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A great analysis can be found here (in both Spanish and English.)

It is a serious situation…however the twitter parody below (from http://xkcd.com) does have some elements of truth to it….

ps. we’re alive and well and not panicking…

I just discovered that it is possible to vote in the upcoming Canadian Federal election from outside of Canada.

The details are on the Elections Canada website (link below.)

The process isn’t quite “21st Century” yet–so hopefully our ballots make it to/from Mexico before the election.

http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=ins&document=index&dir=svr&lang=e&textonly=false

Thursday was “adventure” day–which we spent visiting the crocodile lagoon at La Ventanilla and the Sea Turtle museum at Mazunte (approx. one hour from Huatulco.)  We had been to both places before–but the crocodile lagoon was much more active than it was back in January (both the crocodiles and the birds.) 

To finish off the day, on Thursday night there was an earthquake in Chiapas that was strong enough for us to feel even though we were in Huatulco (approx. 250km away from the epicentre.)  We knew it was a big one (6.1 on the Richter scale) because we felt it for a much longer period of time than most other earthquakes.  Fortunately it didn’t cause any serious damage.

Our phone line and internet connection stopped working for some reason on Thursday.  At first I thought it was a switch problem affecting the whole neighbourhood but after checking in the dentist’s office I realized that only our phone line was affected.

On Friday morning I visited the Telmex office and explained the problem and was told that someone would be around to fix it in 1-3 days

Fortunately the line guy showed up Saturday afternoon (the same guy that installed our phone line) and quickly pinpointed it to a problem at the switch (and not our wiring.)  Within an hour everything was fixed and we have phone and Internet again.  The timing was perfect because we received a phone call 5min after the line started working–inviting us to a party

As part of her pay package from the university, Danielle receives food/grocery coupons every month (218pesos/approx. $24CAD.)  In the past there was only one store where they could be used (and selection was limited to basic groceries.)  However, the coupons changed recently and now they can be used as the “Bodega Aurrerá ” that opened here in Salina Cruz two weeks ago (it’s like a mini-Walmart SuperCenter.)

Today I got to decide how to spend our coupons and ended up with a bag of charcoal, a 12pack of Sol and two meals of sirloin steak all for under 200pesos.  Probably not how the food coupons were meant to be spent–but I like to think of it as practice for when we leave Mexico…I’m not sure how much welfare pays in Ontario–but worst case scenario my Dutch passport is still valid for a few more years

Notes:

1.  The beer selection here in the Istmo is pretty limited.  We get all the mainstream beer made by Modelo and Femsa (Modelo, Corona, Sol, etc.) but seldom see their premium beers (Dos XX Ambar, Bohemia, Negro Modelo.)  The nearest draft beer is in Coatza. (5hrs away) and the imports are discount beers (either Marlyn’s from Holland or Gallo from Guatemala.)  However, the price of beer is something I can get used to…a six pack of mainstream beer normally costs under 50pesos and you can get a six pack of Gallo (“rooster”) for 25pesos (<$3CAD.)  My favourite Mexican beer alternates between Dos XX Ambar and Bohemia, Dos XX is a darker beer with good flavour while Bohemia is not as dark but has a lot more hops.

2.  After eight months here, I’ve got the steak grilling close to perfected.  I’ve tried rib-eye and t-bone steaks–but the thinly sliced sirloin steaks work best on my barbecue (its design is such the coals are very close to the grill–making cooking very hot and very quick.)  The steak quality isn’t quite the same as home–but when seasoned with either Montreal steak spice or chiles and salt smoked in mesquite they taste really good.

As it was getting close to Easter, San Cristobal too was packed with people.  Fortunately, most of them weren’t campers–and the campground was on the edge of the city so things were fairly quiet there.  The photo below is from our tent door and as you can see the scenery in Chiapas is incredible (not only does it look like autumn in Canada–it felt like autumn in Canada well with temperatures between 10-20C the whole time.)

Because of the number of tourists in the city, we avoided the most popular tourist attractions and instead wandered the city and enjoyed the food (although we did make it to the Museum of Amber for Danielle.)  Fortunately, San Cristobal is only 5hrs from Salina Cruz–so we’ll be making a trip back when things aren’t so busy.

On the trip back to Salina Cruz, we visited the caves at Nuevo Rancho and then stopped and picked up some mangos in Tapantepec (the mango capital on Oaxaca–the area is full of mango groves, and only 10pesos for 5 large mangoes.)