• 07Feb

  Just a little ranting and raving…

  maz people 17 Comments

  I’ve said before that Paul and I are happy with our choice of Mazatlán.  But, like anywhere, it isn’t perfect.  I try to focus on the positive here at Countdown to Mexico, but I think once in a while I can give myself permission to rant.

  In order to be in the loop with regard to expat goings-on around town such as fund raisers, community events, garage sales, death notices, and things for sale you need to keep an eye on the forums. I have found information on good doctors, veterinarians, restaurants, etc. – but that information comes at a cost to me!
  

  Reading the forums does gives a glimpse into the way others perceive the world.  And I have pretty much decided that a lot of people that participate the most on these forums are defensive, argumentative, close-minded, angry, childish, and rude. Most of the reasonable people don’t even participate for fear of being jumped on.

  Here’s a recent sampling from MazInfo and What’s up Maz:

  Someone asked what are the taxi rates from the airport and whether there was a cash machine in the airport. Easy to answer, right?  NO!  The responses were all over the place, including outdated information from someone’s visit six months ago that then degenerated into a ridiculous message thread about cash machine charges that was totally pointless.  How anyone could glean anything helpful out of that mess would be beyond me.

  Someone asked whether anyone had a rental for a specific period. A few people replied, but one of them owns a B & B so the discussion degraded into whether this is considered “advertising” (which is not allowed) or not.

  People participate on the board that have businesses in town.  There has been ongoing chatter and many many messages flying around forever about what constitutes advertising and whether they can even have their business signature at the bottom of the message.  Sheesh!

  Oh, and don’t even think about sharing information about someone performing music or giving Spanish lessons or something without a huge brouhaha about whether they have the proper work permits.

  Even a simple newbie question about what TV service is best is answered with possibly one or two reasonable answers and a sheaf of angry missives by people who think they’ve been done wrong or that their system is best.

  People are blissfully ignorant and cheap, too.  They don’t seem to understand how uninformed it makes them seem if they ask where the Art Museum is or complain when one of the stores rounds up the centavos at the cash register.  Sometimes I just want to scream,  just Google it, damn it!
  

  People will bitch about anything.  How many pelicans are in Mazatlán.  If horseradish is available here.  What is the meaning of the word “monsoon.”  Whatever.

  People also can’t spell.  I have had it up to here (I am gesturing at my neck) with people  misspelling malecón, tinaco, Plazuela Machado, Puerto Viejo, and others.  Place names especially are just that, names.  Look it up if you don’t know, people!  It is like a New Yorker writing Cintril Park instead of Central Park… you should just know place names in your community.

  People seem to forget it’s a forum for Mazatlán people or people interested in Mazatlán.  Frequently when people post about a storm or quantity of rain or level of humidity, people chime in from all over the US and Canada about how hot or cold or stormy or humid it is where they are and how they can’t wait for some length of time for their next trip to Mazatlán.  Yawn.

  So I feel a little better now, getting that off my chest.  I still will hang around to find out about the occasional lemon sighting at Wal-Mart or restaurant closure information, at least for the time being.  Who knows what will happen in the future?

  
  

  
• 04Feb

  It was one of those Mexico moments…

  maz people 7 Comments

  We’d planned on spending the day at Isla de la Piedra with Jessica and Lourdes, but the usually perfect weather in Mazatlán had changed to a downpour seldom seen in the winter.  It rained for 12 hours straight, and the drains around town were trying their best to handle the challenge.

  So instead of walking that night we took the car when we went to dinner (another delicious Pizza Moreno meal!) and headed home past the Plazuela Machado.  Originally we were going to have a drink outside and listen to some music, but a drive by was going to have to do, instead.

  We drove along Heriberto Frias, and when we approached Mariano Escobedo near El Faro Coffee we detoured in six inches of water around a city sign indicating they had been working there.

  Thunk!  Our right front tire was in a hole about 10 inches deep!  It was raining hard, too! And of course Jess and Lourdes had a 7 am flight the next morning, meaning we had to head to the airport at 5:30!
  

  Thank heavens for a patron and the owner of El Faro, who dialed up the city tow truck.  We bought coffee and stood under the awning to wait.

  Then the Transito Police showed up.  The driver got out, waded through the calf high water and started discussing what had happened with us (and thankfully Lourdes.)  The El Faro owner came out and told what she knew – that the city had been working on the pothole but left when it started raining, putting a sign over the hole.  Some people parked and moved the sign, and when they left they didn’t put it back, and then when the rain started really piling up no one could see the hole.

  The 300+ pound transit officer said that the city only has one tow truck and that it wouldn’t come.  He suggested he help us get it out of the hole, so the three of us ladies and the huge transit officer waded in again and he practically lifted the car by himself out of the hole and to safety.  We were all soaked up to our knees.

  And that’s what happens all the time around here… people doing nice things for each other.  We were so lucky to have such generous people help us – and yes, the car was fine and we got to the airport without further mishaps!

  
• 03Feb

  We’ve had a fun week!

  around México, family, travel 8 Comments

  Last weekend we sent the dogs off to doggie camp and headed to a small town in Jalisco.  Daughter Jess had arrived in Guadalajara earlier in the week to spend vacation with a friend from New York who was visiting family here for the first time in many years.  Of course since they were so close we were hoping they would come to Mazatlán to visit us, and it worked out that we met them at the family rancho in the tiny village of San Nicolas in Jalisco.

  The first miracle that happened is we actually connected with them!  The roads are small and the little towns just look like a couple of houses by the highway and most towns aren’t indicated with a sign.  They had a New York cell phone, we had a Sinaloa one… so at one point I ended up calling my son in Mexico City and having him call them from his vonage phone for me.  It had taken them longer than they expected to walk from the rancho to the highway where they waited for us, jumping up and down when our car came by.  We connected without too much delay!

  The rancho is where Lourdes lived as a child, one of a large family.  She shared so many memories of riding donkeys, eating sugar cane, handling the livestock and carrying water from a long distance.  The house that they lived in as children is still there, but the adobe bricks have collapsed and new rooms have been added over time.  No one lives there full time now, but a sister comes from Guadalajara every week or two to water plants and a brother keeps his goats, pigs, and chickens in the farmyard but lives a few doors away.

  Some family live in California, others in New York, and the rest in Guadalajara or San Nicolas.  It’s a place for them to all come home to throughout the year, and you can almost see the roots from this place still holding the family together.

  We loved her family, a family of smiling people with the same twinkling eyes.  When we arrived posole was on the fire outside, and all the sisters were busy preparing a delicious comida.  Paul and I sat and visited with a brother in law, since our help wasn’t needed (ahem, wanted) in the kitchen.  The kitchen was a cinder block room with a table, a pila for washing, a clothes washer, and a tiny stove.  But wow!  The food that came out of there was amazing.  A zuchinni-tomato dish, several salsas, the posole, tortillas, quesadillas, broccoli, and much more.  The liter bottles of beer filled glass after glass.  More family arrived.  Everyone crowded around the table and everyone talked and laughed.  Our Spanish was serviceable, and we were energized with our ability to connect a bit with such nice people. Several told hair raising stories about crossing over into the US.
  

  After the meal we took a walk down the hill to get some wood for a fire and so Lourdes could show us around.  She harvested some sugar cane that we ate right there and then took some back for later.  The light was beautiful, the sunset extraordinary.

  We sat around the fire that night listening to her uncle tell the story of being in California and a woman told him she would get him working papers…. little did he know that the papers he signed meant he had married her!  The next day the same uncle came and said he was going to milk the cow if we wanted to come.  He said that he can’t sell her milk anymore, everyone wants to buy it in the store.  So if people want milk he will fill them a cup and then let the calf have the rest.  According to the 5  or 6 cousins gathered around, milk with some kind of high test alcohol in a plastic bottle is a good hangover chaser so they all lined up for their milk, too. They even added chocolate powder!

  By late morning it was time for us to leave as we all wanted to stop in Tequila for a short while and then head to Mazatlán.  It was a wonderful time and I feel we were welcomed into Lourdes’s family.  We hope to see them again this summer and possibly her brother will come to our house sometime as he comes to Mazatlán occasionally.
  

  I made a little video of clips from some of the weekend at el rancho.  It is below.  Enjoy.

  

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