Just read an absolutely horrid website about Mexico, and thought to myself, if I were a US father, would I let my kid visit Mexico? And then I thought, if I were a Mexican father, how would I feel about the US?
Judging by my website counters, people interested in Catemaco have fallen into a pit. The last four weeks have seen the worst performance in 4 years of keeping track. Unnecessarily declaring Catemaco a disaster zone several times during that period certainly did not help.
Declarations of disaster are often political gimmicks in Mexico to free federal funds (FONDEN) which too often wind up in the hands of those with fraudulent claims. Apparently the local mayor filed for a declaration every time it rained a little hard.
Anyone that has ever seen the haphazard spider webs and connections of electrical lines crossing all Catemaco streets will be amazed at the superb performance that those rats nests deliver. Black and brown outs really are a rarity.
Ok, back to the rain.
Catemaco had 2 minor bridges washed out, just like they do every year, the coastal road also had the same problems. The link to the toll road from Santiago was and is flooded just like it does every 3 or four years. The major rain affectation was the heavy news coverage of southern Veracruz being flooded, and being evacuated. The only true bottlenecks was and is at Lerdo de Tejada which at one point had up to 3 feet of water covering a few vados of its carretera. At no time though, did that stop bus traffic or even itty bit cars making it through there. (900 peso tow trucks also helped).
After a multimillion peso campaign, including 20 thousand free chickens, Catemaco has a new mayor elect. Unbelievably, the election was forced by state mandate to be July 4th for an office to be occupied January 1st of the next year. I hope he saved enough chickens to live on.
I did a recent spot check on pricing in hotel lobbies and discovered that local hotels have apparently raised their tariffs to make up for the absence of visitors. True third world thinking!
Where did my money go?
I invested a heavy chunk of US green when I first got here. So far, ignoring potential appreciation, I have lost 30% because the Mexican peso has lost that value over the last 8 years. But I did try some small flyers in the equivalent of certificates of deposit paying 20% interest. Sounds good, yes? Unfortunately the institutions offering that kind of interest are not protected by something like a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Thousands of people in Catemaco depend on fishing for a living and government handouts to balance their diet. So I find it curious that the local mini Walmart offers the same fish that locals depend on for 2/3 the price. Of course the fish were "made in China".
O yes, before I forget, no body parts, mass graves, shot up vehicles or dead reporters have been seen within a 100 mile circumference in ages. Surprised, aren´t you?
I just got screwed on a TELCEL air time buy. A friend got the message from them that they were offering a 2 for 1 special, buy 100 pesos, get 200 pesos airtime. He bought and got his, I bought and got zilch! I called the company and was advised that you only get the special if you received the same message. RATS!
Just installed the new Internet Explorer 9 BETA. It is super fast, cleaner and a pain to get used to for an old dog. But it still has bugs! Wait to install it until the official version is issued.
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