Catemaco toilet training

Anyone familiar with the provinces of Mexico may have noticed the pervasive stench of feces and urine in many locales off the tourist track or even along it.

Public sanitation is not one of the priorities in Mexico. Touristic communities depend on private providers to collect their daily bread from tourists spreading their cheeks. Since many of those in-country tourists barely afforded the bus fare, the frequent choice is ablution in public places.

But it is not only the tourists. Communities stage mega events, inviting 100's or thousands of people without providing sanitary facilities.

Beautiful downtown Catemaco, Veracruz is no different. Sewage problems dating back 10 or more years are ignored, and sponsored municipal and private events oblige vistors to use the waters or beaches of Laguna Catemaco.

My attention focused on this absolute necessity when reading an internet survey from Diario del Istmo, a major newspaper in a neighboring city, with several miles of municipal beaches. When asked whether to construct public bathroom facilities, 3000, almost half of the internet respondents, answered "NO".

I think I made my point about Mexico lack of interest in public sanitation.

Catemaco quetch

I have turned into a cripple.

The vaunted Telmex Prodigy broadband internet service is now often only available at dialup speeds. Complaints to Telmex are useless because the problem is intermittent, and when the line is checked, the service is on par. Five minutes later it is in the stone age.

Temporarily I tolerate this bullshit, although I do not understand why Catemaco users are not planning a revolt.

For the last few months I have been busy renovating our new casa/office and trying to heal my right writing arm whose tendons are very resistant, without much time for chit chat..

Meanwhile my right hand index finger is still functioning and I give that wholeheartedly to Carlos Slim, presidente of TELMEX.

Catemaco almost

The new Catemaco http://www.tuxtlas.com/ office is almost ready.

And 3 months after requesting a transfer of telephone lines, dozens of man (woman) hours, expending political pull, kissing ass, about 50 dollars in phone calls and a dozen trips to San Andres we now have a telephone with internet service again.

We began with: service may be available in 2 months, then changed to no lines will be available, then to maybe we can do something, then to perhaps if you talk to soandso, then to next week, the to the installation 10 days later.

This was a hell of an improvement over the next to last time, when we waited 2 years for a phone line.

Does anyone want o play monopoly with Carlos Slim of TELMEX?

Electric Catemaco

This is not a lie!

I was awakened this morning around 3:30 by a humongous thunder storm.

So I flipped on my computer muttering to myself how great beautiful downtown Catemaco's electrical service is, and that I should mention something positive about it despite the apparent haphazard connections crossing every street and in front of most homes. After all, in my five years in this town, through storms and hurricanes, I never had a major outage.

Famous last thoughts!
By the time I had raided the local ice machines to guard my food treasures imported from far away Veracruz city, electrical power returned at 3 pm, and I took back every nice thought I ever had about the electric company.

It also did not help to read my 2653 peso electric bill for 864 KW of TWO months service, with an unused AC. That is 2.9 pesos per KW, app 26 cents per KW.

Average US cost per KW is 9.5 cents per KW, including a few energy pigs like California and New York. Average US consumption is above 800 KW PER MONTH. Obviously I am only half ass average.

Isn´t it wonderful how cheap Mexico is to live in?

Actually electricity is cheap, if you live like the majority of low electricity consuming Mexicans (think cold water showers, hand washed laundry, 40 W light bulbs and outrageous propane gas bills).

Those Mexican consumers who depend on heavily subsidized utility bills, whose charges are staggered in categories and by consumption, regularly cause small civil wars when users get moved from a highly subsidized category to a lower one. And that includes a bunch of gringos who brag about their utility bills in their first blog posts.

Catemaco Clean Living

When I first arrived in Catemaco, I spent several weeks trying to locate a washing machine service for my clothes. The thought of having my 30 dollar shirts rubbed between 2 stones in a contaminated lagoon simply did not feel good to my inner skin.
Shortly thereafter I found a human washing machine, who began using my personal waters and rocks to wash my clothes and who was considerably less expensive than the mechanical provider.
More shortly thereafter I splurged and bought one of those single tub electronic washer/dryer combinations for a mega amount of pesos, as my contribution to the Mexican ecology and the profit line of Walmart.
My human washing machine fell in love with the electronic monster and forfeited her cleaning time to watching the spin cycle. -- So I fired her.
The next 2 human attendants never did discover the vagaries of a proper wash and also went on their way. I now have an apparent graduate of a Mexican Technological Institute manning (womening) my machine and am living happily clean for the moment.
Meanwhile, a recent extended walk around beautiful downtown Catemaco exposed eight (8) new machine based lavanderias (laundries), ranging from 2 to 6 machines. And, would you believe it?, there is a dry cleaner only 30 minutes away.

Catemaco Water

Catemaco Municipio (County), Veracruz averages a little less than 3 meters, (10 feet) of rain per year. Catemaco city averages even a little less, only 7 feet per year.

In addition there is a 50 square mile fresh water lake in the municipio’s center and several rivers escalade from the Sierra Santa Marta. But Catemaco is facing a municipal water shortage.
Water supply for the municipio, which has grown 40% over the last 20 years, is stretched to the limit. Water is obtained from bore holes into the Laguna Catemaco subsurface but not enough wells have been sunk to properly supply Catemaco City.

Numerous unplanned developments surround the city, with inhabitants, who probably paid less than a few hundred dollars for their piece of paradise, screaming for potable water supply, electricity, drainage and paved roads.

Water pressure in Catemaco depends on electric pumps, which at present have not enough water supply to reach the higher areas of Catemaco. As a consequence, many residents in those areas have to tolerate water shortages several times a week.

A proposal to construct and connect a gravity fed water supply from the reaches of Santa Marta is in the project stage. Meanwhile water pressure anywhere in Catemaco is almost anemic.

Monthly water bills are presented to consumers, frequently at or near the cut off date. Cutting off water, as opposed to cutting other utilities such as electricity and telephone, is a non-event. One can apparently live for years without paying a water bill. As a consequence the local water management agency (CMAS) lacks the finances to both maintain and improve the water system.
Catemaco water may or may not be fit for human consumption. Nobody ever says anything and anyone who can afford to do so, buys bottled water for consumption from seven different providers making frequent home deliveries and averaging 10 - 15 pesos per 19 liter bottle.
One bottle may last 2 people on average one week, in effect increasing the water usage bill per month to 127 pesos, including the minimum 55 peso utility fee.

Drilling a well in the immediate Catemaco aere is relatively cheap and effective. These wells are hand dug to about 10 to 15 feet and usually provide dozens of shards of historic occupation. Their water quality is subject to the conditions of the laguna water, namely unpotable.

Catemaco LPG Gas

Along with gasoline, the behemoth PEMEX also controls the LPG supply (liquid petroleum gas) of Mexico. Distribution, though, is in private hands, and is alleged to be controlled by Mexico’s famous handful of family oligarchs.

Mexico is not self sufficient in butane and propane, the two major ingredients of LPG gas. More than 5% of Mexican gas stocks are flared, (burned), instead of being captured. Any shortage in stocks is covered by imports from the US. Piped natural gas installations, although considerably more cost effective, are still a rarity in Mexico. The great majority of Mexican homes depend on gas cylinders or residential stationary tanks, for both cooking and water heating. Mexico is the world’s largest consumer of residential LPG gas.

Catemaco, Veracruz is served by 2 gas companies, which maintain regular route service to exchange tanks. The system is inconvenient, wasteful, incompetent, corrupt and expensive.

1. - To initiate gas service, the user must first buy his own tank, which can then be exchanged for a gas company tank.
2. - In exchange for that shiny new tank, you will probably receive a banged up, slightly rusty cylinder.
3. - At any time, if there is a problem with the exchange tank, the company will exchange the tank free. If there is a problem with the valves, the user is charged.
3. - This is cash country. If nobody is at home to pay for the exchange, no tank is delivered.
4. - If you carry your own tank to the gas company and it is still 1/3 full, you will be charged for filling the whole tank.
5. - As with gasoline, you may be charged for 20 kilograms and only receive 17.
6. - There is no pickup service on Sunday, and both companies take long lunch hours, open late and close early.
7. - There is no delivery service by appointment, except for stationary tanks.
8. - The LPG price is fixed by the government once every month, and is roughly based on international pricing.
9. - Caloric content of Mexican LPG (BTU, the actual heat potential) is kept a secret from Mexican consumers, so price comparison with electricity is not functional.

Gas Tanks come in 3 basic sizes, plus some smaller portable tanks. 20 Kg, 30 Kg and 45Kg. The 45 Kg tank is rare because it seems to weigh as much as a Volkswagen. The majority of tanks nationally are 20 and 30 Kg versions. Catemaco’s most popular tank is the 30 Kg version which weighs as much as a fat muchacha.

The 20 Kg tank is recommendable for consumers filling their own tanks. A typical installation of 2 x 20 Kg tanks plus a two way valve will cost about 1000 pesos (Aug 2006) plus 300 pesos for a handtruck plus 20 pesos for a wrench), and if you fill them yourself, you save hours of aggravation messing with abused valve systems. (Incidentally I have yet to find a slip valve system to install on my tanks instead of the cumbersome left turn wrench system).

LPG gas, aside from the naturally oderless Butane and Propane, also has Methanethiol added to create a noticeable foul smell in case of leakage. Mexico had a major LPG gas explosion about 20 years ago, and has an ongoing battle between LPG and NG (natural gas) proponents. Corporate terrorists have gone so far as to clandestinely dump Methanethiol in NG neighborhoods to scare people.

At present (Sep 2006) the cost of LPG gas is roughly 9.03 pesos per kilogram or 4.88 pesos per liter or 4.11 pesos per lbs. That is approximately 17.57 pesos per gallon. Current US price averages US $ 2.00 per gallon for cylinder exchange refills at most hardware stores , and US $1.35 for propane home delivery.

In my own experience a 20 Kg tank costing 180.57 pesos (Sept 2006) lasts 2 people about a month, using a stove, but no oven, a hot water heater and an electric washing machine. One important observation is that the tank(s) will only be empty when whoever changes them is ready to take a shower!

LPG gas is also popular as an an alternative fuel for many trucks in Los Tuxtlas, and supported by 2 filling stations with short hours. Cost is 4.245 pesos per liter (Aug 2006). The fuel LPG is cheaper than the home LPG because it is not taxed as much. The current Mexican government has been fighting to increase the price.

Catemaco water

Catemaco & Los Tuxtlas have more rainfall than most places in North America. Laguna Catemaco is the fourth or fifth largest fresh water reservoir in Mexico, depending on who does statistics. But Catemaco has a freshwater shortage. DUH?

I recently changed residence in beautiful downtown Catemaco, and installed a sprinkler system to water my miniature tropical forest. Promptly a local snitch complained to the water police and 5 of them showed up intending to dig up my yard and install a water meter. My partner blew them off with legalese. I just sat there dumbfounded, ogling my existing water meter, which works very well, installed in front of my porch. Now I am told there is a 500 peso fine to use a hose to pass water. I might as well just piss on my plants.

Catemaco has a water problem because it has not updated its well fields since considerable population growth and has economic problems, because of some ridiculous law that prohibits it from collecting its bills by turning off the water. Since most people know the water company cannot turn off the water, many do not pay their bill (Carlos Slim of Telmex should take over the installation. Within a week thousands would be dying of thirst).

And anyway the local manager seems to be is angry with me for using his colors to paint a stripe on my fence, next to what used to be a junkyard until I cleaned it up a little, and which below the grime read CMAS - Comisiones Municipales de Agua y Saneamiento. So, in order not to match my exact color, the poor bureaucrats had to buy a more expensive paint to refresh their logo. So now, I need a new meter, cannot use a hose, and if it were up to them, I would have to walk downtown to get a cup of water to make coffee.

Screw them. Next week, my well digger will dig 3 to 4 meters down, tap the Laguna Catemaco aquifer and permit to me to sprinkle anything within a 100 meter circumference, including any meter readers. That´s a lot better radius than my adopted male dog Bobbi can cover. Anyway, I´ll reserve him for the meter reader.