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Lunes,
19 de Septiembre, 3:56:18 PM
"The day that changed Mexico City, forever..." 20
years ago today the BIG ONE hit Mexico
City, destroying many of her buildings, killing and leaving many people homeless.
Two of my current cuñadas (sisters-in-law) were buried in the rubble of
that 8.1 quake of 1985, one remained missing for 3 days, buried deep in the rubble...
luckily she is a survivor today, a single mom with 4 children. But alot of people
were not so lucky...
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At
07:19 (local time) on Thursday, September 19, 1985, Mexico City was struck
by an earthquake of magnitude 8.1 on the Richter scale which resulted in
a death toll estimated bewteen 5,000 (government estimate) to 20,000 people,
while leaving another 150,000 homeless. One hundred thousand housing units
were destroyed, together with many government buildings. Up to USD $4 billion
of damage was caused in three minutes. There was an additional magnitude
7.5 aftershock 36 hours later.
More
fotos from: Servicio
Sismològico Nacional
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Viernes,
16 de Septiembre, 01:26:15 AM
"Mexico
goes on holiday..." For
the past few weeks every available street corner has had vendors hocking Mexican
flags and other green, white and red colored trinkets for the Independence
Day Celebrations (dia de la independencia), tonight things started off with "El
Grito" (the shout) - ¡MEXICANOS, VIVA MEXICO! ,
fireworks and all. Mexico won its independence from the Spaniards - just like
the 4th of July Celebrations in the US. Mexicans go all out with beer, tequila
and an array of foods from traditional pozole to tamales - we are in the middle
of a 4 day fiesta!
What makes
things so special here in our little pueblo is that the movement was started
here by a group of intellectuals in Queretaro. We more or less are in the
heart of the independencia, which is also why alot of would - be politicians
come here to make their political start.
1810...
a mighty fine year.
Lunes,
12 de Septiembre, 2:40:08 PM
"Moscas..." The
past few weeks Queretaro has been overrun with psycho flys.... they fly into
your eyes, nose and mouth and bite like cattle flies. Nobody can ever remember
flys being this many or such a nuisance - they are crazed!!! Maybe it is part
of a government experiment gone array... we hear this is happening in other
states as well as we get reports of the same fly infestation in the Mexico
City area. Here your casa fills with about 30 or 40 flys a night and you spend
an hour killing most of them so they don't start attacking you in bed in the
morning! Even the dog is doing her part and catching them, gnashing them and
spitting them out - bastards! If you are reading this and live somewhere in
Mexico where the flys are out of control send us an email and let us know your
story.
Miercoles,
7 de Septiembre, 11:21:56 AM
"Mexico Comes To the Rescue..." A
convoy that included mobile kitchens able to feed 7,000 people per day, flatbed
trucks carrying mobile water treatment plants, and trailers of bottled water,
blankets and apple sauce (yes apple sauce, Mexico is a huge believer in the
cures associated with apples).
All-terrain
vehicles, amphibious vehicles, helicopters, rescue personel (military engineers,
doctors and nurses), the search-and-rescue group called "rescate
topos" (rescue moles) who dug through collapsed buildings after
Mexico City's horrific 1985 earthquake, are on their way to help with search
and rescue in the completely devistated south.
This is
definitely a historic new phase in US/Mexico relations. There have not been
this many Mexican military personel in the US at one time since the Alamo!
So if you
happen to see the convoy moving up through Larado, Texas or anywhere else
along the rescue route, be sure to give a cheerful wave and a thank you to
the help coming from your neighbors, south of the border.
Martes,
30 de Agosto, 2:46:24 PM
"Wet & Wild..." I'm
sure by now you down want to hear anymore hurricane Katrina comments - but
here is one more... Living through a couple Baja huricanes in the past 9 years
now seems like nothing compared to this bad girl. One positive note
though, hurricane Katrina did close down over 120 WalMart stores in Lousiana
and Mississippi !!!
I
was watching Bill
Maher's Real Time on HBO (which I illegally downloaded off
the internet - I'd pay to see this show if I could get it down here in
Mexico - it shows there are still a few Americans left up there fighting
for what is right and not by being on the Christian "scare
tactics" right) and was very surprised that
Cindy Sheehan (the woman camping out in Bushlandia, Tèjas) is such
a genuine, real person, extremely humble with intelligence and wit. (the
press made her out to be somewhat different - what's new?) .....now I know
why Bush didn't want to meet with this woman!
Martes,
23 de Agosto, 12:41:30 PM
"Gracias, idiotas en Estados Unidios..." Thanks
to the idiots in the US that try to dictate the rules of the world - particulary
about racism (who can't see past their own noses and look in their own backyard...)
Memin Penguin is a popular hit again, this year along with the most popular
character Sponge Bob Squarepants, little beloved Memin has become this years "back
to school" hit. He is featured on all kinds of school items, backpacks,
clothing, stickers, and the comic books are being reprinted too! Thanks to
the US Memin has a whole new popularity - gracias amigos!
While on
the subject of idiots... I think somebody needs to take Pat Robertson out!
The guy is one of the biggest morons the US has ever known and anybody who
hides his 'real' first name Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson
definitely does have a problem. I think we need to send 'ol Marion on vacation
to some nice Latin American country ......perhaps, Venezuela? Even Bush isn't
this moronic!
....or
is he?
...welcome
to Vietnam, or as he likes to call it... democracy for Iraq.
Lunes,
22 de Agosto, 01:27:52 PM
"WooHoo..." School
is back in session!!! The streets are quiet again in the morning and no more
kids out playing late at night on the weekdays... a little bit of heaven sent
to the people of Mexico! Of course the price of peace is not cheap... we all
have to buy new school uniforms, shoes, books and other misc. school supplies.
Glad we only have one child to push through the system.
Now to
get some work done..........
Sabado,
20 de Agosto, 05:48:03 PM
"Goodbye, Madame Wong..." If
you were into the LA punk scene in the late 70's - early 80's you may have
ventured into one of Esther Wong's two clubs (restaurants) for new and up coming
punk and new wave bands. We used to go up to Madame Wong's West in Santa Monica
about once a month (Orange County was so boring...) and see really great bands.
Madame Wong was in her 60's at the time and was always patrolling the floor
making sure no drugs or funny business was going on in her establishment. She
was also one of the kindest promoters around as well, splitting the profits
50 / 50 with the bands. I think the last band I saw play there was the Robert
Stoddard Band (some friends of mine...) who's only hit was L.A.P.D. - a cult
classic!
Thank
you Esther Wong, you and your establishment made for some very happy
times in my life, as a bored OC kid in his 20's.
....Madame
Wong died yesterday at the ripe young age of 88. We need a special Promoters
Hall of Fame for people like her, Bill Graham and a few others that dared
to be different!
Domingo,
14 de Agosto, 08:33:20 PM
"Neighborhood Urban Legends..." Have
you heard the one about the screaming woman in the rio? She was at it again
a couple weeks ago. As a couple of my neighbors were on their way to the local
shop for some bread and Coke they passed by the rio only to be startled by
a woman's blood curdling screams. As more people came out onto the street because
of the commotion, somebody decided to call the police. A few minutes later
the cops showed up and ventured down into our little rio - then again the voice
screamed out! The two police ran back up the hill, got into their car and left!??
No explanation, probably no police report... to the amazement of the people
standing around. So much for "To Protect and To Serve" ...or
is that the LAPD's motto? I think in our little pueblo the motto is more like
- Save Your Own Ass & Run Like Hell!!!
Another
little unexplained occurrence on our streets is the boy in the white t-shirt
and blue jeans, that appears in peoples windows, under the street lamp, etc.
Supposedly when he is seen it is because he came to visit his grandfather
who used to live somewhere in our neighborhood - if you blink or turn away
for just a second, he is gone.
Mexico
is full of ghost stories or urban legends, it is a very old country with
alot of history buried under her. We had our own little experiences when
we lived in Cabo San Lucas. At our four-plex casa in the marina there was
somebody who would cry and you would actually feel a cold wet tear as it
hit your arm or leg, but when you went to touch it, it was no more. Or the
snoring guy I had in my living room at the casa I was renting in Santa Maria
Bay my last year in Cabo. After months of this constant snoring every night
I finally yelled at it to shut up! For a week I had total silence... every
night all I could hear was the geckos and the ocean as it touched the shore
(more eerie than the snoring!).
But it
forgave me and did come back... Santa Maria is thought to be an old pirates
cove with hidden treasures that still haven't been found. Cabo is another
place full of lost and tortured souls from the pirates of old, to the pirates
of today that cannot handle the Cabo lifestyle and mysteriously disappear
(or get killed).
Miercoles,
10 de Agosto, 04:20:56 PM
"Terrorists being non-Islamic again..." Islamic
religion does not permit the hurting or torturing of animals, but they use "man's
best friend" as an unwilling explosive devise? Strap a belt of bombs
around a dog and wait for it to wander into a group of US or Iraqi service
men, then remotely detonate the dog bomb. Alot of the time all the bomb does
is blow up the dog! (nice...)
May Allah
have mercy on your father's soul...
I know
most countries don't pamper or give respect to most animals - especially
dogs - not like Americans pamper their pets. Even here in Mexico dogs have
to fight the poor for what they can get. Alot of times when the family pet
has an ailment here in Mexico and is taken to the vet, if treatment costs
more than 100 or 200 pesos ($10 - $20 dollars) the owners usually just tell
the vet to keep the animal and have it destroyed. (our vet tells us these
horror stories)
But one
unique bit of kindness is happening with the street dogs in our neighborhood,
since my stepson has a dog (an alpha street dog that adopted us a year and
a half ago) all of the neighborhood kids have persuaded their families to
let them have dogs -that just show up in our neighborhood (usually as puppies),
we seem to be educating the next generation of dog owners in Mexico and hopefully
these animals will enjoy a long happy life and not be rereleased back to
the streets.
It also
has become dangerous lately for dogs on the street or for ones that have
owners but are let loose anyway. The Queretaro government used to catch the
animals, if they had no collar they were killed immediately, while dogs with
collars or tags received a 2 day reprive. Now, the new story coming out of
Queretaro is collared or not... any dog found to be wandering the streets
will receive an instant death penalty (or a bullet to the head as our local
neighborhood cop keeps reiterating).
Welcome
to the third world.
Viernes,
5 de Agosto, 08:18:48 PM
"Beurger King..." No
I did not misspell BURGER KING, seems the French are starting to cater to their
huge Muslim population. First came Mecca
Cola an Islamic cola that gives 20% of its profits to charity. Now with
the instantly popular Beurger King, with meat slaughtered to Islamic law and
women in traditional Islamic head scarves - the French are on their way to
becoming the next Islamic state. We already know the way they acted as traitors
during the Iraq war, finding out later that they were to lose tons of money
from the shady petrol deals they had already made secretly with Saddam.
Fortunately
here in Mexico there aren't too many important imported products from the
French, except for all the white poodles that at least 1 in 5 Mexicans seems
to unfortunately own. In my book, the poodle is the most useless dog in the
world, after the chihuahua of course.
Anyway,
back to Burger King.... am I ever thankful for Mexican cuisine! Lets face
it, Burger King, McDonalds, etc. suck ....mystery meat and who knows what
else - fortunately at these fast food dives in Mexico they not only provide
the standard packets of catsup and mustard, but also jalapeños! Mmmmmm,
about 4 packets on a double Whopper con queso and it is definitely edible.
Unfortunately for McD's ...4 packets still doesn't disguise their mystery
meat's bizarre texture.
Someday
I'd like to try a Mecca cola with a Beurger King burger... just to see what
all the fuss is about, or are these people just homesick for the Islamic
way of life like I am for an IN
'N' OUT burger fix?
Provecho!
Miercoles,
3 de Agosto, 04:48:11 PM
"Staying legal in Mexico..." It's
that time of year again, renewing my FM2 migracìon papers... 2 more
years and I will be as legit as an American can be down here. This is my 5th
year dealing with immigration and fortunately it is alot easier here in mainland
Mexico than at tourist destinations (anywhere on the beaches where Americans
and Canadians flock to). Immigration was hell in Cabo San Lucas, if you had
a comma out of place they made you fix it and they were always hinting for
a "mordida" (a bite) to get your papers moved a little faster.
So in Cabo you get used to giving officials money for cokes (so to speak),
but here in Queretaro we are dealing with professionals - no games, they do
their job well and are helpful in getting your papers processed as prompty
as possible.
The $250
I paid this time around was a joy compared to my years and dealings in Cabo,
I hear Cancun is just as bad too. Unfortunately being 'American' every small-minded
person thinks you have money, it gets to be an insult after awhile.
I miss
the beaches of Cabo... but not its politics.
My
Cabo photo gallery here.
....and
here are a few nice fotos of
beautiful Queretaro also.
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