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A R C H I V O 1 8
Sabado,
24 de Diciembre, 07:20:41 PM
"Feliz Navidad...." Just
a few hours away from the Christmas dinner... always served at midnight here
in Mexico. Afterwards (before the kids pass out) the handing out of gifts, then
the parties wind down and everybody usually gets to bed by dawn. Of couse this
is when the kids get up and start to play. Santa Claus is just a character, just
like Sponge Bob Squarepants... the children know that the presents they receive
are from family and friends. The magical moment occurs on January 6th, the day
of the 3 Magic Kings or as I like to call it - Xmas Part 2 (and the end of the
holiday celebrations for Navidad).
Some good new - bad news about the "Dog Killer" problem here in town (see earlier blogs on this page). Seems that the city of San Juan del Rio ran out of funds back in October and shutdown the local dog pound. Which means the guys driving around in trucks picking up dogs this past month were really dognappers and were collecting good quality dogs to sell for Christmas. Two or three people in our area lost pedigree dogs these past couple of weeks and as I said earlier in my blogs, they had been stalking our dog because she is so unusual looking for a Mexican dog. So I am ready now, camera in hand (hope Santa brings me a baseball bat) ready to nab these dog thieves the next time they cruise our barrio.
¡Felicidades!
Lunes,
19 de Diciembre, 06:57:04 PM
"Posadas...." Here
we are deep in the middle of the "Las
Posadas" celebrations, every night a different street gets closed
off for the celebrations with loud music, food and lights. Been really cold
here at night lately, so a very Christmas feel to the festivities. For those
of you who do not know what a posada is, here is a quicky synopses:
For nine consecutive nights from December 16 through December 24. The neighborhood processions stop at predetermined homes along the route, where participants request posada (Spanish word for lodging) through song - only to be turned away at all but the final site. Between each stop, the pilgrims (some costumed to represent Joseph and Mary) sing carols and pray the rosary. When they are finally given posada, they celebrate by breaking candy-filled pinatas and eating delicacies, such as tamales and pan dulce (sweet bread).
.....oh, and we forgot - get drunk, set off fireworks and party til dawn!
Another nice thing about the posadas is all government people are on vacation, so the street dogs get a one week reprieve from getting picked-up and being killed by the San Juan del Rio, Political Perro Death Squads (dog killers).
Miercoles,
14 de Diciembre, 11:22:51 AM
"Responsible...???" Trying
to save his ass and come clean? Naw, don't really think Bushy is trying to
come clean, he is just trying to look
humble so Santa doesn't cross him off the list. The people who voted for
Bush are the ones actually responsible for the war and the deaths of thousands
of innocents... soooo, how do you sleep?
Lunes,
12 de Diciembre, 07:48:09 PM
"Busy, busy, busy..." Barely
the word for filling orders and shipping products these past 2 crazy (fun filled)
weeks here in Mexico. It is good... out internet biz is starting to really
take off, which is a tough thing to do here, we are just lucky we have some
honest people watching out for us - we hardly ever lose a parcel thanks to
them! Now if Mexico would just cut back on the holidays a bit, things could
even be better! The past few days has seen the celebrations and marches of
thousands of people, cars and animals - walking, crawling, riding... to see
the virgin of Guadalupe and receive her blessings. Today spearheads the final
day for celebrations to the Virgin, but this also marks the start of the Mexican
posadas for Navidad - so don't expect very much to happen here until after
the 6th of January, which is the celebration of the Three Kings "Dia
de Tres Reyes". Then Mexico reluctlantly gets back to work! (hopefully......)
A few good
links to info about La Virgen de Guadalupe.
1 (easy
understanding) 2 (the
whole story) 3 (sitio
oficial en español)
Viernes,
2 de Diciembre, 08:27:30 PM
"The dog killers are back for the holidays..." The
white pick-up truck with 4 open-air cages in the back is again patrolling our
streets from dawn to midnight! Last night they almost noosed our dog right
in front of our house and the neighbor told us that this morning they were
back looking for her - fortunately our dog was in the house at the time.
They don't just pick up street dogs, they pick up any dog even with collars and name tags - the only difference is uncollared dogs get killed (shot) right away and they hold collared dogs 24 hours (supposedly)... except we have heard lately that if the dog has a value or is breedable for profit, the dog immediately disappears to the farm or black market. This morning they had captured about 6 dogs and most of them were in good condition and obviously somebody's pet!
Animal control is not paid much in this town (or any small town) and unfortunately you have to live in a big city like Cuidad Mexico or Guadalajara to afford the privilege to protect your dog and buy a dog license. These small towns could make profits by selling annual licenses... but the unfortunate thing is that most Mexicans would rather give up their animal to be killed than to spend 200 pesos ($20) on a license. We have seen it with out veterinarian, he tells us alot of times the animals brought to him just need medicine or a simple surgery that may cost 200 to 350 pesos and the people just tell him to put the animal down, they don't want to spend the money.
Sorry, but Mexicans are assholes in this way... remember family comes first, not like the US where your pet comes first. Down here alot of dogs live on house scraps and garbage on the street and never see a vet. But some Mexicans do really care for their animals and pay for decent dog food and get them their shots at the vet, etc. But alot of Mexicans remain uneducated and they value the family mascota (pet) with less importance and value than a beer and a soccer game on TV.
Martes,
29 de Noviembre, 06:05:39 PM
"Mexico gets fat..." Looks
like the basic diet of Mexicans (tortillas, beans, rice and fruit) has taken
a turn for the worse... it is said that by next year Mexican's will be more
overweight than their northern counterparts - gringos currently hold the world
record for being the most overweight unhealthy people in the world. With all
of the fast food down here now and Coke being drunk more than water - if the
Aztecs would have had Coke you would have seen it in the codices and they would
have been very happy too.
This is not one of the things I was hoping Mexico would catch up with to the US, I was hoping for WAP wireless technology, or at least AT&T becoming nationwide down here with DSL internet access. Now Mexican's are getting the basic heart diseases, diabetes and cancer - instead of the old fashioned mystery diseases and plagues that have killed Mexicans for hundreds of years!
I still prefer tacos and quesadillas made down the street with some agua de jamaica or tamarindo to drink, instead of McDonald's and a coke.
Jueves,
24 de Noviembre, 03:18:06 PM
"What is there to give thanks about...? " Last
week in Calvillo, a small town in the mountains of Aguascalientes (land of
the fire agate) another one of those hushed up stories has occurred. Seems
a box van hit a car in town and as the woman got out to call the policia the
van driver handed her $1,200.00 pesos ($120 dollars) and ran, well she didn't
want to take the money (figuring he might come after her later and try to get
his money back) and tried to stop him from leaving, the policia showed up just
then and she told the officers something was very, very wrong about this van
that hit her... somehow, as soon as the officers went to open the van back
door the driver shot himself in the head with a pistol. What was in the van?
More bodies of dead children, this time with their organs already removed.
Whatever is going on in these small towns, nobody is doing anything about it, there is no publicity and more children from small towns and ranches keep disappearing. Last September I wrote about the van that was found here in San Juan del Rio, same senario, driver kills self, van full of frozen children (who's organs had not yet been removed) and nothing on the news, the police deny everything and the families of the dead ranch children mourn in private.
Happy Thanksgiving?
Sabado,
19 de Noviembre, 05:30:11 PM
"Our Pueblo's Christmas Decoration..." Yes,
decoration - solo... as in ONE for the whole freakin' town! Why??? Because
our head of the presidency, the woman who by herself has totally brought down
the PRD Party here in San Juan - squandered all of the city's money on personal
projects (that failed) and pocketed whatever was left.......... so here you
have it, San Juan del Rio's Navidad decoration for 2005!
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