Catemaco Mayor

After I came to to beautiful downtown Catemaco almost 9 years ago, a Populuca enchanted me and for a few years I did not see straight.

My Popoluca is a political rabblerouser who had led attacks on the municipal palace and otherwise made a municipal nuisance of herself in earlier years, while also having been instrumental in seeing her candidates elected.

So, I thought, let's run her for presidente municipal (that's equivalent to mayor), thinking that a respected woman, in a magnified person to person campaign would have a good shot to be elected.

What will it cost, I asked? 2 to 3 million pesos they said. In a county of 45 thousand where almost all make less than 10 dollars a day, that has no TV station, no radio, and no newspaper, and where 60% do not or barely read, I asked!

Yep, they said. And to guarantee a win would be more like 5 million.

So I started counting my pesos, and had some more discussions with my Popoluca. She had some wonderful ideas to eliminate waste in governmental activities, focus on supporting the underprivileged of Catemaco, initiate a preservation effort for the area, and similar feel goods.

But also she wanted to put her family to work, skim off the contractors doing work for the municipio and amass a fortune to pay me back and prepare for the next political campaign.

Instead I took her to California to go shopping.
I won, (financially, that is).