Ruminations of an Expatriate

Cinco de Mayo, for those who don’t know, is somewhat of a holiday in Mexico.  I say somewhat, as it is not a national holiday.  The day is celebrated primarily in the state of Puebla, while  other communities throughout Mexico observe the day to one degree or another.  Here, for instance, my bank is open, though almost without customers this morning when I visited; but there is a parade celebrating the date.

The day commemorates the initial victory of Mexican forces over the French invaders at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

The French, with the USA busy with its Civil War, invaded Mexico, initially with the support of Spain and Britain, after Mexican President Benito Juárez suspended interest payments on Mexico’s debt to foreign nations on July 17, 1861.   The Spanish fleets arrived in the Mexican port of Veracruz in December of 1861, with the French and British arriving in January 1862.   The Spanish and British withdrew within a few months after realizing  the French intention of conquering Mexico with the intention of exploiting the country’s mineral resources.

Eventually, in June of 1863, French forces took Mexico City and Austrian Archduke Maximilian was installed as Emperor in May, 1864.

The USA had supported the Mexican republicans and President Juárez; and with the end of the Civil War in 1865 50,000 USA troops, under General Philip Sheridan, were sent to the Mexican border to intimidate the French and aid the Mexican republican fighters.    Finally in 1866, after a series of Mexican republican victories over the French troops, as well as Austrian and Belgian mercenaries, things began to unravel for Emperor Maximilian.

The Austrian and Belgian mercenaries left Mexico in late 1866, the French evacuated Mexico City in February, 1867, Maximilian was captured in May and executed on June 9, and the Mexican republic was restored, Juárez was restored to the presidency, and the 1857 constitution restated.

Incidentally, the 1857 constitution, amongst other provisions, confiscated the landholdings of the Catholic church, established civil marriages, eliminated capital punishment, provided freedom to any slave entering Mexico, and forbade the participation of priests in politics.   The prohibition of the clergy wearing their vestments in public was rescinded only very recently, during the Fox administration I think.

Not being a “professional” wrestling fan I was unaware of the popularity of wrestling masks, until I moved to Xalapa.  There are shops here which sell nothing but these masks, which many of the Cabo San Lucas tourist shops also sell.

Life Long Harborite’s son and his son’s buddy, who were along on the trip, couldn’t resist.

Here’s a photo of Pico de Orizaba taken through the window of the airplane on the trip to Cabo San Lucas.

Below is a steaming volcano also taken from the airplane window.

I mentioned in an earlier post that while in Cabo san Lucas I stayed at the hotel Mar de Cortez, named, for those who may not know, for the body of water which separates Baja California from the Mexican mainland.

Hugo is the bartender at the hotel, and quite an impressive fellow he is. The bar is owned by a very pleasant women, whose daughter and grand children own and operate the adjacent excellent restaurant, Spencer’s.

Having regularly visited the bar during happy hour, which runs from 11:00 to 6:00 each day, I was able to enjoy a number of conversations with Hugo. He is in his early thirties; speaks English very well; lives in San Jose del Cabo, the location of the international airport into which one flies when visiting Cabo san Lucas; is married; and has four children, daughters of 13, 8, and 5, and a son of three. Hugo’s wife works three hours a day, four days each week for an architectural/construction firm and sells Avon products. He indicated that his wife earns more money than does he; and told me, with a laugh, that he had tried to convince his wife that he should stay home to be a house husband but that his wife was not convinced.

One day while Hugo was telling me that he enjoys snorkeling, I remarked that, judging by the size of his arms and shoulders, he must also spend time at the gym. To which he responded that he plays professional baseball for the local Baja Sur team and coaches youth baseball teams. He indicated also that he had earlier played for three different teams of the 22 team Mexican professional league, of which the Yucatan Leones and the Mexico City team are the perennial favorites.

Hugo told me that he works at the bar everyday except Fridays, which he and his family spend camping on a remote beach not far from where they live. He reported that each Thursday his children excitedly prepare for the next day’s camping excursion by loading the camping gear in the family car. Thursday evening they depart for their camping spot, where they spend Friday playing soccer and baseball on the beach and where he spends time snorkeling to catch fish and shell fish which they cook on a camp stove on the beach.

He also told me that each year he returns with his family to his home town North on the Baja coast of the Mar de Cortez for a week of partying with his extended family. He spends much of the week snorkeling for sea snails, scallops, lobster, and other seafood which he packs into coolers for the trip home, and freezes. The seafood provides food for the family for four months.

The evening before I departed, as he was leaving for his one hour bus ride home, Hugo sought me out to bid farewell. He is one of those persons who renew one’s faith in humanity, and meeting him was one of those serendipitous travel experiences I will always remember.

I returned home to Xalapa this morning, after sleeping through the Xalapa station stop on the late night bus from Veracruz and ending up at the end of the line in the Tlaxcala station. I had no idea where I was when awakened by a nice lady who informed me that we were at the end of the line. Fortunately there was a bus just leaving for Xalapa which I was able to catch.

Cabo san Lucas is really not my type of scene, being too big, too popular, and too expensive. None-the-less I had a great time visiting, and engaging in reprobative behavior, with Life Long Harborite, my good friend and neighbor of thirty years; his wife, brother, and son; a friend of his son; and another couple.

I stayed with LLH’s brother, son, and his son’s friend at the Cortez de Mar, a very nice “budget” hotel (by Cabo standards anyway), with a wonderful staff, a great restaurant, a bar where the 2 for 1 happy hour runs from 11:00 to 6:00; and a nice swimming pool. The hotel is located in the more tranquil center part of town, away from the behemoth resort hotels and in the midst of a number of very good restaurants and more reasonably priced shops.

Seated next to me yesterday afternoon on the AeroMexico flight out of Cabo was a remarkable, and very polite, young fellow who struck up a conversation immediately upon taking his seat. He had been sent on a circuitous route on his flight from Edmonto, Alberta, near where he lives, first flying to Cabo, on to Mexico City, and ultimately to Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas.

José is nineteen, was born in Juarez, and has lived near Edmonton, with his adoptive parents, for the last couple of years. José has never met his biological father and last saw his mother when he was three and placed in the orphanage, operated by a religious group associated with a Pentecostal church. He indicated that life in the orphanage was miserable and that he and the other children were not treated well. He has three sisters from whom he had been separated when placed in the orphanage, but with whom he has regained contact and whom, amongst other relatives, he will visit in Juarez for the next eight months.

When José was five, a Canadian couple came to the orphanage to work for a couple of years. The couple ultimately adopted José before returning to Canada, though were not permitted to take José out of the country. A number of times over the ensuing years José was permitted to visit his adoptive parents but never permitted to leave permanently to live with them.

José left the orphanage when fifteen and spent a couple of years in a gang, during which time, with the help of friends, he applied a number of tattoos to himself, all very tastefully done. (When was the last time your airplane seatmate showed you their tattoos?)

Eventually José made contact with his adoptive parents and moved to Alberta. He now works at constructing condos near a ski resort and studies law online. He indicated he intends to become a lawyer and to work as a private investigator.

He indicated also that he is writing a book recounting his life; and that he had contacted Oprah, who encouraged him in his endeavor and indicated that when complete she would look over the book and decide whether to publish it.

I bought José a beer upon our arrival in Mexico City and helped him with making his connecting flight. He expressed to me a number of times his relief at being back in Mexico and away from the Canadian cold. He thanked and hugged me upon parting.

José is indeed a remarkable young fellow, whether he has actually lived the life he described to me or just very creative at making up such a tale.

McClatchy reports that Mexico is second, behind the USA,  in the numbers of overweight folks.

“More than 71 percent of Mexican women and 66 percent of Mexican men are overweight, according to the latest national surveys.”

I went to the bank on Monday to find it closed. Yesterday I encountered a long time gringo resident on his way to pay his water bill. He explained that the water utility office was closed on Monday in observation of anniversary of the 1938 nationalization of Mexico’s oil resources.  I assume the bank was closed for the same reason.

These days President Felipe Calderon is advocating partnering PEMEX, the national petroleum enterprise which provides 40% of the national budget, with foreign companies to provide technology necessary to explore for and exploit oil resources believed to exist under the deeper areas of the Gulf of Mexico.  Mexico was the world’s sixth largest oil producer in 2006, but its oil reserves have been declining for a number of years.

Calderon maintains that PEMEX lacks the technical ability to exploit the deeper Gulf oil fields and without new reserves and production Mexico will no longer be an exporter of oil within about nine years. Mexico currently supplies about 1.4 million barrels of oil per day to the USA.

There is resistance to Calderon’s plan, including by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who narrowly lost to Calderon in the 2006 presidential election.  There have been a number of recent demonstrations and marches here in Xalapa protesting the “privatization” of PEMEX.

Looking South in Puerto Escondido ones sees the harbor and, beyond, the Pacific Ocean.  Looking North there are mountains.  It is all quite scenic.

I had reported on March First of my excursion to the top of a luxury hotel to shoot photos of the harbor and town. While there I also took photos of the construction of an addition to the hotel and, particularly, of the use of bricks as form work for construction of the arched window openings.

You can see that a board is placed horizontally at the bottom of the arch and supported by a post. Bricks are then stacked on the board in an arch shape to act as a form for the concrete.

The photos below is of the existing hotel showing the finished arched windows and a couple of fellows installing exterior electrical fixtures.

I think these are Jacaranda trees, which are blooming all through the areas of Oaxaca I visited.

The pelicans of Puerto Escondido are not the least bit shy. These guys were hanging around the morning, beach front fish market.

The palapas in Oaxaca utilize a different type of palm frond for the roof covering than is used in the palapas in Veracruz and the Yucatan, which use the long fronds from the Royal Palm. You may remember this discussion of palapas I posted about a year ago.Oaxaca palapas use smaller, fan shaped fronds, from which type of palm I don’t know. As you may see in the photo the upper most leaves of the frond are tied around the poles laid horizontally across the rafters.

Eighty kilometers, or so, East of Puerto Escondido resides the small town and harbor of Puerto Ángel. The morning I left Puerto Escondido I took an early bus to Pocutla and from there a taxi to Puerto Ángel.

The hour and a half bus ride was on the SUR line; and for the entire trip the driver played techno music, of which I have no understanding and, thus, no appreciation.

Except for two relatively small sandy beaches the harbor there is surrounded by craggy rock hills, upon which are perched houses. There is a concrete pier at the innermost point of the harbor that was used for the exportation of coffee grown in the area before the construction of the coastal highway in the area.

Like Puerto Escondido, the main occupation is fishing, and each day the fishers head out early and return about 8:00 to vend their catch on the beach.

The beach front palapa restaurants, tucked amongst palm trees, are adjuncts to private homes and offer a variety of fresh sea food. While sitting at one such restaurant, owned by Julio and his family, enjoying coffee with a shot of mezcal, the family, at least three generations, was on the patio behind having their morning meal. It was quite homey.

It really is a very picturesque, very tranquil little place, though I prefer the wider harbor and lush vegetation of Puerto Escondido.

Lupe, at right,  and Nancy are two of the housekeepers at the Mayflower Hotel in Puerto Escondido.  Each day they would show up early, change into their flowered dresses, and take care of business, often singing and always smiling.

During the week I stayed at the Mayflower, a combination hotel/hostel, there were groups of Japanese, Dutch, British, New Zealand, and Australian fellows, as well as a group of six Swedish young women staying in the dormitories.

There is common kitchen in which folks would congregate in the evenings to prepare dinner and carry on.  It was entertaining.

Each afternoon about 2:00 Lupe, Nancy and their two compañeras would occupy the kitchen for an afternoon meal.

Bougainvilleas are omnipresent in Mexico.  Here are a few shots of different colored bougainvilleas I encountered within about a block and a half during a walk around Puerto Escondido.

I ran across these large trees while exploring the non-tourist areas of Puerto Escondido.

A walkway, perhaps a mile in length, has been built along the rock which lines the Northwest Puerto Escondido harbor. The walkway is accessed from the western end of la Playa Prinicpal.

This is the Puerto Escondido beach where families hang out, as the relatively calm sea, the gently sloping beach, and the shallow water is perfect for young frolickers.

The town fishing fleet is anchored just beyond the inner harbor swimming area or parked on the beach. I watched a couple of boats beached by the pilot who accelerated approaching the beach and drove this boat up the beach to dry sand. The boats are the heavy, fiberglass hulled boats one encounters in every coastal Mexican town.

Each morning at about 8:00 the town fishermen are parked on the beach selling their catch from their boats to the gathered crowd of buyers.

Below at left is the view from my hotel room balcony.

Here’s a few shots of the waves which attract surfers to Puerto Escondido.