Hairy food in Catemaco

The last few years, beautiful downtown Catemaco has been graced with an annual "Conservation Week" event which mainly helps to display the conservation efforts of its community leaders, including dozens of government organizations who earn a salary for involving themselves in Los Tuxtlas.

To me the most magnificent specific event was the gastronomic "tour de force" of the cooking abilities of the uptown beautiful Catemaco communities. Especially the ability by the sponsoring Government organizations to talk these uphill impoverished communities into providing giant shrimp with all the trimmings at 5 pesos per plate.

I am no fool!


I ate most anything I could get my mouth around. And that includes some stuff I never thought would cross my lips.

And, WOW !!, most of the food was delicious, except for that tamale stuffed with little slippery fish.

Counting Catemaco

Mexico is a declared democracy with a constitution which has been amended around 80 times in less than 90 years, and is subject to be further massacred at a moment's notice. The statistics/experiences presented here are not necessarily true of anywhere else in Mexico, although I seriously doubt that.

The election for presidente (mayor) of beautiful uptown and downtown Catemaco, Veracruz occured September 2004, and the mayor occupied his (stripped by the previous administration) office on January 1, 2005. He, (no woman was ever elected), was to retain the office for only three years (Mexican constitutional law prohibits reelection of any government official to the same office, until the passage of one elected term).

On January 2, 2005 began the election campaign for the next mayor of Catemaco. At present there are 26 candidates for the mayor job, distributed among various parties.

The population of Catemaco as of 2000 was 45,383. The municipio is on a minor downward spiral according to population statistics provided by INEGI, the Mexican statistics agency. Thus statistical figures are staying fairly constant.

According to INEGI, in 2000, the Catemaco population above the age of 15 was 21,842. Considering that the minimum age to vote in Mexico is 18, and there was a total population of 45,383, minus 21,182 which were less than 15 years old, minus the proportionate count of those which were less than the minimum age of 18, (2,913), that left a remainder of 20,628 voting age adults.

In the last presidential election (2006) the Catemaco vote count was 17,137. That is an amazing 83 percent of adults (not registered voters) who voted in Catemaco. Registered voter statistics are almost impossible to obtain in Mexico, because they would possibly present 150% voter participation. (I am probably just a stupid foreigner that does not understand Mexican statistics).

In 2004 the municipal election for mayor of Catemaco was won with 6,444 votes of an alleged 17,235 voters.

In 2006 the new Mexican president was elected with a similar less than majority vote.
Mexico is a representative democracy which does not require a majority to win anything. This was never important in the years during which the PRI (party in control of Mexico for 60 years) controlled the government, because they controlled EVERYTHING no matter which way the vote was counted.

Since 2000, when the PRI first lost the presidential office, this lack of majority in anything, has stuck Mexico in a quagmire of indecision, while China usurped its US markets.

Catemaco banking

There is one inept office of Bancomer in Catemaco, and 3 other banks have ATM machines, one of which, Banorte, has a permanent cash shortage.

For any serious bank action you get to visit San Andres Tuxtla. There you learn that to do any serious banking, maybe Veracruz can help you, or maybe Puebla, but more than likely Mexico City.

That behemoth of neoliberalism, Walmart, known in Mexican financial circles as Walmex, just received approval to start banking in Mexico.

Personally, in my book, Walmart has not added anything special to Mexican retailing, except for putting spikes up the butts of Mexican national chains, and fooling their shoppers with their "lowest prices" campaign. Perhaps they will do the same to local banking, because all of the Mexican banks need a very LARGE spike .

Curiously, there is only one major bank remaining in Mexican hands. All others are multinational conglomerates, whose overseas or US customers would probably start a revolution over the local fees and inept handling of accounts.

So sorry to say, Muy Bienvenido "Banco Wal-Mart de Mexico Adelante".

What a name!

Biosphere Reserve of Los Tuxtlas

39 pages of pretty pictures, statistics and charts, stored on a Veracruz government server which takes long minutes to load.

I think they do that because the Veracruz government thinks there is a superfast Telmex broadband connection in every casita in the state. That is right after putting "two chickens in every pot" as US president Herbert Hoover said in 1928, and proceded to do.

Take the time though, please. It is an excellent presentation.

Link

Catemaco UFO

A strange round object was recently sighted just south of beautiful downtown Catemaco, Veracruz near the edge of Laguna Catemaco.

Catemaco has a history of visits from outer space, which may or may not be the subject of a further blog entry; dependent on whether my abductors will allow me.
Meanwhile, check out more strange object spattered around the Catemaco landscape.

More: catemaco.info - Temazcals of Catemaco

Jibbletits of Catemaco

Beautiful downtown Catemaco has its share of jibbletits, and many were celebrating the recent enactment of the first legal acceptance of homosexual unions in Mexico, after 100's of years of homophobic repressions.

There is still a worldwide problem about how to properly address communities outside of the heterosexual mainstream. Usually they are classified as GLBT or GBLT, jibbletit, a brown paper sack for gay, bisexual, lesbian and transexual content.

Mexican laws specifies that a union of a pair of people be done in a civil court. The new law, at present only effective in Mexico City, also gives the rights of a civil union to unmarried couples, which is probably the more worthwhile but less newsworthy aspect of the law.

The religious elements in Mexico, of course, are having a fit.