What do you call a Mexican with a rubber toe?
Roberto
Ironically there is no Spanish page of gringo jokes. They would probably be a lot more funnier than this collecton of largely racist Mexican jokes at Mexico Jokes. I'm glad I'm not Polish.
Oct 15, 2009
Catemaco Subdivisions
Selling tiny bits of Catemaco is BIG business.
Aside from the dozens of established colonias (neighborhoods) in Catemaco, there are also dozens of newer colonias in the hills of Catemaco that are sparsely populated, generally lack city water, electricity and paved roads. Almost monthly newer colonias are being promoted, and sold, without any municipal services.
Veracruz has a substantial, reasonable set of laws on the books that are supposed to control subdivisions (colonias). These laws require water, drainage, sewage and adequate roads.
All these laws in Catemaco and elsewhere in Mexico are circumvented by receiving permission from a municipal mayor to subdivide a terrain. Usually this involves a strawman purchase of up to 10 % of the lots involved in the subdiivision in favor of the mayor.
A current political aspirant of Catemaco announced a new colonia to house 156 families, offering the lots at 4500 pesos with a 2000 pesos downpayment, designed for extremely low income habitants in a federally protected reserve. Naturally none of the lots have any municipal facilities.
On a daily basis, inhabitants of the previously established colonias with a few built homes, demand that the municipal government provide them with water, electricity and drainage. And, as political expediency permits, rudimentary facilities are extended to these areas, primarily in order for the current mayor to garner good will and steal at least 10% of the cost of the projects.
The built out costs of these older and new colonias is enormous and an extraordinary hardship on municipal finances, primarily because of extraordinarily low property taxes in Catemaco and most of Mexico.
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Aside from the dozens of established colonias (neighborhoods) in Catemaco, there are also dozens of newer colonias in the hills of Catemaco that are sparsely populated, generally lack city water, electricity and paved roads. Almost monthly newer colonias are being promoted, and sold, without any municipal services.
Veracruz has a substantial, reasonable set of laws on the books that are supposed to control subdivisions (colonias). These laws require water, drainage, sewage and adequate roads.
All these laws in Catemaco and elsewhere in Mexico are circumvented by receiving permission from a municipal mayor to subdivide a terrain. Usually this involves a strawman purchase of up to 10 % of the lots involved in the subdiivision in favor of the mayor.
A current political aspirant of Catemaco announced a new colonia to house 156 families, offering the lots at 4500 pesos with a 2000 pesos downpayment, designed for extremely low income habitants in a federally protected reserve. Naturally none of the lots have any municipal facilities.
On a daily basis, inhabitants of the previously established colonias with a few built homes, demand that the municipal government provide them with water, electricity and drainage. And, as political expediency permits, rudimentary facilities are extended to these areas, primarily in order for the current mayor to garner good will and steal at least 10% of the cost of the projects.
The built out costs of these older and new colonias is enormous and an extraordinary hardship on municipal finances, primarily because of extraordinarily low property taxes in Catemaco and most of Mexico.
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Sep 23, 2009
Down 1 in Catemaco
The latest arrival of the few handfuls of Gringo residents of Catemaco just bit the dust.
The single, 60+, former schoolmarm lived in the one and only gringo ghetto on the outskirts of beautiful downtown Catemaco, wrote umpteen pages of an enthusiastic blog about possibly making it here on $900 a month without a car and the lack of local friends, took hundreds of photos and lasted for 2 months, before hightailing to the more civilized haunts of Oaxaca.
There is no moral to the story.
NEXT!
Update Oct 3
As usual it is not over until the fat lady sings.
She did!
This Lorena Bobbit from the vaunted California educational system has now vented her opinion on settling in her self chosen one and only trailer trash enclave in Catemaco, and dependent on the input of a local taxi driver because of her inability to waddle, explored a few miles of Catemaco and promptly became an expert on local historical, sociological and creepy crawly stuff .
I regret ever having mentioned her name, website, and buying her breakfast..
The single, 60+, former schoolmarm lived in the one and only gringo ghetto on the outskirts of beautiful downtown Catemaco, wrote umpteen pages of an enthusiastic blog about possibly making it here on $900 a month without a car and the lack of local friends, took hundreds of photos and lasted for 2 months, before hightailing to the more civilized haunts of Oaxaca.
There is no moral to the story.
NEXT!
Update Oct 3
As usual it is not over until the fat lady sings.
She did!
This Lorena Bobbit from the vaunted California educational system has now vented her opinion on settling in her self chosen one and only trailer trash enclave in Catemaco, and dependent on the input of a local taxi driver because of her inability to waddle, explored a few miles of Catemaco and promptly became an expert on local historical, sociological and creepy crawly stuff .
I regret ever having mentioned her name, website, and buying her breakfast..
Sep 22, 2009
Cheap Catemaco Hotels
Fortunately the peso devaluation has somewhat mitigated the local frenzy of rate hikes that, in many instance, have doubled room rates in the last 5 years. Mexican peso earners and spenders, though, are still subject to blood letting.
Along came some local neoliberal capitalists and within the last year opened three resonably priced hotelitos, along bed and breakfast lines. Rates are as low as 179 pesos per double, in clean, newly equipped rooms.
At those rates you can spend an extra month here, and skip Cancun.
See all the Catemaco Hotels here
Sep 10, 2009
The Lakes of Catemaco
If Laguna Catemaco would dry up a few meters there would be another lake in Los Tuxtlas. The laguna averages 23 feet in depth and at its deepest central point measures about 34 feet.
But there is a hole between the city of Catemaco and Agaltepec island that is 70 feet deep. Since that island was a ceremonial center for pre-colombian inhabitants, it would be interesting to to see what's lying on the bottom of its murky waters.
There are a total of 6 marvelous lakes and lagunas in the Catemaco Municipio. The most famous and largest is Laguna Catemaco, followed by Laguna Sontecomapan. Catemaco City is surrounded by lagunas Chalchoapan, Nixtamalapan and Amaloapan. On the Sierra Santa Marta side, near Miguel Hidalgo is the small Apompal lake.
All of the smaller lakes are of volcanic origin, are filled with ground water, and are described in Wikipedia as follows: A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater that is caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption, an explosion caused by groundwater coming into contact with hot lava or magma. A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow crater lake.
Laguna Catemaco is a true lake, created by volcanic activity blocking off a valley that accepted streams from the surrounding hills. Laguna Sontecomapan is a true lagoon connected to the Gulf of Mexico.
Aug 27, 2009
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