There is no news from beautiful downtown Catemaco, unless you want to include some 9 foot stick figures walking around neighboring San Andrés, a few patches of the side walk of the Malecón offering to swallow tourists, some outrageous promises from the in-coming mayor, the up-count of snowbirds passing through the nearby gringo haven, or a few thousand pilgrims running around to bless the local Virgin.
On the crime scene, everything is quiet. The usual 'hubby slashed a wife or friend with a machete story' is going strong and the not so usual, young woman "hanged herself" nearby is still going on. That actually seems to be becoming a minor habit here.
Gas prices went up again, but they are still substantially below the US 8.76 pesos per liter in Mexico versus 9.74 pesos on average per liter in the US. Do your own gallon configurations (3.74 per liter).
Veracruz has a new governor, and he thoughtfully decided to change all public announcements to be of a rainbow colored hue, instead of the freaking RED of the PRI party that had dominated Veracruz for the past 6 or 71 years. So now there are worriers that the rainbows may be saying that Veracruz is gay. It sure is! During the annual carnival you can´t walk around the port of Veracruz without getting goosed. (if you have something to goose).
While on the subject of gays in Mexico, Mexico City apparently has now gone all out to declare itself a gay destination, possibly to take advantage of their disposable income which seems to be around twice that of straight travelers.
I can see it now:
Sheeeett, Catemaco has all the attributes of a potential gay city, noisy discos on the Malecon, artsy crafts shops, hairdressers, hindful government officials, blossoming business owners and 101 or more marvelous attractions to stick a nose into.
It also has a whole strip of bars on the main highway running through the town, that attracts vendors with Victoria Secrets catalogs for all the guys that love guys along the strip. Plus it has a natural aphrodisiac made from slimy local water snails, Tegogolos.
Anyway, anything would be better than a bunch of ancient gringos sucking up the little disposable air in Catemaco.
Honorable mention of the month goes to the Los Tuxtlas inhabitants who on at least 4 occasions in the last month blocked both the federal toll road and the federal highway leading south from Veracruz. You have to take pity on the people that do that, because they know that it is the only way to get attention from anything above a local political level. Viva la democracia in Mexico.
Nepotism is another one of those words that is little understood in Mexico. The current elect mayor appointed his wife, to run the county´s welfare agency. If he hads sons he would probably declare them sherriffs a la (what's the name of that movie).
When the boardwalk of Catemaco was constructed, the Mexican federal agency "Comision de Aguas Naturales" took control of the area that the Malecon was built on. Naturally, a few existing restaurants were grandfathered in.
Over the years, little by little, that terrain was nibbled on and allowed various hotels to monopolize parking areas, and other property owners to increase their front yard. More damaging though was the profusion of shanty gift shops along the Laguna side of the Malecón.
This last year has seen the addition of a dozen more chintzty stalls along the Malecon, along with the clandestine sale or right of possession of most of the inward side of the Malecón. If the trend continues, there will be no more vision of the potentially most beautiful boardwalk in Mexico.
Oh yeah, before I forget, hit and run accidents killed a few more people in Los Tuxtlas. A few monts ago an involved driver left his wife and dying baby to avoid facing Mexican justice, same as most involved drivers do. Please, have insurance or lots of money while driving in Mexico unless you want to experience Mexican "justice".
A new restaurant recently opened on the site of a famous local swamp and is not worth commenting, another, a small chain from San Andrés is more promising, but right now it is only hearsay, along with another super market and international chain hotel looking for space to build.
Also, I have been told, that I am planning a seaplane harbor next to the Malecón.
Excluding the local intermittent gringo haven, the local gringo count is remaining at 7 residents plus a few part timers, plus a bunch of non gringos but not Mexicans.
"Elected workers" are the elected officials. In Catemaco there are 5, the presidente municipal (mayor), 4 regidores (councilmen) and 1 sindico (comptroller+/-). Effectively only the mayor is of importance. All are significantly over paid in relation to the median wages of their electorate. On the municipal level they are elected for three years, and cannot be reelected until 3 more years have passed.
