the news sources were blogs and on-line publications. Supposedly the government was keeping this invasion of the United States of America quiet. But can the government keep FOX and CNN from sniffing around at any story that might help fill up their 24/7 need for news. When Anderson Cooper didn't show up on some South Texas road within about six hours with a bullet proof vest to interview the ranch owners who had been kicked off their land, I figured that it was a hoax.
No one in any government jurisdiction would confirm the invasion of the Zetas but that did not stop the Cypress Times, a christian, conservative on-line publication, from continuing to send out reports. Several days after this Zeta take over was refuted, they still ran a story about it but they at least by that time were saying that they could not confirm the story but their eye-witness reporter was still standing by what he wrote....and they published the whole thing again.
I have gotten better at censoring the alerts. If it is from the Cypress Times, I'm probably not going to read it. Sometimes things are repeated over and over and over. Did these four bodies just show up or are they the same four bodies that were reported on five days ago. I'll read a border blog a time or two but if I get a sense that they are very biased, I'll stop reading them. I don't twitter but I understand that the twitters on the border situation have become a gumbo mix of truths, lies and exaggerations, so that would not be a reliable way to know what is happening.
The Mexican newspapers and TV stations can not be relied on because the cartels have managed to terrorize the Mexican media especially along the border so that it seems that they can dictate the news that gets published. The loss of a free press anywhere in Mexico is a terrible threat to Mexico's democracy.
Some of the sources that I'm following are:
The Laredo and San Antonio news reports about Nuevo Laredo
On Facebook: Nuevo Laredo Tamaulipas
Blog: I really don't have one to recommend. News and rumors get blogged and reblogged so many times that I can't sort out fact from fiction. I do read Que Fregados from Laredo. She writes mostly about Laredo but at times when she recounts hearing guns and explosions from across the river, the post is thoughtful.
Yahoo Groups: The Civil List here in San Miguel. People often report about their drive to and from Texas. Most say that they had no problems but often enough to be worrisome someone will report problems. In the past is was about being stopped for a "traffic violation" but recently it is taking a bit uglier turn...being stopped by eight "policemen" and a knife planted in the car so that the mordita became a much larger sum. Being chased at high speed by a strangely marked police car. And reports outside the Civil List of car hijackings.
United States Travel Warnings - especial when they are a local report from Nuevo Laredo or Monterrey.
The situation in Nuevo Laredo and all along the border is terrible. You don't know what is really happening because the news is censored, muddled and many times biased toward different political agendas on both sides of the border. Do you have a news source or blog that you trust?
Recently the Nuevo Laredo alerts lit up with the news that two ranches near Laredo had been taken over by the Zetas but the news sources were blogs and on-line publications. Supposedly the government was keeping this invasion of the United States of America quiet. But can the government keep FOX and CNN from sniffing around at any story that might help fill up their 24/7 need for news. When Anderson Cooper didn't show up on some South Texas road within about six hours with a bullet proof vest to interview the ranch owners who had been kicked off their land, I figured that it was a hoax.
No one in any government jurisdiction would confirm the invasion of the Zetas but that did not stop the Cypress Times, a christian, conservative on-line publication, from continuing to send out reports. Several days after this Zeta take over was refuted, they still ran a story about it but they at least by that time were saying that they could not confirm the story but their eye-witness reporter was still standing by what he wrote....and they published the whole thing again.
I have gotten better at censoring the alerts. If it is from the Cypress Times, I'm probably not going to read it. Sometimes things are repeated over and over and over. Did these four bodies just show up or are they the same four bodies that were reported on five days ago. I'll read a border blog a time or two but if I get a sense that they are very biased, I'll stop reading them. I don't twitter but I understand that the twitters on the border situation have become a gumbo mix of truths, lies and exaggerations, so that would not be a reliable way to know what is happening.
The Mexican newspapers and TV stations can not be relied on because the cartels have managed to terrorize the Mexican media especially along the border so that it seems that they can dictate the news that gets published. The loss of a free press anywhere in Mexico is a terrible threat to Mexico's democracy.
Some of the sources that I'm following are:
The Laredo and San Antonio news reports about Nuevo Laredo
On Facebook: Nuevo Laredo Tamaulipas
Blog: I really don't have one to recommend. News and rumors get blogged and reblogged so many times that I can't sort out fact from fiction. I do read Que Fregados from Laredo. She writes mostly about Laredo but at times when she recounts hearing guns and explosions from across the river, the post is thoughtful.
Yahoo Groups: The Civil List here in San Miguel. People often report about their drive to and from Texas. Most say that they had no problems but often enough to be worrisome someone will report problems. In the past is was about being stopped for a "traffic violation" but recently it is taking a bit uglier turn...being stopped by eight "policemen" and a knife planted in the car so that the mordita became a much larger sum. Being chased at high speed by a strangely marked police car. And reports outside the Civil List of car hijackings.
United States Travel Warnings - especial when they are a local report from Nuevo Laredo or Monterrey.
The situation in Nuevo Laredo and all along the border is terrible. You don't know what is really happening because the news is censored, muddled and many times biased toward different political agendas on both sides of the border. Do you have a news source or blog that you trust?
Sunday, August 01, 2010
What Do You Think?
JW's Comment: Of course, we are just looking at small static images online, but my first reaction was that this is not really appropriate for a church, not even with today's popular culture. Didn't say anything, just showed the pics to the Mexican better-half who is, quite frankly, in a word, appalled.
JW
-Mexican bicentennial/French artist?
My Reply: JW, You bring up a couple of interesting points. I thought it was a little strange that the Mexicans employed a French Artist to do this work. In general the Mexicans are very nationalistic. I can't imagine them employing an artist from the USA but maybe a Frenchman is okay since they killed off Maximillan by way of the firing squad and got rid of the government imposed by the French.
The other issue, the light show on the church.... I did not think that was odd at all. There is such a strange mix between the Country of Mexico and the Catholic church. We were in the Jardin with hundreds of Mexicans watching the light show and all of them seemed delighted and proud of their country and the bicentennial celebration. I have not heard of anything negative in any of the Mexican newspapers about the light show or the fact that it is projected on the face of the Parroquia church.
Calypso of Viva Veracruz blog has already weighed in with a comment about the light show being projected on the church: JW - I guess throwing some colored light on the Cathedral is more disrespectful than pummeling its surfaces with explosives? Often the case in our area; much celebrating with fireworks that often pellet the building. Oh well one mans revelry is another's revoltion I guess.
What about some of the rest of my readers:
1. What do you think about a Frenchman being employed to do the light show?
2. Do you think it is inappropriate for the multimedia light show about the history of Mexico to be reflected on a Mexican church?
Sunday, July 04, 2010
No Television
One of the things that makes it easier to live here is the fact that we have been able to turn on the television and be "connected" with the USA but we have not had television since we returned to San Miguel. Actually it was going out when we left San Miguel back in May. That is the satellite service was going out not actually our television. We have survived for three weeks with absolutely no television. I would have thought that Ned would be a basket case by now but he has weathered withdrawal very well.
It is a long story about what is wrong. My friend Al tells the long side of the story here on his blog Rancho Santa Clara. My short story is that we were bootlegging satellite television from the States. We paid the provider of the service in the USA but they thought that they were providing service to someone in the northeastern USA. It seems that Mexico doesn't authorize the satellite company to provide their services in Mexico so we couldn't claim our actual address. That worked okay for us but not so well for Mexico. Although we would have been glad to pay a Mexican company for the service if they offered the same programming.
It seems that satellites get old and have to be replaced. Our service provider had to move to a new satellite and they set up their service area much more in-line with the boundaries of the USA. Maybe we could get the signal if we had an 8 ft. dish. Have you seen our house? Eight foot dish, goodbye terrace.
There aren't many options. The local cablevision company does have some USA programming but have you ever had to watch Joey the weatherman from Erie, Pennsylvania? They pick up the three networks from some, shall we say, less than mainstream locations.
Or there is another possibility, another bootleg situation. Good Morning.....Canada!
It is a long story about what is wrong. My friend Al tells the long side of the story here on his blog Rancho Santa Clara. My short story is that we were bootlegging satellite television from the States. We paid the provider of the service in the USA but they thought that they were providing service to someone in the northeastern USA. It seems that Mexico doesn't authorize the satellite company to provide their services in Mexico so we couldn't claim our actual address. That worked okay for us but not so well for Mexico. Although we would have been glad to pay a Mexican company for the service if they offered the same programming.
It seems that satellites get old and have to be replaced. Our service provider had to move to a new satellite and they set up their service area much more in-line with the boundaries of the USA. Maybe we could get the signal if we had an 8 ft. dish. Have you seen our house? Eight foot dish, goodbye terrace.
There aren't many options. The local cablevision company does have some USA programming but have you ever had to watch Joey the weatherman from Erie, Pennsylvania? They pick up the three networks from some, shall we say, less than mainstream locations.
Or there is another possibility, another bootleg situation. Good Morning.....Canada!
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Mexican Ingenuity
We were in the Parroquia church on Holy Wednesday in the late afternoon. There were some men in the church doing little chores preparing the church for the Easter events. One man brought a tall ladder and leaned it on the pillar in the right foreground. He looked up and decided that it wasn't going to be tall enough. So he pulled a.....I'm not sure about the terminology but a seat with a place to kneel in prayer over, then he put the bottom of the ladder into the seat and leaned it against the pillar. Ahh....now we understood what he needed to do. He was going to change out some light bulbs in the chandelier. Who needs a motorized lift and a safety belt to do a job? Not this man. He has Mexican ingenuity.
Seriously, I'm amazed at how Mexicans figure out ways to get things done with what they have available and they do it without getting hurt. I think anyone who has watched a house renovated or being built here in San Miguel can tell you a story or two about how the men work together to do things that just leave us gringos with our hearts in our throat.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Produce of Mexico
This asparagus story reminds me of another asparagus story. I went to an organic sheep cheese farm near Queretaro. This is an area of beautiful fertile valleys. The owner of the land had been raising asparagus for Walmart but every year they squeezed him a little more on price until finally he gave up raising asparagus and started raising sheep and making wonderful cheeses.
Maybe he has gone back to raising asparagus but selling it in Mexico for a price that pays for his land and labor.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Traveling Photographs
I tell myself that maybe next time we will have time to stop along the highway for me to take photographs but it doesn't happen. We have a nine hour drive between San Miguel and Laredo if we only stop for bathroom breaks and gas. If we are going into the USA, we will have a wait to cross the bridge at the border. Most of the time not a very long wait but you never know. We want all of this drive to be in daylight. One of these days maybe we will plan to divide the drive up into several days so there will be some photoing time. I hope that happens before too long. I'm not getting any younger.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Driving North
Our route to the International Bridge II takes us near the zoo. So we were on high alert as we drove along the Rio Grande. We didn't see any building that looked like it had been damaged. We did see men playing golf and on the other side of the road there were baseball games in progress.
I'm not minimizing the terrible situation along the border. Too many people have lost their lives and too many people have businesses that have failed because the tourists aren't coming south. I just wonder how the majority of people who live in the cities like Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, and Juarez can live with the stress day after day.
But there is something else that I don't understand. The cartels are battling for the routes to the US so what happens once the drugs get across the border? And they must be getting across the border or they would not be so profitable that the cartels fight about them. After they get across do they just magically move across the US? Is there little need to pay bribes, corrupt police or kill many people to protect their routes?
I'm just asking.........
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Staying Legal in Mexico
It is that time of year again....time to renew my FM3. Changes are happening in Migracion and they are for the better. Some of them do not take place until May but already procedures are getting streamlined.
We do our renewals ourselves although there are a lot of the ex-pats here in San Miguel who hire someone to do it for them. Sometimes we are amazed at what they pay to have someone go do it when really the procedure is simple.
How simple is it? First you go to the escritorio across the street from the Migracion office. Take your passport, FM3, and three months of bank statements. The excritorio makes the copies and types up the forms and the "invoice" for the cost of the FM3 to take to the bank to pay your FM3 fee. Some of the forms are on the computer but there is still one form that has to be typed on an old-fashioned typewriter with carbon paper. We took the papers and drove to a bank on the edge of town and paid the fee. Then we drove back to the Migracion office and turned in the papers. There was no one ahead of me so we didn't have to wait. I did have to run across the street for two more copies of the invoice stamped "paid" by the bank. I came back to the Migracion office, signed some papers, the Migracion officer finished stamping all the papers and handed me a letter to use as my FM3 until I have the renewed one back. But here is the amazing news. I can pick up the FM3 on Tuesday, just 5 days after I turned in my paperwork. Last year it was 10 days, this year 5 days. Big improvement in efficiency.
How long did all this take? One hour. And that included our travel time to and from the bank which was through a construction zone with detours and only two lanes of traffic.
In just a few more days, I'll be legally in Mexico for another year.
UPDATE: If you want to know more about the changes in immigration take a look at the February 25 entry in Carol's Blog
Monday, October 19, 2009
A Difference in Cultures
Are you shocked at this picture? Yes, for just 15 pesos you can throw three balls at the Negro. This picture was taken at the Feria just a few weeks ago. None of the Mexicans walking by even gave it a second glance. Mexicans laugh at the Americans attitude about race because they think that they aren't racists. But Felipe Zapata who writes The Bierce Account blog says that not only are they color-conscious but they are class-concious as well. I had written about the color issue some time ago here and be sure to read the comments with this blog post. Very thoughtful responses.It is just one of the differences in our cultures.....there are more.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Tres Pechos
The Fair still has the side shows. This poor woman has three breasts. We didn't go see them.But that isn't what I'm writing about today. While we were at the fair, we talked with a young man for quite a while. His story is still going around in my head. I'll call him Juan. He was a good looking, cleancut man. The kind of guy you would like to have in your neighborhood.
When Juan was a boy his mother took him to the USA. He said that when they crossed the border they just walked across and went to stay with some relatives. He graduated from high school in the USA. His English was perfect. After high school he went to work and as young men do, he fell in love, got married. She was a US citizen. As the government began cracking down on businesses for hiring undocumented aliens, his boss told him he needed papers. He wanted Juan to get them because he was a good worker and the boss wanted to promote him.
By this time a baby was on the way. Juan knew he needed to get his immigration status settled so he could take care of his family. Moving to Mexico to live wasn't an option with his wife. So Juan returned to Mexico alone to try to get permission to live in the USA. The baby has gotten very sick when the wife has visited him in Mexico so she doesn't want to visit here either and besides it is very expensive for her and the baby to come back and forth. Juan told us how much he misses his family and how he is especially missing seeing his baby doing all the "firsts" that babies do.
Juan decided that while he was here working on the paperwork and waiting, and waiting, he would go to college and that would help him when he got back to the USA. He went to the University in Guanajuanto to enroll. When he showed them his high school diploma, the University said that since he didn't graduate in Mexico, he would have to pay three times the tuition even though he was a Mexican citizen. The only jobs he has been able to find are jobs that pay $10 a day.
Juan is a sad man with a foot on both sides of the border. He was such a nice young man. My heart goes out to him and his family. I hope that the attorney who is helping him try to get his papers through the US Consulate is really "helping him" and not just taking his money. I have a feeling that there are a lot of other Juans.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Down Mexico Way
Frank Sinatra sang it, "South of the border, Down Mexico way." His song was about a short love affair South of the border, but I'm writing about differences in the way things are done Down Mexico Way.
Our house is kind of two towers connected by a portico. The portico is covered with roof tiles. Roof tiles on their own are never fully water proof under heavy or prolonged days of rain. They get kind of water soaked and can be a bit drippy. Most of the time they are fine. After eight years and several construction projects we had some broken tiles and some of the places where they butt up to the wall were not sealed as well as they had been at the beginning. Earlier this year during the dry season we had our albanil take a look at the tiles. We told him what the problems were and we wanted them repaired or even totally replaced if that is what we needed to do to have less water leak through on the portico. We pointed out another rooftop in the neighborhood that had new tiles and they looked much better than the ones we had. He studied the situation and said that he thought they just needed to be taken down cleaned and replaced and it might take a few more tiles but the old ones would be okay.
For three days he and his assistant worked on the portico and when he finished it looked good except I wondered how they had managed to not need extra tiles. I also thought that the overlap spaces between the tiles looked a little big but then what do I know about laying Mexican roof tiles.
We missed a lot of the rainy season this year while we were in Texas but one good rain after we returned showed us that now the problem was still the same if not worse. We called him back. Now he said that the ends of the tiles didn't overlap enough so he brought his assistant and they again worked on realigning tiles. Still not quite right. Today he came again and he said that these were old tiles and that they were not shaped like the new ones which are better....and he pointed out the new roof in our neighborhood that we had pointed out to him earlier in the year. He thinks we might have to get new tiles.
Those of you who haven't lived in Mexico are probably wondering why we don't just get rid of him and hire someone else. Well this albanil has done a lot of work for us over the last four or five years and all of it has been excellent. Most good work gets done in Mexico based on good relationships. You may be thinking that he is just dragging this out to make more money. We don't think that. Mexicans make do with what is on hand. He probably feels he is doing his best to save us money.
If stuff like this would drive you crazy, don't come to live in Mexico. Things are different South of the border, Down Mexico way.
Our house is kind of two towers connected by a portico. The portico is covered with roof tiles. Roof tiles on their own are never fully water proof under heavy or prolonged days of rain. They get kind of water soaked and can be a bit drippy. Most of the time they are fine. After eight years and several construction projects we had some broken tiles and some of the places where they butt up to the wall were not sealed as well as they had been at the beginning. Earlier this year during the dry season we had our albanil take a look at the tiles. We told him what the problems were and we wanted them repaired or even totally replaced if that is what we needed to do to have less water leak through on the portico. We pointed out another rooftop in the neighborhood that had new tiles and they looked much better than the ones we had. He studied the situation and said that he thought they just needed to be taken down cleaned and replaced and it might take a few more tiles but the old ones would be okay.
For three days he and his assistant worked on the portico and when he finished it looked good except I wondered how they had managed to not need extra tiles. I also thought that the overlap spaces between the tiles looked a little big but then what do I know about laying Mexican roof tiles.
We missed a lot of the rainy season this year while we were in Texas but one good rain after we returned showed us that now the problem was still the same if not worse. We called him back. Now he said that the ends of the tiles didn't overlap enough so he brought his assistant and they again worked on realigning tiles. Still not quite right. Today he came again and he said that these were old tiles and that they were not shaped like the new ones which are better....and he pointed out the new roof in our neighborhood that we had pointed out to him earlier in the year. He thinks we might have to get new tiles.
Those of you who haven't lived in Mexico are probably wondering why we don't just get rid of him and hire someone else. Well this albanil has done a lot of work for us over the last four or five years and all of it has been excellent. Most good work gets done in Mexico based on good relationships. You may be thinking that he is just dragging this out to make more money. We don't think that. Mexicans make do with what is on hand. He probably feels he is doing his best to save us money.
If stuff like this would drive you crazy, don't come to live in Mexico. Things are different South of the border, Down Mexico way.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Campechana de Mariscos
I've always wanted the recipe for the Campechana de Mariscos at Goode Company Seafood in Houston. Friday was my lucky day. The Houston Chronicle published it. Yea! Although I might not be able to find lump crab meat here in SMA, I could just double up on the shrimp. I love this dish and call it the best Campechana in the whole wide world.If you want to do a Mexican version, Cristina Potters at Mexico Cooks! published a recipe that she says is the best Coctel de Camaron in Mexico.
Dueling recipes. Which one are you going to try first?
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Zocalo on a Saturday Night
Valeria greeted us when we went into Brasserie last night. She was so glad to see us and had wondered why we had not been into the restaurant. We took a table in the center of the patio near the fountain that tinkled gently as the water dropped from the bowl circled with cut roses to the basin. The brightly printed oil cloth tablecloth glowed from the lantern on our table. The air was cool and the light was dropping in the sky. By the time we left it would change from dark blue to starred velvet.
There is just something about Brasserie that lets us sink into Mexico and relax, that opens doors of conversation that everyday lives leave closed. We ordered drinks; white wine for me, a tequila and sangrita for Ned. We've read the menu a hundred times but tonight we read each item just for pleasure. Then, of course, we ordered old favorites. Milanesa. One pollo, one res.
As we sipped our drinks and ate our dinner the restaurant gradually filled up. A Mexican family. Husband, wife, daughter and grandmother. The wife and daughter walked on either side of the grandmother to steady her on the uneven stones, then made sure her chair was comfortable. A couple, not young, but dating. We could tell from little snippets of conversation....you know that dating dance when you see it or hear it. Two ladies slipped to the back of the restaurant. Were they traveling together or did they live here? I love watching people and writing stories about them in my head.
No evening in town would be complete without a circle of the Jardin in front of the Parroquia. On the side toward the Parroquia were the families with children playing with new toys purchased from the vendors who seemed to position themselves in front of each child. What parent can resist. Another side was filled with food vendors. Oh, how good those hamburgers smelled. Another side, the boys with slicked back hair and baggy jeans were gathering to wait for the girls in tight jeans and tank tops. And the fourth side of the Jardin was lined with waiting mariachi bands.
We walked down Cuna de Allende past tables that have spilled outside restaurants into the closed street. Live music drifted from the restaurants. When we turned from Allende to Pila Seca, the smell of garlic and pizza was heavy from the Grotto. No way we could eat again but we were reminded that soon, very soon we must return and go a table by the window on the dim second floor for one of the thin crust pizzas and glasses of red wine.
We are really, really back in Mexico.
There is just something about Brasserie that lets us sink into Mexico and relax, that opens doors of conversation that everyday lives leave closed. We ordered drinks; white wine for me, a tequila and sangrita for Ned. We've read the menu a hundred times but tonight we read each item just for pleasure. Then, of course, we ordered old favorites. Milanesa. One pollo, one res.
As we sipped our drinks and ate our dinner the restaurant gradually filled up. A Mexican family. Husband, wife, daughter and grandmother. The wife and daughter walked on either side of the grandmother to steady her on the uneven stones, then made sure her chair was comfortable. A couple, not young, but dating. We could tell from little snippets of conversation....you know that dating dance when you see it or hear it. Two ladies slipped to the back of the restaurant. Were they traveling together or did they live here? I love watching people and writing stories about them in my head.
No evening in town would be complete without a circle of the Jardin in front of the Parroquia. On the side toward the Parroquia were the families with children playing with new toys purchased from the vendors who seemed to position themselves in front of each child. What parent can resist. Another side was filled with food vendors. Oh, how good those hamburgers smelled. Another side, the boys with slicked back hair and baggy jeans were gathering to wait for the girls in tight jeans and tank tops. And the fourth side of the Jardin was lined with waiting mariachi bands.
We walked down Cuna de Allende past tables that have spilled outside restaurants into the closed street. Live music drifted from the restaurants. When we turned from Allende to Pila Seca, the smell of garlic and pizza was heavy from the Grotto. No way we could eat again but we were reminded that soon, very soon we must return and go a table by the window on the dim second floor for one of the thin crust pizzas and glasses of red wine.
We are really, really back in Mexico.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Leaving the Children at Home Alone
Someone left a comment this week asking about how hard it was to leave the children and grandchildren in the USA when you moved to Mexico to live. It certainly wasn't the first time we have been asked that question. So let me ask you some questions.
Do you think that your adult children will never move away from you? Could a job take them from Houston (or wherever you live) to Portland or New York City or London? It happens. Son #1 and his wife were living in NYC and six weeks after the first grandchild was born, they moved even further away to London.
How often do you see them now? Our sons were established in their lives when we moved to Mexico. When the grandchildren came along they become involved in playdates, nursery school and birthday parties. Then suddenly they are playing four year old soccer and little league begins. Or they are involved in music lessons or tennis lessons. Then it is school and homework. Kids have busy schedules these days. So while living in Houston, we saw them regularly but not always weekly.
Our experience has been that we feel we spend more quality time with them now than we did when we lived in Houston. When we go back we usually stay at their houses where we see the boys 24/7, not just two or three hours for dinner. We see them doing their homework, practicing music, on the skate board, meet their friends who are in and out of the house. And the grandsons are excited to see us and show us stuff we haven't seen since the last time we were there. The daughters-in-law let me do some of the cooking which makes me feel good. There just seems to be more one-on-one time with each one at some point during a visit than we got when we lived in town.
The parents send emails from baseball tournaments telling us what is happening. In fact some of their little league games have a site where you can see the scores or even watch a webcam over home plate of the game. And trust me you have to be a grandparent to be glued to the computer monitor to watch a baseball game from a webcam. When Son #1 ran in a marathon we traced his progress on-line from some computer thingy all the runners wore. They send us almost instant photo albums of vacation pictures, ballgames, recitals/performances. We have never tried a web-cam on the computer but we do have a vonage phone so we can call and talk anytime. Now I'll have to admit to you that the grandboys are not chatty on the phone but some of my friends who have grandgirls have some nice conversations with them.
We are back in Texas with the family two or three times a year. If one of the households needed us to help because of an illness or something, there isn't any reason we couldn't be there by the next day if we could get a flight or in two days if we had to drive. And that would be the same even if we lived in Houston and had to fly to Portland or NYC or London.
Someone else asked about whether families come to see grandparents in San Miguel. The answer is yes. San Miguel is a historic colonial town with great shopping and restaurants. Your young adult children will love it but when there are grandkids, the history and shopping doesn't amuse them for long. You have to make some plans to amuse the kids, a trip to climb Bernal, horsebackriding in the country, swimming at the hot springs or the water park, Spanish lesson day camp where they will meet some other kids and make playdates. Honestly, you might get your children and grandchildren to visit more often if you had a condo on the beach in Playa del Carmen but do you want to live in Playa all year on the hopes that your kids might come down once a year.
There are just so many ways to stay in daily touch with family via the cyberworld and it is possible to go back to the USA when you need a grandbaby fix. I think it is okay to leave the "kids" at Home Alone.
Do you think that your adult children will never move away from you? Could a job take them from Houston (or wherever you live) to Portland or New York City or London? It happens. Son #1 and his wife were living in NYC and six weeks after the first grandchild was born, they moved even further away to London.
How often do you see them now? Our sons were established in their lives when we moved to Mexico. When the grandchildren came along they become involved in playdates, nursery school and birthday parties. Then suddenly they are playing four year old soccer and little league begins. Or they are involved in music lessons or tennis lessons. Then it is school and homework. Kids have busy schedules these days. So while living in Houston, we saw them regularly but not always weekly.
Our experience has been that we feel we spend more quality time with them now than we did when we lived in Houston. When we go back we usually stay at their houses where we see the boys 24/7, not just two or three hours for dinner. We see them doing their homework, practicing music, on the skate board, meet their friends who are in and out of the house. And the grandsons are excited to see us and show us stuff we haven't seen since the last time we were there. The daughters-in-law let me do some of the cooking which makes me feel good. There just seems to be more one-on-one time with each one at some point during a visit than we got when we lived in town.
The parents send emails from baseball tournaments telling us what is happening. In fact some of their little league games have a site where you can see the scores or even watch a webcam over home plate of the game. And trust me you have to be a grandparent to be glued to the computer monitor to watch a baseball game from a webcam. When Son #1 ran in a marathon we traced his progress on-line from some computer thingy all the runners wore. They send us almost instant photo albums of vacation pictures, ballgames, recitals/performances. We have never tried a web-cam on the computer but we do have a vonage phone so we can call and talk anytime. Now I'll have to admit to you that the grandboys are not chatty on the phone but some of my friends who have grandgirls have some nice conversations with them.
We are back in Texas with the family two or three times a year. If one of the households needed us to help because of an illness or something, there isn't any reason we couldn't be there by the next day if we could get a flight or in two days if we had to drive. And that would be the same even if we lived in Houston and had to fly to Portland or NYC or London.
Someone else asked about whether families come to see grandparents in San Miguel. The answer is yes. San Miguel is a historic colonial town with great shopping and restaurants. Your young adult children will love it but when there are grandkids, the history and shopping doesn't amuse them for long. You have to make some plans to amuse the kids, a trip to climb Bernal, horsebackriding in the country, swimming at the hot springs or the water park, Spanish lesson day camp where they will meet some other kids and make playdates. Honestly, you might get your children and grandchildren to visit more often if you had a condo on the beach in Playa del Carmen but do you want to live in Playa all year on the hopes that your kids might come down once a year.
There are just so many ways to stay in daily touch with family via the cyberworld and it is possible to go back to the USA when you need a grandbaby fix. I think it is okay to leave the "kids" at Home Alone.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
After a Long Journey......
One week ago today we arrived back in San Miguel de Allende after being gone for almost four months. We left for three weeks and ended up being gone for way too long.
On the first day we drove from Houston to Saltillo. We crossed at Bridge #2 in Laredo and had no stops at customs or immigration. The traffic was light and we had smooth driving except when we turned from the cuota road to head into Saltillo. There is a lot of construction on the road heading into Saltillo. It will be a much better road when all of the overpasses are finished. We spent the night at the Camino Real Hotel. The hotel was a good reminder of the differences in architecture between the two countries. There are stairs everywhere. Sometimes only 5 or 6 steps, sometimes winding steps, sometimes whole flights of steps but almost always no hand rails. If you are in a wheelchair or not able to navigate steps easily, the Camino Real is not for you. In fact Mexico may not be for you.
I can't begin to describe how wonderful it was to start down the hill from the Caracol and see the town spread out in front of us. First I see the Parroquia spires, the Monjas church, the Oratorio, the San Francisco but the best is when I spot the San Antonio church in the middle of our Colonia. Then I know I'm really almost home.
Everything in the house looked great but it was very quiet. The pump on the pond had gone out and the fish had been eaten by birds. Our birds were staying with friends. And of course, we were reminded of Taylor when we walked in. I still miss my doggy friend everyday.
We're back in the swing with cooking and seeing friends but I still haven't gotten all our stuff put away. Today I'm cleaning out our closet. It needed it before we left. So as leverage to get it done, I'm not going to put anything back into it until it is clean and tidy.
I've also got to figure out how to keep up with the growing "library." When we first bought the house I brought down a few books but now my obsession for books has filled up the spaces. Also when we remodeled the kitchen, I thought I had enough room but the new enameled cast iron pot and the wok are overflowing the storage space. I had sworn off buying stuff except what I really need. Well if it is a book or something for the kitchen, I always seem to be able to convince myself that I really, really need it.
It is good to be home. Home with the windows open to life on the street. Home with the fireworks and church bells. Home with the cool nights and glorious blue skies.
On the first day we drove from Houston to Saltillo. We crossed at Bridge #2 in Laredo and had no stops at customs or immigration. The traffic was light and we had smooth driving except when we turned from the cuota road to head into Saltillo. There is a lot of construction on the road heading into Saltillo. It will be a much better road when all of the overpasses are finished. We spent the night at the Camino Real Hotel. The hotel was a good reminder of the differences in architecture between the two countries. There are stairs everywhere. Sometimes only 5 or 6 steps, sometimes winding steps, sometimes whole flights of steps but almost always no hand rails. If you are in a wheelchair or not able to navigate steps easily, the Camino Real is not for you. In fact Mexico may not be for you.
I can't begin to describe how wonderful it was to start down the hill from the Caracol and see the town spread out in front of us. First I see the Parroquia spires, the Monjas church, the Oratorio, the San Francisco but the best is when I spot the San Antonio church in the middle of our Colonia. Then I know I'm really almost home.
Everything in the house looked great but it was very quiet. The pump on the pond had gone out and the fish had been eaten by birds. Our birds were staying with friends. And of course, we were reminded of Taylor when we walked in. I still miss my doggy friend everyday.
We're back in the swing with cooking and seeing friends but I still haven't gotten all our stuff put away. Today I'm cleaning out our closet. It needed it before we left. So as leverage to get it done, I'm not going to put anything back into it until it is clean and tidy.
I've also got to figure out how to keep up with the growing "library." When we first bought the house I brought down a few books but now my obsession for books has filled up the spaces. Also when we remodeled the kitchen, I thought I had enough room but the new enameled cast iron pot and the wok are overflowing the storage space. I had sworn off buying stuff except what I really need. Well if it is a book or something for the kitchen, I always seem to be able to convince myself that I really, really need it.
It is good to be home. Home with the windows open to life on the street. Home with the fireworks and church bells. Home with the cool nights and glorious blue skies.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Isolation
Yesterday Ned and I headed off for our respective exercise plans. Bellas Artes for a yoga class for me and the gym for Ned. Both places were closed by the direction of Civil Protection. The streets were very quiet. I would say that on the street one person in fifty was wearing a mask although most of the cab drivers that passed by were wearing them.This is the Mexican Labor Day weekend but all public events are closed from May 1 through May 5. Ana Marie Salazar writes in her blog Mexico Today:
That the federal government will close down all non essential activities. Sooooo: The police, army, hospitals, doctors and other essential services will be provided …and the federal government is asking state governments to also start a partial shutdown of local governments.
The schools are closed in San Miguel but it doesn't feel like a school holiday. The kids aren't out on the streets playing. I've heard from friends who are involved in the tourist business in one way or another. Everything they had booked has been cancelled. They have had to let employees go. Another quote from Mexico Today:
Jesús Kumate said the epidemic could affect the country for at least a year, since there are relapses or renewed outbreaks… He said that in the case of influenza, the renewed outbreaks occur every two months, or what could happen also is that the virus could mutate yet again over that year.
While I have some concern about getting the swine flu, I'm mostly depressed about the personal economic blow that most Mexicans are facing.
If you aren't already reading Mexico Today, you should add it to your blog list to get a great daily overview of the Mexican news especially during this flu crisis.
Another blog that is reporting on the flu in Mexico City is a Midwesterner in Mexico. Her blog today gives the facts as well as personal reactions.
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