Nov 29, 2007

Catemaco BULL

...The bullfight, known in Spanish as the corrida de toros, the fiesta brava, or tauromaquia, is a famous facet of Mexican culture...Now, with the announcement of the first known cloning of a fighting bull, the corrida tradition moves into the world of contemporary genetic manipulation...The cloning is being carried out by ViaGen, a Texas livestock cloning company...You might call them NAFTA clones – taken from a Mexican bull and cloned in Canada under the auspices of a U.S. company.
READ: Will Cloning Change Bullfighting in Mexico? By Allan Wall

Nov 24, 2007

Catemaco almost

The new Catemaco http://www.tuxtlas.com/ office is almost ready.

And 3 months after requesting a transfer of telephone lines, dozens of man (woman) hours, expending political pull, kissing ass, about 50 dollars in phone calls and a dozen trips to San Andres we now have a telephone with internet service again.

We began with: service may be available in 2 months, then changed to no lines will be available, then to maybe we can do something, then to perhaps if you talk to soandso, then to next week, the to the installation 10 days later.

This was a hell of an improvement over the next to last time, when we waited 2 years for a phone line.

Does anyone want o play monopoly with Carlos Slim of TELMEX?

Nov 8, 2007

Catemaco History

He came dancing across the water
With his galleons and guns
Looking for the new world
In that palace in the sun.
On the shore lay montezuma
With his coca leaves and pearls
In his halls he often wondered
With the secrets of the worlds.
And his subjects gathered round him
Like the leaves around a tree
In their clothes of many colors
For the angry gods to see.
And the women all were beautiful
And the men stood straight and strong
They offered life in sacrifice
So that others could go on.
Hate was just a legend
And war was never known
The people worked together
And they lifted many stones.
They carried them to the flatlands
And they died along the way
But they built up with their bare hands
What we still cant do today.
And I know shes living there
And she loves me to this dayI still cant remember when
Or how I lost my way.
He came dancing across the water
Cortez, cortez
What a killer.

Mytube: Neil Young's Cortez the Killer

Nov 7, 2007

Catemaco relief

Thousands of Catemaco inhabitants are responding to publically announced requests for relief from the inhabitants of flooded Tabasco.

Trailers are being filled with used goods, and other trucks are preparing to wade into Tabasco, repeating the phenomena in hundreds of neighboring communities.

Where the hell will they deliver all this used clothing to in Tabasco whose inhabitants' remaining clothes have been drying rather nicely in very warm sunny weather.

The relief organizations in Mexico, primarily centered around the government agencies of "Proteccion Civil", DIF, and the the private Mexican Red Cross are notoriously corrupt, and known to only deliver a percentage of their receipts to the needed.

The disappeared percentage usually appears on the black market or as a supposed gift from corrupt politicians.

The potential flood havoc in Tabasco has been predictable for more than 3000 years and has variously been addressed by assorted Mexican initiatives. The last one was initiated by the Fox administration 3 or 4 years ago for more than 3 billion pesos was never funded.

Instead currently, a multi billion peso tunnel under the Coatzacoalcos river is being funded to channel more traffic into the Tabasco region.

The news reports are now clamoring more than a million displaced peoples. That figure is substantially higher than any number ever emitted by the Tabasco government, known to inflate figures like any other agency in Mexico.

The question of providing help to the needy still remains problematic.

I want to help, but I'll forsake giving my clothes to a future used clothes seller or my money to an agency I do not trust.

So, instead, I ignore the whole mess, and pray for a way to add my little bit to the Tabasco relief effort that I know will go to the intended needy.

Nov 2, 2007

Catemaco to Tabasco


Knocking on some of the remaining wood in Los Tuxtlas, the local rainy season has been extraordinarily mild so far. North and south of here, the story has been different.


Much of the state of Tabasco is now flooded. The Cuota south, and the bypass for Villahermosa seem to be open. and the shortcut to Chiapas is so far unaffected.



Global warning is getting the blame for the rain. Students of history, though, will have noticed that prehistoric civilization of the area occurred mostly atop earthen platforms providing nice views and dry bedding.

Meanwhile more than 55,000 families are affected, and relief efforts are under way.
For each peso you send, these banks will add another one: