Catemaco Wish List

I wish that subtropical beautiful downtown Catemaco would live up to its reputation, instead of freezing my butt off for most of January and early February. The weather has been schizophrenic alternating between 13c (56)f and 32c (90f), almost every few few days.

I travelled a lot lately, and am proud to report that Veracruz retains its crown as "most likely to have a blowout". Damn, some of those roads north of Veracruz city are bad, at present. The Los Tuxtlas roads, at the moment, are passable. Check with me tomorow!

There are rumors of a new hotel in Catemaco. Wow, that'll really excite all the other ones that are starving because they maintain CANCUN prices in the off season. Be careful, please!, the gringopagodoble effect is prevalent.

Catemaco and Los Tuxtlas are possibly one of the most photogenic areas in Mexico. For a serious photographer that is only true about 15-30 days a year. Usually the magnificent views in all directions are encumbered by haze caused by the burning of residential trash, dust clouds from dirt roads, and possibly from sandstorms in the Sahara. But when there is a clear day in Catemaco, when you can see forever, my heart sings, and I don`t wish I were elsewhere.

Catemaco screwed up again and is on the list of the most mismanaged places in Veracruz. Apparently the last mayor forgot to include attributions of half of is 86 million pesos yearly budget, which is about enough to buy 4 happy meals for every inhabitant of Catemaco. The state of Veracruz is not far behind. Standard & Poor revoked its credit ratings because of shenanigans in its financings, which declare Veracruz to be one of the most indebted states in Mexico. Curiously, the present governor of Veracruz  initiated most of the questionable transactions.

Meanwhile, the country of Mèxico keeps hanging in there, despite being riled by a mickey mouse TV show in England. Apparently a real Mexican was hurt in the recent troubles in Egypt and a dozen or two were evacuated.
I have been watching that situation and it very much reminds me of Mexico, not so much because of its incompetent and corrupt political leadership, but because of the anger and hope of all the young gunslingers on the street. Let's send them some ZETAS.