El Guero Welcome Guest | Login or Register

When I arrived at the bus terminal on Thursday night for my 11:05pm bus to Mexico City, I was surprised to find one of the Rotarians and his wife there as well (they were waiting for the bus to Tuxtla) so I had someone to talk to while waiting–and no big surprise, she wanted to make sure that I had packed warm clothes for Mexico City (as the temperature was dropping down to 1C at night.)

The bus trip went fairly smoothly until about 3:00am when the federal police and their drug sniffing dogs boarded the bus.  Normally this would be uneventful, but one of the dogs was very excited about one person’s knapsack and there was a girl sitting nearby that was very afraid of dogs…)  The “interesting knapsack” and it’s owner were removed from the bus by the police–but returned 5-10min later and we were on our way again.  [Sidenote:  the drug sniffing dogs understood English--it was really strange to hear the police talking away in Spanish and then flip to English to speak to the dogs ]

I slept again until about 5:30 when the the rising sun woke me up–fortunately we were just getting close to Puebla and I could see the snow-covered peak of Popocatepetl so it wasn’t a bad time to wake up.

In Mexico City, I stayed in Cuauhtemoc (one of the nicer areas of the city.)  However, the best part was discovering a Lebanese restaurant/store (Al Malek) when I went for a walk on Friday afternoon.  Of course I had to eat there–and I also picked up some kalamata olives to bring back to Danielle (they’re no available in the Istmo–and she would have been jealous of me getting to have a a Lebanese meal.)

Saturday was my CISSP exam–lots of fun!!! (Six hours to answer 250 questions on computer security…)  I think I did OK–but won’t get results for a few weeks.

Getting back to the TAPO bus station from the exam location was painful though–as there were major traffic jams–even on a Saturday afternoon.  These were caused by a number of streets being closed in advance of next week-’s presidential swearing in–the police pre-emptively closed them down as the PRD is threatening to block the swearing-in of Felipe Calderon as president.  However I made it to the station with lots of time to spare.

The bus trip back to Salina Cruz was uneventful and I was home by 6:00am Sunday.

Notes: 

Hotel Benidorm – nice business class hotel in a good location.

Al Malek Restaurant – good Lebanese food (both restaurant and store) located at Av. Cuauhtemoc #160

Strong Winds

For the last 5-6 days, we have been living in a wind tunnel.  We have a constant wind of approx. 40km/h–with gusts that are over 100km/h.  It generates a lot of dust–and can make it unpleasant when you’re outdoors.  Even more interesting is the impact it has on truck traffic–as each year an average of 30 trucks are rolled-over by the winds here in the Istmo.  Fortunately the temperature has dropped (low of 20C and high of 27C) so we can close all the windows and keep some of the dust out.  It looks like this weather will be around for another couple of days before returning to normal.

Quiet Blog

My blog will be quiet for the next week as I am going to be busy and/or out of town.  However, once things return to normal, I should be able to post some good stories and pictures.

Here’s a quick overview of my schedule:

Thursday - Sunday: Exam in Mexico City on Saturday (6 hours long.)  There and back via overnight bus (12 hours each way.)

Sunday:  I arrive back in Salina Cruz in the morning. In the afternoon, we will be taking part in the release of baby sea turtles at Playa Azul (scaring off seagulls???)

Tuesday - Thursday:  in Huatulco with the folks from Esprit Rafting in Ottawa to spend two days rafting and one day cascading (rappelling down waterfalls.)

Monday was a holiday here in Mexico–but a very busy day for us nonetheless.

We were up at 6.00am so that we could meet the rest of the Rotarians at the main square at 7.00am for the setup of the food tent.  Danielle and I arrived right on time–but there was no one else there!!!  However, we weren’t too concerned as this is Mexico and time is a little less exact here.  But by the time 7.30 rolled around, we started doubting ourselves so I took a quick walk around the square–and discovered everyone working away at the side of the square (in a different location than the last two events!!!)

We quickly got to working setting things up (tables, chairs, coolers full of beer and soft drinks, etc.) and started selling to our first customers at 9.00am.

Prices were $35 for a meal, $8 for a soft drink, $12 for a beer, and $10 for dessert.  Options for the meal included:
- carne asada (grilled meat)
- tacos (filled with slow cooked pork)
- chiles rellenos (stuffed chiles)
- pollo con mole (chicken in mole sauce)
- and a variety of homemade desserts as well –including “arroz con leche canadense” (rice pudding with maple syrup)

(NB.  Prices above are in pesos, and 10 pesos = approx. 1 CAD)

It was a really windy day (winds of approx. 40km/h with much stronger gusts) and we had to take the tents down mid-day (after we almost lost them–we acted as “human anchors” to hold it down for about 10min until we could safely get the canopies off.)

Some pictures from the event can be found below.  Many of you will be surprised that there are no pictures of me near the grills–but don’t worry, I was busy selling beer instead…  The middle picture is linked to a video clip–fortunately these two can cook better than they can dance!!!

In English this translates to: “The Festival of Authentic Intrepid Danger-Seekers”….

This was where we were Saturday night–and no it’s not an extreme sports event (or any thing similar.)  It’s actually a vela put on by the “muxe” community in Juchitan (“muxe” is the Zapotec word for men who dress/behave like women.) 

When we accepted the invitation to go to this vela, I was a little apprehensive (as it’s not the sort of thing that normally interests me.)  However, it turned out to be completely different than I expected (and quite fun.)

Danielle has a really good description of it in her blog here.

As always though, I need to add my own notes/thoughts on the evening….

• It was very strange that we saw more tourists in one night than we’ve seen in the entire Istmo during the past three months.  Unfortunately, a number of them were the annoying kind (the ones that won’t listen to instructions or follow the dress code and spent the whole night getting in the way while they took photos.)  Fortunately, the remainder were much better behaved.
  
• A case of beer as the admission price is really different (albeit very practical.) 
• Some of the muxes were dressed in traditional Tehuana “traje”–and the funny thing is that they looked very much like many of the women that you see daily in the Istmo.  (Tehuanas are tough, no-nonsense women–and most have a body shape that falls somewhere between man-ish and square-ish.)

For some more interesting info on muxes in the Istmo check out the article below.
http://www.oaxacatimes.com/html/tehuantepec.html

Over the last few days, my blog has been visited by a people from various countries who are searching for the word “Ixtepec”…

If you’ve seen a job posting for the ESL position at the Universidad del Istmo in Ixtepec and are looking more information, you can contact Danielle (danielle.bork @ gmail.com) and she should be able to help you or forward you on to the correct person.

Otherwise, I’d recommend starting here.

The anniversary of the Mexican revolution is coming up this week-end (November 20.)  Some news analysts here in Mexico are warning that there will probably even more protests coinciding with the anniversary.  However, I’m not sure that is possible here in the Isthmus as road blockades are now a daily event.  Yesterday was particularly busy with at least six blockades in the area–including one at the edge of Salina Cruz that prevented Danielle from getting back to work in the afternoon.  It’s unfortunate that the poorest part of the country is undergoing so much turmoil (as it’s starting to have a major financial impact) and even worse is that the students who can least afford to miss school are still not able to attend (a good article in English here.)

However, being the good extranjeros that we are, we won’t be taking part in any protests on the 20th.  Instead, we’re helping with a Rotary fund-raiser that day (preparing food for and then feeding approx. 400 people in the main square/park here in Salina Cruz.)  We start at 7:00am and I’m not sure when we finish–but I’m expecting it to be a long and busy day. 

Interesting historical tidbit:  Profirio Diaz was the dictator that was overthrown by the Mexican revolution in 1910.  Originally from Oaxaca City, he has a very interesting background and strong links to the Isthmus.  Before he became president and subsequently a dictator, he was a hero in Mexico–having won the battle of Puebla against the French (the source of the “Cinco de Mayo” holiday.)  His second wife (Juana Catarina Romero) lived in Tehuantepec and when the pan-Isthmus train line was built it was only a few metres from her house to the train.  (More details here if you’re interested.)

Time for a another blog entry about food…

• -  despite everyone’s expectations, we haven’t been sick yet!!!
• -  it shouldn’t be a big surprise–but we’ve got lots of great Mexican food (and I really enjoy having Lupita’s right next door.)
• -  it’s been a challenge, but we’re slowly discovering the best places to find food (we know a decent butcher in the market now and have slowly found sources for a lot of different foods–including a store today that has canned salmon, dijon mustard, hoisin sauce and more.)  The only drawback is that it’s a lot of effort and planning (if you see something–you buy it–because it probably won’t be there the next time you look.)
• -  because of our location we’ve also got great seafood (I concentrate on the red snapper and sea bass, while Danielle takes care of the shellfish.)  The weather and location also allow us to enjoy an incredible selection of fresh fruit (pineapple, watermelon, bananas, etc–but it’s still not mango season yet…)
• -  and to survive the heat we drink lots of fluids: water, limonada (limeade), horchata (a rice/cinnamon drink), fruit juice and of course the Istmo’s favourite soft drink–Fresca (which also goes really well with tequila.)

However, I should also mention the occasional “picamango” and “ronpope” slushies that we get every now and then.  Ronpope is Danielle’s choice and is essentially a crushed ice slushie topped with a rum based mix that is somewhere between egg nog and Dutch advocat.  Picamango is my choice and is the same crushed ice base but with a mixture of mango and lime and topped off with chili salt (it’s an acquired taste–but great on a hot night.)