I am the first to admit that I live a qualified life style. By that I mean in some situations I adjust my behavior to fit my desires or wallet.

In the big picture I try and live an honest and decent life – I think most do. I am not inherently dishonest nor would I sleep well at night living outside my core value system.

I certainly am up for a rousing discussion on whether Walmart owners are the anti-Christ or the pros and cons of the latest Michael Moore film. It isn’t all black and white in my mind.

I have been backed into a corner or at least been moved to consider more carefully a point by some very erudite readers of this Blog. Even at my advancing age I try to maintain an open mind (without letting too much spill out). I am not about to use my Blog as a confessional but as mentioned many times this is my space to write whatever is on my mind (or lack thereof).

Yesterday after a rousing four hours of slinging 5 gallon buckets of mescala and playing in the mud – I shined up a bit and Anita and I headed for the Mercado in Coatepec.

While parking is becoming near impossible in central Coatepec, the Mercado was not overly crowded. We visited our usual haunts and then some within and around the square city block or so that encompasses the very third world collective market. Here is probably the best ‘opportunity’ to engage in purchasing pirated items such as designer perfume and cologne, clothing and shoes, and the largest volume transgression products music Cd’s and DVD’s.

In a recent poll it was reported that at least 90 percent of the residents of Mexico’s three largest cities say they buy pirated goods, especially music CDs and DVD’s – a trend that costs the industry millions of dollars a year. The report went on to say, “The most common buyers of pirated goods are youth between the ages of 16 and 24, according to the Ipsos-Bimsa poll, conducted for the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico.” So I guess they aren’t on the lookout for me.

As we walked around the many semi-outdoor market offerings I couldn’t help but stop at a few of the CD/DVD vendors booths. Confession is good for the soul – so let it be stated right out I have participated in buying the occasional illicit DVD. I think even once I bought a couple bootleg CD’s at a Saturday Tianguis Market (an outdoor ‘flea-market kind of event) here in Mexico.

You should be cautioned right out that these bootleg copies are often terrible quality and perhaps a rightful punishment? If you do choose to get involved in this ugly underbelly of black market consumerism – never buy anything that you don’t audition, and hopefully on a video and sound system that won’t mask future disappointment because you are watching with the audience in a movie theater somewhere and the sound is that of listening in a huge barrel.

But, there are also some fine illegitimate copies of first run films and the latest music CD’s. With the paltry cable and satellite television offerings available here in Mexico we expats can be starved for homeland entertainment – but at $15.00’s and usually up for legal dvd’s on social security budgets these illegal alternative offerings are very tempting. The illegal copies run from about 10 pesos to 25 pesos depending – yesterday’s offerings were the 10 peso variety (about 90 cents US).

Let me write right here we did not participate in this illegal activity yesterday – everything available was the poor quality filmed in the movie theater productions – so it was easy to remain honest – but darn we wanted to obtain the new Harry Potter and or Tom Cruise films.

At this point in my life I have decided that I can’t be the conscience of the world (like I use to believe in my impetuous youth). We are VERY green living, health conscious citizens. If a person dropped their wallet in front of me I would immediately notify them – ‘wouldn’t even have to think about it.

If a mistake is made in our favor at a cash register we bring it to the checkers attention. I would not think about coveting anything belonging to a neighbor or friend. But, those DVD’s just seem to get under my civil behavior radar.

I wouldn’t think of attempting to obtain a bootleg DVD in the U.S. where they are made, but here in Mexico somehow it just seems to be part of the benefits of being out of that First World Country. I could perhaps justify it by writing that they are simply too darn expensive or how many really bad movies have I been subjected to where I was robbed of my money etc. And it is difficult to even find legitimate copies here about except for rentals.

Each of us has to rest our head on our pillows with as clear of conscience as possible I think – at least good and honest folks. I will wrestle with this moral dilemma a bit longer I suppose. Is the new Harry Potter film worth consigning my perceived moral values by the way? Stay Tuned – you can read here for FREE

It has been raining off and on for the last two days – but, it has been in the low 70’s and we do get periods of sun so I can’t complain too much – but it is bothersome when you are building. We are trying to grow our storage space by building a 9 X 13 block building.

Constructing things or remodeling here in Mexico continues to be interesting and occasionally exasperating. In the last three years we have built a huge wall, remodeled, added on and now built a small free standing building.

These are what I would term small projects but included windows, doors, floor tile. So we have some experience without having a story about building a new 5000 square foot house.

Obviously a lot of our experience is going to be similar to a major building project. I should add we have also looked at quite a few houses for sale from shacks to $200,000 homes (which are a pretty penny in our area). So we have seen a lot of building results.

I am considering doing a longer than a Blog entry piece on our current building project – I would describe the process in detail. I haven’t found a lot of information on the Internet about Mexican building – and it is different in a lot of ways from U.S. conventions

For the do it ‘yourselfer’ type (I am included) my experiences could be helpful – but first we should talk about why would anyone do anything here in Mexico when the labor costs are so very low? The short answer is because you need to at minimum keep an eye on all of the building process.

The guy that built the house next to us – one of the more opulent in the Hood – wore out several plastic chairs and went through a lot of cigarettes “overseeing” the building of his house – and he still missed a few things I think.

Fortunately my projects have been less daunting and not expensive to this point. Up at our Rancho del Cielo the three story 1240 square foot house was designed and built by a gringo (in part) and it shows to some degree.

The saying “The devil (or God) is in the details truly applies – even the grandest project depends on the success of the smallest components.

I typically get chided for being obsessively compulsive about building details – and in Mexico this can equate to a lot of frustration – I am learning to let some of this go – really. Lately I have been unloading these oft occurring feelings on Marvin and of course Anita, so don’t ask them about how I am doing, please.

I know Billie, Jonna, Wayne and a host of other expats have shared their frustrations with building projects large and small (frustrations and projects). Luckily there are a lot of stories on Blogs – you that have a future in building in Mexico are lucky to have pioneers like us that have been there- done that.

Square and plum rooms, straight grout lines, proper electrical access, plumbing vents, molding, windows and doors that work and fit, drainage and more can be subtle things that get overlooked. They can also be things that you will live with for a long time and those little variances from good building practice will nag at you like a weak knee.

This morning if the rain lets up we will sling some mescala on the block walls, or not ;-( Send me your Mexican building horror stories. I will try and compile them in a fashion that will slow down or even prevent the hurt for future duenos. Stay Tuned!

Recently there have been some pretty horrific robberies taking place in the Baja that are making it into the news about the area.

First I would be remiss to not point out that these kinds of events occur every day in the good old USA; perhaps even more often – I have no idea of the per capita of these events in either country. But, suffice it to say Mexico is not alone on this.

The thing is it makes the news in ways that will affect tourism (reportedly tourism had a nice increase in Mexico this year). Detailed stories are popping up about Americans being pulled over by dark cars with flashing lights and being accosted at gun point on gringolandia Internet Forums – these are surfers and casual tourists – the latest being a race crew member and his family attending the Score Baja 1000 race.

These Southern Californian’s were relieved of an estimated $70,000 worth of their possessions including their 2007 Ford F-250 – ouch! They were happy to get away unharmed. This fellow, his wife and 16-year old son and 21-year old daughter experienced an event that they will never forget if it wasn’t life altering as well.

The crew member stated, “I’m the person who has always dispelled the rumors about being hassled in Baja California,” he said. “I have always loved the
country and the people. . . . Before this year, we had never had a
problem, only great memories. But I’m never going back.”

Mexico makes a lot of dough from tourism and at some point will want to play down these incidences if they see it affecting their bottom line – and of course it already does to some degree.

Being a proponent of Mexico I have been exposed to quite a few people that would never consider any part of Mexico to visit let alone live. These stories don’t help. But they should be put in perspective.

I don’t know exactly what the cautions are – it isn’t traveling in numbers, I read about some surfers that had two or three vehicles and they were young strong guys – still they were robbed of everything and left in a remote place.

What effects might occur from resisting; for example don’t pull over when you see the flashing lights. I have told how we have been ignoring the street cops that motion us to pull over – it has been effective to avoid their bite. Would this work – I think I would try it – just keep driving – refuse to pull over – then again maybe they would shoot at your vehicle?

It appears that the Mexican police support after the fact is little to none. These people are escorted and probably want to rush to the border to get out of Mexico to never return? They then make a report on the U.S. side. But what if you live here or own property in Mexico – ugh!

I have not heard of any reports of this kind of robbery towards gringos in our area – but then there are few of us. No safety in numbers in that regard – the fact that there are less of us to prey upon apparently is a good thing.

As stated in the beginning of this piece you have no guarantee of safety anywhere – of course there are more safe places and safer conduct. I’m going to try and generate some conversation on the Viva Veracruz Forum about how regular visitors or part/full time residence in Mexico feel and go about protecting themselves. It is something to think about. Stay Tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving to all you folks in the United States.

Mexico had its Holiday two days ago – so today it is business as usual here in Mexico.

Our son took a train from Los Angeles to San Diego to be with Anita’s family.

We will be heading down the mountain to the Casita for a business or lack thereof as usual day here in Mexico. We have enjoyed the few days of peace and quiet we had up at Rancho del Cielo – time to get back to the bodega building project.

Sadly there are some disturbing trends in the banking industry as it relates to Mexico and gringos. This is a quote from a recent Citibank statement:

Effective January 26th, 2008 we will impose a fee equal to 2% of the transaction amount (including credits or reversals) on all ATM and/or POS Debit Card transactions (U.S. or foreign currency) that you conduct outside the 50 United States or Puerto Rico. This fee will apply to transactions made at Citibank and Non-Citibank ATMs.

The small bank we had been with for more than ten years in the United States was bought by Wachovia in October. We noticed a new 1 % fee on money taken from our account in the States via debit card be it at an ATM to get pesos or any other use of the card. Also there are card use transaction fees at both ends.

Additionally Mexico recently enacted a policy of taking 2% of incoming funds equal to or over $2500.00 US entering into a Mexican bank account.

These are disturbing trends to say the least. New strategies will have to be developed to keep as much of our money as possible. I suppose for as long as it holds up we will consider bringing in cash to exchange at local banks rather than using our debit cards?

The money handlers or rather number handlers are putting the squeeze on expatriates and Mexicans North of their border – really a disturbing trend I would say.

The exchange rate between currencies has been between 10.6 and 11.3 pesos exchange for a U.S. dollar for the last three years we have been coming to Mexico. We have had as bad exchange as 10 pesos for a dollar in certain situations such as running out of pesos to use at a Pemex stations while traveling down from the States. A station would only accept our US currency for that rate of exchange when it was over 11 pesos to one US dollar at the time.

Currently it is close to 11 pesos for one dollar.

The interest rates paid on saved funds are substantially better here in Mexico. This from Dow Jones:

“Analysts have also noted that the widening spread between Mexican and U.S. interest rates has made the peso attractive.

The yield on 10-year government bonds due 2016 rose 3 basis points on Wednesday to 8.10%, while the yield on 20-year government bonds due in 2024 rose 2 basis points to 8.13%.

Investors are now waiting on [Mexican] inflation data due Thursday and a monetary policy decision on Friday for cues on the direction of local financial markets.

The Bank of Mexico is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged Friday, a month after tightening monetary policy to keep inflation under wraps.

While the 23 financial institutions polled this week by local bank Banamex raised their median inflation expectation for 2008 to 3.80% from 3.75%, they were unanimous in expecting the Bank of Mexico to take no further action on interest rates this year.”

Like the inflation figures spewed out by the US I marvel at these supposedly low inflation numbers when U.S. gas prices have gone up more than 50% in recent months and every place we turn in Mexico prices are hiking up by double digit percentages?

Obviously the money changers are getting greedy for expatriate dollars now that so many holders of US currency are heading south of the border. The banks have really put the screws to the Mexicans sending money home from the United States.

Yesterday Marvin brought us a copy of Michael Moore’s latest documentary “Sicko”; ugh don’t even get me started on that – have you seen it? I don’t know where this most recent bank charges ploy is going to settle out so you will have to Stay Tuned.

These days I can barely watch television – unless it is premium channels without advertising. I hate advertising.

I would like to make some money – some way. But, I simply can’t bear to see ads on my Blog – or anyone else’s for that matter.

I am not so naive to not realize there has to be a way to pay the piper – but all still advertising drives me nuts.

I have known people that won’t talk about living in Mexico in a social context because they think there are bigger fish to fry – they will save it for the book or the seminar or the tour. I mean when advertising and marketing get into your personal life it can get rather ugly fast – but then I guess everyone is a potential client.

In my working life almost every job I had was a labor of love. As my son was just getting into double figures (ages 10 and above) I started drumming into him how important it is to have a job that you really enjoy doing.

I recalled how my father told me to never start a job where there wasn’t something to learn – if you knew how to do it – you needed to look further.

Looking for paradise on the Internet? Find web sites where the people love where they live. They should be on a continuing mission to know more about their town, and they can tell you why in realistic terms.

There is no promotion like self promotion. Advertising and marketing are surely absolute requirements for the success of any venture – but it is one thing to get the word out – the truth about something you feel you have to offer – and another when you are in advertising for advertisings sake.

Getting to the crux of my beef there are a number of people/organizations that are making an effort to promote Xalapa or more generally some part of Mexico. They might have a web site or a Blog or even a Forum that they are masterminding simply for the all mighty dollar or peso.

In the last few weeks a web site promoting Xalapa has come on the Internet. I am not going to get into any direct name calling here so I will leave it to that generality. The site has nothing to offer in the true sense of enlightening anyone about Xalapa – it is an advertising ploy – little else.

I think people that create web sites, Forums or Blogs about an area they know little to nothing about are a disservice to the Internet at large. If this keeps up, soon this will be the Misinformation Super Highway.

I started looking for real estate via the Internet in the middle 1990’s; there was precious little to be found then. Now there are all kinds of information and misinformation, most information so generic and lacking in substance that it is a total waste of time.

People that have learned to write a few lines of HTML code with the help of Dreamweaver or some such web design program think they have found a whole new career in selling advertising on cookie cutter stylized web pages about WHATEVER.

Now do I really want to buy property through an outfit in Chicago that lists houses for sale in Illinois and everything west until you hit Santa Monica Beach? And do I want to learn about Xalapa from a guy that has ginned up a web page with drop down menus for free advertisements and the best restaurant in town when he has either never been here or spent a whopping week breezing through here? And the substance of his trip was to sell advertising.

There are some who have ambitions of living in Mexico that have three or four web sites, Blogs or even Forums on areas they barely know – this is preposterous in my way of thinking and a real disservice to the Internet community.

Perhaps they think they have a formula that should work everywhere or they read a book, took a class or even thought up a methodology to sell advertising to Internet naïve small businesses who just know they need to be on the Internet but they have no idea how to get there or what really it can do for them – sheep in a pen ready to be fleeced.

There are some formula tour guides. Roy Dudley is one in Xalapa. I have heard NOTHING BUT GOOD THINGS about Roy, his guide service, photography and even his apartment rental business. But the dude has lived here for 35 years and he provides a genuine albeit touristy opportunity – the world needs people like Roy. What it doesn’t need is a bunch of snake oil salesmen trying to tell you about a place they know little to nothing about.

I have written about, and have most of the makings together for a book about how we got here, why and what works, and what doesn’t, from my perspective – but I am so gun shy of being just another travel book or not wanting to write a 21st Century “People’s Guide to Mexico” that I often want to give the whole idea up.

I can’t change the world or make it right to fit my estimation of good – but I can advise you to carefully consider where you go on the World Wide Web to find information about your potential paradise.

Consider the source of information. Have they been there or are they just information gatherers that produce a flashy web site with a grand photo of a beautiful beach at sunset with a list of hotels and restaurants – oh and a free classified section that usually is ‘a work in progress’ or you find three ads and two of them are for Mexican Auto Insurance.

I guess what I am writing is consider the source before you go investing a lot of time on a waste of time web site. Stay Tuned!

There are a couple of votes in for Rancho del Cielo (see-el-oh). I decided to do a web search on the name. There are a few others. The most prominent being the Ranch of Ronald and Nancy Reagan I had to laugh – great minds thinking alike I guess

The votes that came in were from Billie, Ed and Teresa – those three hold a lot of weight with me

We are up here at Rancho del Cielo (trying it out here). Today is Revolution Day, November 20th. It has started out surprisingly quiet. I would have expected some fireworks by now (9:30 AM). I know there are planned parades and activities down in town – one of the reasons we are hiding out up here.

We have a small telescope in our bedroom – kind of a spotting scope that came to us broken. I managed to fix it and we now take the occasional look out at to the vista beyond our windows.

There is a little house that is recently built over on a hill to our southeast. Our understanding is the owners had their solar panels stolen some time ago. Apparently the little house is the home to a groundskeeper and family.

ALL of these photos were shot from a LONG distance with my 480 mm (35mm equivalent focal length). The little casita across the way. (Click on any photo to ENLARGE)

I noticed some movement over there; something white. I could tell little else. I took a look through the scope. There was a yard full of chickens and one white goose – mystery solved. As I am looking the door to the casa opens. Out come three little brown girls. I guessed they ranged from 4 to about 7. They gathered in a close circle, squatted and well you can guess the rest.

Anita accused me of invading their privacy. I remarked they were quite in the distance even with the scope and after all they were little girls. I thought it was curious that they had gathered in such a close circle – the innocence of the young as they gathered themselves up the mother appeared at the door and shortly out came the father. It looked like they were getting ready to walk to town.

The father and the yard fowl disappeared around the casa. I imagined he was getting some feed for them as they had faithfully followed him. The girls and their mom stood looking out towards town – they also have a really fine view.

In a few minutes the father returned with a grand white horse. He held a lead to the horse while securing the door to their home. Then down the path from their casa they headed – father and horse, then mother, followed by the three little ones; probably headed to Xico to watch the parade and maybe buy some pan dulce or treats for the girls.

Then yesterday from our living room deck I watched a couple hombres with a huge gray horse chase down three obstinate pigs. The pigs would run and then stop and graze until the hombres con cavallo gris got near.

Then they would run again a distance. It was a bit comical; not to the hombres I’m sure.

At 9:45 the sun is burning off the clouds. I’m glad. Now the crowd will be warmed as they watch the many school children in uniform, caballeros a stride their horses with polished saddles and silver bits parade through the streets of Xico.

Viva México! Viva La Revolución!

Francisco “Pancho” Villa and 600 raiders invaded Camp Furlong in Columbus, NM on March 9, 1916. The raid has been the only armed invasion of the continental U. S. since 1812.

The Mexican Revolution took place from 1910 to 1920. It was a “constitutionalist war,” basically a fight between the have’s and the have not’s. Pretty much everyone has heard of its most famous hero, Pancho Villa. Well… here’s the story behind this holiday.

Pancho Villa was born Doroteo Arango in 1877 in San Juan del Río, Durango, in north-central Mexico. He lived there until the age of 16, when he murdered a man who had raped his younger sister and was forced to flee for his life. Not much is known about how he spent the next few years of his life, other than that he changed his name to Francisco “Pancho” Villa to elude the law.

By the time he was 20, Pancho Villa had moved northward and was living in Chihuahua, working first as a miner and then as a cattle rustler. Official government biographies list his occupation then as “wholesale meat-seller.” In 1899 he returned to mining, this time in Santa Eulalia near Chihuahua. However, he soon tired of the laborer’s life and began robbing banks, adding that to the list of crimes he was wanted for by the Mexican government.

In order to avoid capture, Pancho Villa took off with his group of bandit followers into the Sierra Mountains of central Mexico in 1900. Over the next decade he became a legendary hero – a Robin Hood to the poor in his country, robbing the rich and sharing with the hungry masses – all the while skillfully evading the government’s troops.

On November 20, 1910, the war to overthrow General Porfirio Díaz officially began when Francisco Madero escaped from prison in San Luis Potosí and declared the electoral process in Mexico invalid. General Díaz had been in power since 1876. During those 34 years, Mexico’s political stability had improved. Its economy had grown. New industries were established, railroads were built and foreign investment increased.

Yet, none of this made any difference in the lives of the vast majority of Mexicans. Peasants and laborers, they were poorer than ever. They were also seriously fed up with their government.

Thus, soon after Francisco I. Madero’s declaration of war, Pancho Villa led his men down from the hills to join the revolutionary forces – making the historical transition from bandito to revolucionario. The charismatic Pancho was able to recruit an army of thousands, including a substantial number of Americans, some of whom were made captains in the División del Norte.

Madero’s forces were successful. Díaz was overthrown and Madero elected president of Mexico in 1911. However, he was captured and assassinated by one of his own generals – a traitor named Victoriano Huerta soon after.

Following Madero’s short-lived victory and assassination, Villa remained in command of his División del Norte army in resistance along with Coahuila’s Venustiano Carranza and Sonora’s Alvaro Obregon. Together they fought in 1913 and 1914 against the Huerta dictatorship.

About this time, Villa also became a folk hero north of the border, in the United States. Hollywood film makers and newspaper photographers flocked to Northern Mexico to record his battle exploits – plenty of which were staged for the benefit of the cameras.

Villa’s forces were based in Chihuahua, and he ruled over northern Mexico like a medieval warlord. Financing his army by stealing from the seemingly endless cattle herds in northern Mexico, he sold the beef north of the border, where he found plenty of Norteamericano merchants willing to sell him guns and ammunition.

In true Robin Hood style, he broke up the vast land holdings of local hacendados and parceled them out to the widows and orphans of his fallen soldiers. Rather than use the government’s despised peso, he produced his own money, and any merchant who refused to accept this “new” currency faced the risk of being shot.

Executions – often ordered on a whim – weren’t often carried out by Pancho himself. Instead, they were carried out by his friend Rodolfo Fierro, best known by his nickname El Carnicero, or The Butcher.

Fighting continued in Mexico until 1920, even though in 1917 a new constitution was adopted. When the U.S. government came out openly in support of the new Carranza presidency, Villa was incensed. He retaliated by raiding U.S border towns – most significantly, Columbus, New Mexico. North of the border, Villa’s image plummeted. However, many in Mexico saw him as the avenger of decades of yanqui (Yankee) oppression.

Despite his popularity, the combined forces of Carranza and Obregón defeated his army in battle after battle. After two U.S. Army “punitive expeditions” into Mexico in 1916 and 1919 failed to capture and conquer the “Villistas,” the Mexican government accepted Villa’s surrender and retired him on a general’s salary to Canutillo, Durango. He was assassinated near there in 1923.

Pancho Villa is remembered with pride and respect by most people in Mexico. He led the most important military campaigns of the constitutionalist revolution. His troops were victorious as far south as Zacatecas and Mexico City, as far east as Tampico, and as far west as Casas Grandes. Because of Villa’s raid into Columbus, New Mexico, and his subsequent evasion of U.S. troops, he also has the added notoriety of being the only foreign military personage ever to have successfully invaded continental U.S. territory since 1812!

Now you know the rest of the story. This is a HUGE entry so I will have to save once again the story about Palermo. Stay Tuned!

Want to enlarge? Click HERE.

On the Vivaveracruz Forum someone was nice enough to point out a New York Times Travel Section article that appeared yesterday. (Article HERE)

OK we Jalapeños, Especially the gringo versions, are very protective of our adopted homeland. I think it is no stretch to write that most of us chose this place in part because it lacks Americano invasion – just yet.

It was noted when listed on the Forum, “…all of you will be seeing an uptick in curious gringos as a result.” Perhaps we will. Certainly the New York Times is a popular venue for such things – especially the Sunday edition read in so many bedrooms on Sunday morning with coffee.

There are challenges to being here – the fact that Veracruz is not the America’s favorite Mexico destination will remain in tact I believe.

Yesterday while America was reading about our homeland we packed up and traveled up to Rancho del Cielo. Here I should add parenthetically that I am trying out this new name for our Campo in Xico. Now that we are away from Rancho Calypso – Colorado – we perhaps need a more descriptive name for our little place in the Mountains of the State of Veracruz – what do you think – Rancho del Cielo or no?

Upon arrival we immediately noticed the yard was covered with blooming azaleas – pink and white. We have an occasional gardener I have mentioned here before – Abundio. He is a delightful fellow; always cheerful, totally trustworthy and heart full of a contributory spirit. Of his own accord he planted quite a few flowers while we were in the States this last time.

It was nearly dusk and cloudy when we arrived. But I had to get the camera out and try and capture what I thought was rather unusual about the pink azaleas. They have these silver beads on their stamens. They shine like goblets of mercury – really amazing.

Flowers are very hard to capture good photos in part because of the depth of field in low light in this case – but you get the idea. One day I will get some lessons from my amiga Bille (Her terrific BLOG is here).

OK so we are on the mountain and waiting to hear your feelings about the name change. I am going to go for a walk with Palermo (more on him tomorrow). Stay Tuned!

Veronica points out a property corner to Anita & Marvin (ENLARGE HERE)

I receive email at blog(at)vivaveracruz(dot)com

I received this email yesterday from Anonymous:

“I have been reading your Blog regularly for a couple of years. It is well written and full of great information. You have inspired me to look south when I retire next year – thank you. I believe you have an honest approach to things and enjoy the fact you don’t candy coat your opinions. I have a question about what you think about Mexico’s regulations regarding immigration. How do their regulations stack up compared to the US? Do you feel they are fair or even as fair as the US? Will I as an American ever be accepted or belong? I know I have read your opinions around this subject before, but am asking for comparison details.

Keep up the good work we are out here.”

I have more or less answered this somewhere herein, but here goes another try. There are many things to consider when one leaves the security of their birth country. Especially if you are going from a relatively secure womb like country (read the United States) to one of adventure and risks (Read Mexico).

Some suggest as new arrivals to another country we should butt out. Others immediately want to be heard and to get involved – perhaps even save the natives from themselves.

The truth lies somewhere between. In some ways I or you will be a foreigner no matter where we are on this planet and in other ways we will belong whether we speak the language or understand the customs.

I have friends here in Mexico. Vicente and Javier are two examples of my Mexican friends. We speak different languages and often only understand one another in the simplest of terms. Perhaps friendship is easier that way? All still we strive to communicate and understand the others points of view on any number of subjects and issues.

For some reason our differences are more easily accepted. I imagine this is because there are no preconceived expectations. People who speak a different language and that may be in a different financial and social strata – differences you may not totally comprehend in any case – our friends appear child like. With children we tend to overlook the fine points. We accept a child’s views knowing they are developing and not totally understanding – the same is required in this situation; hands and hearts across borders.

In my birth country some cry for walls and others demand none – I am somewhere in-between. I do question the authority of those who stop me from going anywhere on earth – but that is an over simplification. In simple terms I question ALL authority.

A perception exists in the United States that it is being over run by illegal migrants. Those that believe this also believe stopping illegals must happen no matter what the costs. Mexico certainly is not user friendly towards immigration either, unless it can be proved you are bringing dough into the country – they certainly don’t want poor foreigners or many foreigners working in Mexico unless they are teaching skills not heretofore existing.

The vast majority of the Anglo population in the United States fears that traditional values, culture and even language are in jeopardy by the huge wave of immigrants, more than half of which are Mexicans. Believe me when I tell you this didn’t start happening yesterday or even last year – these fears and concerns have existed since the Eisenhower Administration in my life and before.

But, the produce farms, the restaurants and construction sites all over the United States depend on cheap Mexican and other foreign labor to remain profitable. Talk about your Catch 22’s.

The senior Senator from Nevada Harry Reid has flip flopped on immigration issues so much we may never know where he truly stands on any of this – but one thing is for sure – in our part of Mexico all the missing bread winners are in Las Vegas, Nevada working in construction and restaurants. Obviously Reid is spineless and will turn away from the problems at the end of the day.

As mentioned I can assure you Mexico is little to no better on these issues. A second or third world country, which Mexico absolutely is in our area, smacked up against a first world powerhouse has to spell problems – no doubt. While most of the rest of the world is leveling the playing field on the United States – Mexico will go in whatever direction the United States does due to the not so simple matter of history and geography. And there aren’t a lot of signs that the playing field between the neighbors is getting leveled. How you personally feel about whether you are accepted or how Mexico’s regulations might affect you will be a discovery – you won’t find the answer anywhere without getting the experience. Your style in the wilderness will be your own.

In my way of thinking there is no perfect solution or simple answer to address immigration problems. If there were some they probably would have been acted upon years ago. The United States no longer has an open door inviting the tired, poor and huddled masses yearning to breathe free air to enter in. The golden lamp is no longer lifted for the likes of those kinds of people, you can be sure. They might just as well scrape the words off the base of that 200 ton statue resting out on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. Replace the words with something like Immigrants NOT WELCOME!

Mexico is enjoying the North’s interest and investments, but it is cautionary enthusiasm. Lately I have been reading a lot about how stable the Mexican economy is. From our perspective Mexico seems to be more impoverished each time we come here. There is a lot less joy in the Hood then there use to be; less parties and celebrations – people are finding that they have less and less money for such things. You can just bet when the spin doctors of the press start reporting how good things are that gloom and doom are probably on the horizon.

While most of us Canadian and North American invaders were hoping things would PAN out here in Mexico the PRI is making inroads back to control. We publicly don’t have a lot to say about this – at least so we are told – we should dummy up and butt out – it is NOT our business.

Our business indeed – this always makes me think about the famous Dickens lines from his novel “A Christmas Carol” where Jacob Marley is warning Scrooge about where he is headed in life and then death, “Although Marley had been a good businessman, he learned in death that he had missed the point of living. He tells Scrooge: “‘Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!’”

The dealings of mismanaged countries are not my business – mankind and the common welfare of HUMAN BEINGS are my business. Be hanged! – An attitude that this isn’t my country and I must first learn before caring. I learned to care a long time ago which is more than I can say for the powers that run these countries.

When you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner this coming week, think about what you should be thankful for and about what your business is in life. Yes Anita and I are in the wilderness of Mexico and we do walk softly, all the while our concerns for the common welfare of mankind remain – love it or leave it (the earth not Mexico or the United States), peace and goodwill towards ALL men is the order of business each and every day of all of our lives. Stay Tuned!

This IS worth enlarging – really trust me on this. (ENLARGE)

It is too nice of day to be working. I fiddled with a couple of minor transportation issues like adding a quart of oil and replacing a battery terminal bolt. My truck has a check engine light on – this drives me nuts. It is kind of like going to the doctor and finding you have some illness when you felt fine. The truck runs good – but that damn light is there and irritating.

I am listening to Glenn Gould playing Bach’s Partita No.6. Gould who died of a stroke in 1982 at 50 years of age had mastery in his interpretation of Bach. Checkout this three part You Tube performance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag3atJSmgTM&feature=related

This Blog has a large and diversified readership. I have been accused of bloviating regarding the ‘success’ here, thus I don’t mention the subject often – but October was a HUGE month for this Blog and I really just want to thank people who have for some reason seen fit to stop here. It was the largest readership and bandwidth in the three plus years of my Blogging – for whatever that is worth. Literally thousands of people have been by here and a number of magazines (Internet and print) have seen cause to reprint an occasional Blog entry of mine.

Please understand I don’t lay claim to knowing what I am doing here – by nature I am a quiet person for the most part believing in the old adage of listening twice as much as you speak; and this more so as I get older and feel less compelled to engage others. Oh my God my younger sister will be glad to read this. I started to include advertising at one point; but then I hated those ads on my otherwise personal diary – so I quickly dumped them avoiding sleepless nights over wrestling with selling out.

Also, you might note that I try to not link to people that have found the need to include advertisements on their Blogs. Should we get paid for this – well a number of people have donated money here and for that I am appreciative. But burdening readers with advertisements – well I am not sure that is what they bargained for – so I don’t. And again people actually donate!

I have to wonder why anyone would perform such a selfless act, doubting that I would do such a thing – but I am committed to right after I finish this entry. My new readership has dwindled, but apparently the ones that were motivated to be here once come back and after all how many people are interested in living in Veracruz? I have continued to buy more bandwidth as things have grown here – last month usage being nearly 20 gigabytes.

Sometimes I think about abandoning the Blog as my time might be better spent doing some of the things my wife would like to have done – but then I think there are now thousands of people counting on me – if there were a mere 8 or 10 people would I have given up, probably not because the process is rather cathartic – so thank you again for that.

Most weeks I get at least one email or comment from someone new out there in cyberspace – usually they write nice things like this one from Teresa Freeburn:

Comment:

“glad to see you are so gracious about being corrected. some people aren’t-their loss.

you said something about being asked what language you think in. i am often asked that as well as what language i dream in and the answer is english, even though my first language is spanish and i speak italian as well. i think it comes from the fact that i’ve spent most of my life in the u.s. my family immigrated from cuba when i was 7. so, there’s another twist on the what language do you think in question.

i just started reading your blog today and am really enjoying it. in cuban spanish bodega means store so i was a little confused when i was in mexico earlier this year and kept hearing bodega. i finally realized what people were talking about.

have a great weekend sr. y sra. calypso.”

Now that has to make me feel good – no? And thank you Teresa we are having a wonderful, GREAT, weekend.

The kindness of strangers, but then some days, even here in paradise, I feel like the grasshopper hanging on barbed wire seen above – upside down no less – not hanging on for dear life but rather because it seems to be better than what’s below.

I took that picture myself (wow one not stolen) at Veronica and Miguel’s rancho in Coatepec. There was very little light – in fact I used a flash and the macro feature on my snazzy Canon digital camera. All rights are not reserved – but please steal it totally and put it on your own storage media. I find a lot of my pictures, stolen or original, are ending up on other peoples Blogs but they are using my bandwidth. Could this be giving me a false sense of readership security – well no because I checked – but it does happen.

I will get back to talking about Mexico tomorrow – I have soooo many stories to tell, and there will be a book out one day soon. I can only hope that most of the people that have been here will buy it – if they all did it would be a success for sure – but then perhaps simply the act of writing a book is cathartic as well and in the end I won’t care? In the mean time please Stay Tuned!

First let me explain why it has been so quiet around here. In Bill Gates infinite wisdom and desire to be ruler of the world, MicroSoft managed to really mess with my new computers. I spent three uncomfortable days working on getting their latest attempt of control over my equipment off only to find out that they had so many problems and complaints that they reversed on what they had done anyway – I guess I should have waited it out –

I know when I am having problems I am not the only one. I had to restore both my VISTA OS computers back to prior to several of their “updates”. A word to the wise is to shut off the automatic update feature of your computer. Look at each suggested update, wait until the dust has settled on whether people are having conflicts or other problems with it – then install if you perceive an advantage – often it is nothing more than giving Gates and his cronies more control over your computer and life. I could go on about this – but those of you that know of my libertarian spirit can imagine how these attempts at control of my life must frustrate me.

Moving on: The other day amidst the building project we went to visit Miguel and Veronica’s campo in Coatepec. Anita and I have been there before but Marvin was taking a look see for a possible purchase. Miguel and Veronica have decided to lighten their real estate portfolio a bit.

The four of us, Veronica, Marvin and Anita and I, drove the few miles from Ursulo Galvan. They have a lovely finca on a hectare and a half with one border running along a pristine river.

Veronica and Miguel have planted some fruit trees and groomed the property very nicely. There is a two story German Chalet style casa. It is a charming property situated at the west end of Coatepec.

Close by is Finca El Trianon. This is a rancho owned by the Chedraui family. The Hacienda is available to rent for events and stay overs. When we visited a group of 35 people had just left from a stay. The ladies that keep the place running were hesitant to show us around because they were in the throws of cleaning up from the event.

In as much as it is just a stones throw from Veronica’s casa we managed to finagle a look see. Apparently the parents of one of the elders of the family lived at this ranch until they passed. Now it is sort of a museum/bed and breakfast.

It was after six with little available light outside and in – but I took some photos. The hacienda was built in 1901 and sports the date above the front entry.

On the front porch were a couple antique carriages.

We had fun being escorted around the entire place by a kind house keeper. There were some interesting collectibles as well as a billiard room covered from floor to ceiling with citations, diplomas and commendations. In typical Mexican fashion, the décor and styles of the place are quite a mishmash. It is kind of part museum, part retreat casa and part bed and breakfast/hotel.

The master bedroom was that of the patrons and apparently not part of the rental package; all still we got a look around in there and the master bath as well. There was a fun old barber’s chair situated smack in the middle of the master bathroom. I took a photo of this floor safe in the master bedroom.

In the grand dining room with a long table and large black furniture there were some interesting paintings and coffee collectibles on a side board and even a couple of saddles on stands.

The kitchen was busy with people cleaning up from the event. They had a wall of knickknacks and of course lovely Mexican tile.

There were at least a half a dozen rooms, some that looked like they were for the children or grandchildren. I suspect the family doesn’t spend a lot of time there – but it was interesting to walk through. The Chedraui family is a powerhouse in this part of Mexico.

I liked this large painting by A. Carneiro de Alcadu that was in the Great dining room – appropriate for Revolution day on the 20th.

The cold and rainy weather we have had over the last couple of days has prevented our wanting to work on the bodega. The kids in the Hood have been practicing for days for November 20th which is the Celebration of the Revolution of 1910. They get all the school children in their uniforms to parade the streets to the beat of marching drummers. Go back to the last two years November 20th-21st entries to read more on this.

In them mean time on US television all the talk is about Thanksgiving and Christmas. We have been invited to a gringo gathering for Thanksgiving (not celebrated here of course) – but we will probably stay in a Mexico mode and not attend – I am thankful for every new day as it is – Stay Tuned!