Catemaco Ramblings

Do they eat dogs in veracruz?
Dog slaughterer reveals taco secrets in a Google translation

Defaunation of Los Tuxtlas? Ever heard that word?
Former head of Los Tuxtlas research station laments the killing of wildlife

9 meter human skeleton found in Los Tuxtlas.
The story was published in the local Periodico de Hueyapan.
Hunters found the bones about 20 miles south of Catemaco and local Popoluca Indians claim they belong to the legendary "Ata-nike-kulkuwati", a fearsome creature prowling the Los Tuxtlas mountains for womanizers and their distinct smell. The 9 meters is probably the result of yokels using an American tape measure marked in feet instead of meters.

Still stuck on 17 Olmec heads! Latest counterfeit head sold for millions
Google Translation of l Universal article

Do you need a Mexican friend?
A nutty blogger from San Miguel Allende takes a closer look

Catemaco smoke

Mexico used to be one of the last remnants in the world allowing smokers to blow carcinogenic substances into their neighbor's face.

For that matter, a group of ladies at a local hangout in beautiful downtown Catemaco, chided me as a damn gringo polluting their atmosphere on an open air patio, while two blocks away, shit was rolling down the street from inadequate sewers.

So now, after tolerating 50% increases in my vice, I find out I may actually be generating an increase to the Mexican economy.


Background: The price of cigarettes to consumers in Mexico, and Latin America in general, remains low in comparison with other regions of the world. In Mexico, taxes represented 59% of the total price of cigarettes in 2006, compared to 75% or more in many high-income countries. The feasibility of raising taxes on cigarettes in Mexico—to both discourage consumption and increase revenues—is an important policy question.

Methods: Using household survey data, we undertake a pooled cross-sectional analysis of the demand for cigarettes in Mexico. We use a two-part model to estimate the price elasticity of cigarettes. This model controls for the selection effect that arises from the fact that the impact of price on the decision to smoke or not is estimated using all households in the dataset.

Results: The results indicate that price is a significant factor in household decisions concerning smoking and the number of cigarettes smoked. Holding other factors constant, our simulations show that a 10% increase in the cigarette tax in Mexico—calculated as a percentage of the price—yields a 12.4% increase in the price to the consumer, a 6.4% decrease in consumption of cigarettes and a 15.7% increase in the revenue yielded by the tax.

Conclusion: In Mexico, there are strong arguments for increasing cigarette taxes. Revenue raised could be used to further prevent tobacco consumption and to finance current funding shortages for the treatment of diseases related to smoking.

Catemaco Earthquake

The Catemaco area experiences earthquakes several times a year. Usually the seismic centers are far away enough not to feel anything. A few days ago a Oaxaca quake came to visit and I actually felt my first earthquake in Catemaco.

On the other hand:
A big earthquake with the strength of 8.1 on the Richter scale has hit Mexico.
Two million Mexicans have died and over a million are injured. The country is totally ruined and the government doesn't know where to start with providing help to rebuild. The rest of the world is in shock.
Canada is sending troopers to help the Mexican army control the riots.
Saudi Arabia is sending oil.
Other Latin American countries are sending supplies.
The European community (except France) is sending food and money.
The United States, not to be outdone, is sending two million replacement Mexicans.
God Bless America

Mexican Music Critic

Mexico's ambassador to Germany has voiced his displeasure over a popular German song that allegedly disparages the North American country.

The song, which has been on the German charts for 10 weeks, features as its chorus the charming refrain "Finger in the butt, Mexico." (The German version, "Finger im Po, Mexiko," rhymes.)

Source: Der Spiegel

I´m trying to get his email address so I can sent him the Molotov's gracious Pinche gringo, puñetero lyrics

Catemaco BULL

...The bullfight, known in Spanish as the corrida de toros, the fiesta brava, or tauromaquia, is a famous facet of Mexican culture...Now, with the announcement of the first known cloning of a fighting bull, the corrida tradition moves into the world of contemporary genetic manipulation...The cloning is being carried out by ViaGen, a Texas livestock cloning company...You might call them NAFTA clones – taken from a Mexican bull and cloned in Canada under the auspices of a U.S. company.
READ: Will Cloning Change Bullfighting in Mexico? By Allan Wall

Catemaco relief

Thousands of Catemaco inhabitants are responding to publically announced requests for relief from the inhabitants of flooded Tabasco.

Trailers are being filled with used goods, and other trucks are preparing to wade into Tabasco, repeating the phenomena in hundreds of neighboring communities.

Where the hell will they deliver all this used clothing to in Tabasco whose inhabitants' remaining clothes have been drying rather nicely in very warm sunny weather.

The relief organizations in Mexico, primarily centered around the government agencies of "Proteccion Civil", DIF, and the the private Mexican Red Cross are notoriously corrupt, and known to only deliver a percentage of their receipts to the needed.

The disappeared percentage usually appears on the black market or as a supposed gift from corrupt politicians.

The potential flood havoc in Tabasco has been predictable for more than 3000 years and has variously been addressed by assorted Mexican initiatives. The last one was initiated by the Fox administration 3 or 4 years ago for more than 3 billion pesos was never funded.

Instead currently, a multi billion peso tunnel under the Coatzacoalcos river is being funded to channel more traffic into the Tabasco region.

The news reports are now clamoring more than a million displaced peoples. That figure is substantially higher than any number ever emitted by the Tabasco government, known to inflate figures like any other agency in Mexico.

The question of providing help to the needy still remains problematic.

I want to help, but I'll forsake giving my clothes to a future used clothes seller or my money to an agency I do not trust.

So, instead, I ignore the whole mess, and pray for a way to add my little bit to the Tabasco relief effort that I know will go to the intended needy.

Catemaco wildfires.

I was surprised to not read imagined Mexican newspaper headlines like "US burns Mexicans", or some such nonsense, about the recent deplorable death of 4 illegal border crossers in the wildfires of Southern California.

Usually, the Mexican press blames the US for anything else ranging from the weather to inflation.

What was nice to read though, was the help of Mexican fire fighters legally crossing the border to California to help their US brethen to fight those terrible fires.

Catemaco fortunately is now in the rainy season and too soaked to sponsor any fires. Come the dry season, though, Los Tuxtlas, especially the Sierra Santa Marta, becomes a cinderbox, with 1000's of acres going up in flames each year.

Catemaco Unemployment

"MEXICO CITY, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Mexico's jobless rate was a slightly lower-than-expected 3.87 percent in September, the government said on Friday, below August's 3.92 percent."

This is a recurrent eyebrow raising news story, especially when considering the US or European unemployment rates way above 6 %.

I have been doing a lot of construction in Catemaco, and have had upward of 20 people working for me at one time. Usually I employ 1 to 4 to keep land clear, do minor remodeling and chores.

My main man, now almost 5 years with me, earns 650 pesos cash weekly, plus lots of bennies, about 800 pesos a week.

Part time workers I hire at 550 pesos a week, no bennies, for a 5 1/2 day work week.

To the Maestro de Albañileria (no clear interpretation - essentially bricklayer and construction foreman) I am now paying 1200 pesos per week. This is the same kid that I started at 450 pesos 5 years ago as an assistant.

The last few weeks I needed about a dozen short term workers to move stuff, chop greens, etc.
I wound up with six. Apparently it is tobacco chopping season which pays the glorious sum of 450 pesos per week (no bennies), slightly above the Mexican minimum wage, but the work lasts for several weeks.

None of these occasional workers have unemployment insurance or are registered at any office that maintains statistics in Mexico.

The Mexican unemployment statistics are based on contributors to the IMSS (social security system), which covers less than 30% of official Mexican workers, and includes mostly larger enterprises, such as Ford de Mexico, and numerous smaller companies who paid insufficient bribes to be taxed.

3.87 % is a lie, try 25 %.

Children for sale in Catemaco and other musings

Beautiful downtown Catemaco, Veracruz neighbors the municipio (county) of Soteapan, possibly the oldest known continuous settlement in the Americas.

Soteapan is actually famous for nothing. The county of 26,000 people is primarily inhabited by Popolucas, alleged to be remnants of the OLMEC empire. In southern Veracruz, the county is infamous for owning and turning off the water from the well field of Pantillas, providing water to the major downhill city of Acayucan.

Historically, Soteapan is famous for battling the encroaching Aztecs, kicking out the French invasion in the early 1800’s and shedding blood in the the years of the Mexican revolt against Porfirio Diaz in the early 1900`s.

Geographically, the county occupies most of the western slopes of the Volcano Santa Marta and has done an excellent job of exterminating both historic wildlife and vegetation to the benefit of cattle ranchers and small agriculturists. Despite all these avaricious efforts, the county offers several gorgeous waterfalls and access to the heart of the currently remaining rain forest along the slopes of the upper volcanoes.

Access from Catemaco, though dating back to pre Cortes days, is in the horse and buggy stage, with a deviated 40 kilometer dirt road leaving to the uplands of Soteapan from near the village of Benito Juarez, (Las Margaritas on Laguna Catemaco). Further access is along a recently paved highway from Acayucan.

Oops, I forgot to mention the child sales. This was supposed to be a long article on the subject after a local newspaper published assertions of that continuous heineous practice among the Popolucas resident in Sonteapan.

EUROTRASH
Beautiful downtown Catemaco, Veracruz counts Eurotrash among its population.
Now, the Euro is possibly the strongest currency in the world, which makes its owners the richest travelers in the world. That status was previously abused by those from the US dollar domain. At present Europeans hold the mega bucks in Mexican tourism, although they have a hell of a time trying to change their currency in most places in Mexico.

The term Eurotrash possibly originated on the envious US eastcoast in the 1970’s, when primarily pretentious Germans started hitting American shores with their new found strength in the “Deutschmark”, one of the forerunners of the Euro currency. Since then, the term has degenerated to something similar to “White Trash”, and is being applied more and more to young Europeans travelling the Americas on shoe string budgets, and getting themselves involved in local politics, like the Zapatistas.

Catemaco has its share of those.
PS - Before you get uppity! - Eurotrash also refers to a social and musical fad.

Catemaco Eats
There are dozens of mom and pop grocery stores in every nook of Catemaco. Most stock substantially less merchandise than the shelf on the sides of a cashier of a US convenience store.
Air conditioning and freezers are still novelty items in most of these businesses, though refrigeration has made inroads primarily to keep soft drinks, ham & hot dogs cool. Only some of the butchers are investing in “High Tech” gear.

Chicken is the number 1 item of consumption here. They are usually the size of a large pigeon and when sold in parts are chopped into pieces disrespectful of their bone structure. Nevertheless, Colonel Sanders would probably cry in his beard over some of the wonderful recipes coming from the many hole-in-the-wall chicken vendors.

Meat is essentially of the grass fed variety and includes culled animals. Organically these meat cuts are good for you, just don´t expect anything rated “prime” or “choice”

After seeing all that green in Los Tuxtlas, I would expect lots of fresh vegetables here. Instead, it seems the delivery truck that apparently supplies everyone arrives on Wednesday, and by late afternoon you have your choice of wilted lettuce for the rest of the week. The selection is limited to basic basics, except for exotic spices and novel (non costumary US) fruits.

Canned goods are plentiful within a limited spectrum of tastes, that is if you like 50 brands of beans and chile.

Frozen foods are still not available in Catemaco. Neither is fresh milk, or fresh orange juice unless you squeezed it yourself.

Bakeries are plentiful, and after shooing away a few hundred flies, many delightful inexpensive pastries are revealed. Tortillas and bolillos (hard rolls) are the staple of bread here, along with Pan Bimbo which I believe is made from bleached recycled newspapers. The Pan Bimbo taste seems to be universally acceptable. The company has a large profitable operation in the US.

Expositions in Mexico
I am frequently astounded by announcements of the number of expositions exposing the wonderfulness of the peoples, history and landscape of Catemaco and Los Tuxtlas.
Of course these exhibitions are in strange places like Paris, San Diego, Hicksville, USA and Mexico City.
Both Catemaco and San Andres Tuxtla have directors of tourism who are either hidden or lost in often unattended cubicles.
One would think, that among the elementary school exhibitions of finger painting, there might be an interest in some upscale exhibitions in Los Tuxtlas.

La Punta
Catemaco´s Malecon ends after the Hotel Koniapan. From there it is an uncomfortable footpath along the beach to another Gorel restaurant blocking most of the federal beach zone. Thereafter a dirt road leads through Playa La Isla past the cave of El Tegal where the Virgin Mary allegedly appeared and snakes through to Espagoya where the beach is blocked again by a tobacco baron from San Andres Tuxtla.

That footpath is really a worthwhile walk. There are wonderful views back to Catemaco and forward to Isla Agaltepec. The rocky shore line and lava shelves remind of the fragility of our existence, and all the beach birds are in paradise. At the top of the rainy season, you will get your shoes wet on the walk.

There is a “proyecto” in the works to extend the Malecon through this area. A beach boardwalk and bicycle path would be a lot cheaper and would keep Mother Nature a lot happier.

Swimming in Catemaco
Only few inhabitants of beautiful downtown Catemaco know how to swim. That is despite the county having 15 gorgeous miles of gulf beach front, plus another 50 kilometers of lake front. Fortunately it is only a few visitors that drown occasionally.

Nothing like the 59 poor souls that reportedly drowned in the Rio Grande while trying to cross to the US. (*30 drowned last year)
Can anyone imagine the response in the western world to that kind of death rate on a single river? By now the river would be paved or have a pontoon bridge every 100 meters. Instead, the Mexican government is now handing out GPS locators to help illegal border crossers find their way through the desert. Probably a lot of these will be found on the bottom of the river, along with the owner.

That is almost as intelligent as the local mayor providing 300 free replacement fiberglass fishing boats and lately 60 free 30 horsepower motors to the fishing folks around here who have already decimated their livelihood by overfishing.

Oh, and incidentally Catemaco also has a Rio Grande which most of the year is a rapid, rock strewn mountain stream encumbered with waterfalls, including the majestic Eyipantla, scene of the movie Apocalypto’s water frights.

Since the river is also Catemaco’s toilet I wonder whether any actor went apocalyptic.

Catemaco Location
Beautiful downtown Catemaco occupies several hills and vales along the shore of Laguna Catemaco, and because not enough people took the opportunity to run for the northern border, its hillsides are now Mexican versions of Levitz towns without the relevant infrastructure.
The concepts of common sense, city planning, or zoning restriction apparently never occupied the minds of Catemaco municipal politicians.

So now, where in the good old days, rivulets ran off the hills to meander among the placid waters of Laguna Catemao, these rivulets have been channelled, diverted, ignored, and blessed by Catemaco inhabitants. And now Catemaco inhabitants are paying the price.

About a dozen times annually, heavy rains begin torrid rivers carrying tons of garbage, soil and rocks, beginning in the destructed Catemaco hill sides, and then coursing through the narrow streets of Catemaco.
Dozens of homes have been built upon these waterways, including the city’s largest nightclub and a dilapitated bar on the laguna’s shore. Entire city blocks have been cemented over annual rivers, containing who knows how many rats, plastic bottles or diapers.

But, where else can you get cheap lake site property by building atop of a river?

The Mexican border fence sucks

Building a multi billion dollar fence to decrease 8 million illegal border crossers to 6 million or so is something a corrupt Mexican government would do.

Instead the vaunted US Homeland Security Agency is spending its mega bucks to do the above.
There a hundreds of laws on the books to control tax paying employers in the US. Apparently 99% of the sections concerning employees are NOT enforced. Else where do those statistics of millions of illegal employees come from.

Personally, I believe that the entire border should be eliminated. And after everyone except overpaid Mexican politicians holding their bags have left Mexico for the US streets paved in gold, the company RAID should provide giant bug bombs to disinfect the country to prepare it to be annexed by the state of “New Mexico” and be renamed “Old Mexico”.

Catemaco feet

Catemaco only has 500 or so registered "native Americans", " Indios", Amerindians or whatever is the currently politically correct way to address survivors of the European onlaught of the Americas. Just south of here are a few 10's of thousands of those peoples, ranked among the most impoverished in Veracruz, or Mexico.

So finally, after 511 years, the white folks have begun making shoes for them, because apparently they have bigger toes and wider feet. At US 4.28 per toe these shoes are not cheap, but the NIKE shoe manufacturer will contribute its profit on the Air Native N7, wholesale price US$ 42.80 to "tribal programs".


A current "tribal program" in the Catemaco neighboring counties would probably be to replace the "chanclas" (plastic flipflops, about US 70 cents) worn by the majority of the Los Tuxtlas "aborigines" and thousands of fellow poor mestizo campesinos.

Amerindian population levels in the US are so low, Nike might want to expand is social service programs to US and Mexican mestizos which are much more populous. I am now beginning to wonder what their average toe size is.

Photo: http://www.kenlight.com/photos/tothepromisedland/feet.jpg

Mexican Racism

Mexico is really a unique country.
Racially, that is. There is no other nation that has managed to absorb the interbreeding of races like Mexico has done.

From the first European shipwrecked sailor on the Yucatan shores impregnating an Amerindian woman, to the present race to whiten brown skins in surgical parlors, Mexico has been and is on the fore front of racial integration.

Don´t tell that to the Mexican intelligencia though.
Since Mexican Independence, except for the marvelous exception of the Zapotec Indian Benito Juarez, the Mexican political and economic elite has been as white as snow, except for those whom rumor mongers maligned, usually after death, of having had a brown ancestor or two.

Statistically, though, as a nation, Mexico is the forerunner of the end of the Caucasian race despite all the blondes on Mexican TV. No other south American country incorporated its Amerindians in its European population as Mexico has done. Other countries adopted extermination policies or promoted excessive white immigration.

Mexico instead promoted full integration.
It took a while for half, quarter and other breeds to get their rights and it is still debatable whether a brown face qualifies someone as a bonafide political candidate in federal elections in Mexico. But in the general sense, (such as saying black and white Americans have the same rights), the racial isue is a nonsequitur in Mexico.

Unless you are an Amerindian, of course. Then you occupy the lowest rang of any ladder this country can provide, except of course for the magnificent Benito Juarez and others who mostly proclaim Indian roots before but not after elections, in order to avoid being invited to tea dances.

Retired

Mexico was crowned as the world's best place to retire in 2007 by International Living Magazine.

Amazing! The rest of the world must be in a pretty sad state.
The world's top retirement havens in 2007

Ironically, rich Mexicans seem to think the US is the best place to retire, and for the same reasons.
Mexicans buy Miami real estate

Truckin..

WASHINGTON: A U.S.-owned commercial truck became the first to drive deep into Mexico on Friday, days after the U.S. Senate voted to quit funding a program allowing Mexican trucks to do the same in the United States.

Catemaco: If this driver ever returns to the US - he will be able to tell so many horror stories about road conditions, federal police rapes and military halts, that the US Senate can close its squinty chauvinist eyes and ignore the whole subject in the future.

The current blah blah over the interchange of border crossing privileges for trucks is ridiculous.
Any Mexican trucker that has survived a few years on Mexican roads would cream any US redneck 18 wheel driver. Current safety inspections on the Mexican border would make anyone on the Canadian border flinch.

Mexican long haul trucks are primarily of US origin and maintenance standards are on par with any entrepreneurs' necessity to protect a multi hundred thousand dollar load.

rollem...

"Booming" Veracruz

Mexican politicians recently went into apoplexy over supposed US mercenaries being hired for Veracruz. The issue is now being fueled by the chip-on-shoulder fringe of the usual supposed Mexican “inteligencia”.

At issue is a help wanted ad by a US contractor to provide services to fly unmanned aircraft in the state of Veracruz. No objective was stated but presumably this would involve drug field and gas pipeline inspections.

Mexico has about as much experience in flying unmanned aircraft as flying space shuttles, namely NONE. The only qualified technicans to fly unmanned aircraft are the “mercenary” veterans of US army field operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other exotic tourist destinations.
Those mercenaries would have been very welcome yesterday, before someone decided to blow up 6 pipelines in Veracruz.

It is about time that Mexican politicians pass a law forbidding native Mexicans to mess with Veracruz !
Mexico Says US Recruits Mercenaries

Catemaco Ejidos

VERY SIMPLISTICALLY - The ejido land ownership concept inherently stopped Mexico from becoming a first world nation and reinforced its servitude to its northern colossus.Very basically, ejido means a conglomerate of people joined in a communal effort, owning common community property and small parcels of personal property. Aside from other socialistic endeavors, this particular effort had its roots in the promises of the Mexican revolution of 1917 representing a revolt against the amassment of land wealth by individual Mexican owners. Basically the idea was to confiscate large landholders lands and distribute it to landless peasants. At present estimates place ejido ownership on more than half of Mexico's arable land.

(the ejido system was and is fairly complex and I would suggest you study it before believing everything I say here.)

The ejido system was destined to fail primarily because of inheritance problems, whereby each original landowner, potentially, would be diminishing the original property to accommodate inheritors. Meanwhile ejido laws were changed so many times, that finally, the Mexican government surrendered, and permitted ejido holders to sell their property.

Nevertheless there are still thousands of ejidos owning thousands of hectares with a very limited number of ejiditarios (actual property owners) and many more disenfranchised family members or workers, working the ejido land in a more or less tenured system. Those landless ejido members have provided many of the illegal border crossers to the USA.

A less debated aspect of the creation of ejidos is their direct contribution to the ecological destruction of Mexico. After the Mexican government became stymied at giving away private property it had to attack the wealth of the public domain and began giving away unexplored areas.

The area of Los Tuxtlas was one of those victims, and starting in the early 1950's, thousands of land hungry peasants were assigned property rights in virgin forests.
The outcome is now painfully obvious with less than 10 per cent of the the original forest surface remaining in Los Tuxtlas. That is probably not much different than the development of Miami, Florida, USA.

EXCEPT, in this case the outcome was government instituted, and as of today, that outcome still obliges the Mexican government entities to support the mayhem it created, in areas more populated by tree rats than people, and each demanding basketball courts, health facilities, meeting halls and social welfare programs for population centers which a long time ago were wiped out in Texas and "other" first world places by the establishment of rural roads, capitalist market economy and the affordability of pickup trucks.

In Los Tuxtlas, the most obnoxious sign of the failure of this system is the condition of the Los Tuxtlas coast. Dozens of ejidos occupy this zone, each more intent than the other to fatten another cow. Meanwhile, municipal service is almost absent, the consolidated strength of the cattle industry has no outlet and it takes a day's travel to sell a cow. Tourism is nonexistent.
Of course, most individual properties, until lately, are extraordinarily fractured and economically dysfunctional on an early 20th century level, where milkers still think that electric milkers sicken their cows.

Meanwhile the area supports a relatively large, almost illiterate population, living on or near the Mexican minimum wage of less than 5 dollars a day, which, if you remember a previous comment, are clamoring for municipal and social services which at the current rate, may be provided in the next century.

Catemaco Paint

Most of Mexico's provincial cities have a quaint habit of painting anything that does not move.
That includes trees, street curbs, government buildings, and probably immobile politicians. Some of the painting is politically motivated. Since each political party has its own colors, "naturally" all of the towns need to be repainted to reflect their glorious leaders political colors.

Yellow is possibly the most favored color in provincial Mexico. If there is a curb sticking above the dirt, it needs to be painted yellow. Unfortunately, the paint used is also subject to political interpretations as to quality and kickbacks and usually lasts a month or two months before the road dirt makes it appear just like it was 8 weeks ago. Usually that yellow painting effort occurs before touristic holidays or political events.

This painting nonsense came to my attention because my neighboring municipal water facility recently repainted its wall in its customary green. Today 2 workers spent a day, repainting the wall in red to reflect the colors of the current Veracruz governor.

That is just a minor item. I sincerely believe that the local municipal city hall, constructed in the mid 1950's is only being supported by the dozens of coats of different political paints applied since its construction.

I wish someone would bring one of those first world sand blasters, manned by third world personnel to Catemaco or Veracruz and reveal the exterior deterioration in the local government. (Buildings that is, ahem!)