We recently took a trip to Cuba and have just uploaded a gallery of photos for your viewing pleasure.
Megan and I have finally added some photos to our Living in Mexico - Year Two gallery. We've begun the process of transitioning our galleries to Picassa Web Albums from Google.
I like the application, but not as much as the custom solution that we had built to host our galleries on my own server. The big issue right now is that we can't find a tool to upload our photos to a self-hosted gallery software. I had used a iPhoto plugin called Photon (no longer being supported or developed) which allowed me to upload photos to our old galleries that were in a Movable Type blog, but unfortunately I can't get Photon to install on my new computer's version of iPhoto. We looked at moving to a dedicated gallery software, but the iPhoto pluggin that would be allow us to upload to that software is also not being developed. The obvious advantage of hosting our own photos is that there is no meaningful space limitations on my webhost (I currently have over 250 GB of available diskspace). Picassa Web Albums only gives you 1GB of space for photos. The other advantage is being able to customize the look and feel of our galleries.
Anybody have a killer self-hosted gallery solution that works well with iPhoto?
Last week I went to a training provided by my company about Project Management. One of the best parts about the training was the instructor. He told some very amusing anecdotes about projects he had worked on in the past and where they went right and went wrong.
One of the stories he told was about a project a major technology company (but not my employer) did for the Mexican federal government in the late '80s or early '90s. The major technology company was hired to provide a computer system to completely overhaul the federal voting records and make all the records digital. This involved a lot of data entry at the central offices in Mexico City and registration of voters in regional centers. This was an important contract for the major technology company because it represented one of the first developing countries to have digital voting records and a successful completion of the project could mean many future contracts with other governments.
The first problem encountered was with the computers used for data entry in Mexico City. The major technology company started getting reports of high failure rates and very slow progress in migrating the data. The problem was how the employees in this area were hired. The Government was responsible for hiring these employees and rather than hire a temp. agency to hire workers skilled in data entry, the government sent people to the busy subway stops and hired people as they were exiting the subway. This meant that most of the people hired had little or no computer skills and little or no knowledge on how to treat computers. When technicians for the major technology company showed up to perform service at the office they found computers with food (tortas de tamale mostly) and drink spilled all over the computers. Generally the computers were treated badly and the progress was slow because most of the data entry was done by employees who typed using the good ol' hunt 'n' peck method.
The second problem had to do with high failure rates for the servers at some of the regional centers. The government was responsible for leasing the buildings for these regional centers, but had failed to check the condition of the roofs at many of these centers. When the rainy season started many of the servers at these centers started to get dripped on by leaks in the roofs. Workers at theses centers either didn't understand or didn't care that this was bad for the computers.
By this point news of the problems with the elections system started making its way into the press. Most of the articles didn't talk about the cause of the problems, but simply blamed the major technology company for "delays" in the deployment of the system. Eventually news of the problems made its way to the executive management of the company. Finally, the CEO of the company made a decision. No matter what the cost, even if it meant a loss on this project, the major technology company would fix the problems and complete the project on schedule. This meant hiring a temp. agency to hire qualified replacement workers for the data entry. This meant repairing and sealing the roofs at the regional center. This meant a lot of many spent by the technology company on non-technology solutions. The project did get completed, but at a significant loss to the company.
What did this teach us about Project Management? Well, for one, make sure that the contract spells out the responsibility of both parties and make sure both parties understand these responsibilities.
Last night Megan and I went to downtown and saw the Nortec Collective in concert. This was a free show that was part of the 10th annual Festival Cultural de Mayo.
The Nortec Collective is a art and music group based in Tijuana and are best known for an album they released 2000 called "The Tijuana Sessions". The artists in the collective sample instrumental parts from old norteño recordings and combine them with electronic and dance music. This makes for great music and an entertaining album, but I was worried that it wouldn't make for a very good live show.
Happily, the band blew my expectations out of the water. It really helped that they invited Banda Agua Caliente, an excellent typical norteño band, to play along with them. This meant that instead of using noreño samples, they had a live band to play these parts. The band knew the songs well and enhanced the electronic music perfectly. I particularly liked the version of "Dandy del Sur" and "Don Loope" that were played.
Since Nortec is an art and music collective they had some really great graphic design showing behind the band during the songs. The art perfectly complimented the songs and enhanced the entire concert.
After a very large set with both the banda and the electronic musicians, there was a shorter set featuring just the Nortec Collective and some of their more club music songs. After this the banda did their own set. We left just before midnight, but not before hearing a truly amazing cover of Depeche Mode's "Never Let Me Down Again". It was really great to hear a new wave song covered by a banda group with it's big brass band sound and supported by the electronic musicians of Nortec.
If you would like to hear some of the Nortec Collectives songs, download some o f the following mp3s:
Colorado - Fussible
Dandy del Sur - Hiperboreal
Last weekend Megan and I went to what is billed as the largest festival in Mexico, the Feria de San Marcos in Aguascalientes. Aguascalientes is the capital of the state of the same name and is northeast of Jalisco (where Guadalajara is located). The fair runs for a month in April and May every year. The fair features many concerts, exhibits, carnival rides, lots of partying and two of the more cruel animal related sports around.
Cockfighting, while normally illegal in Mexico, is allowed at the Feria de San Marcos because of a tradition of cockfighting at past festivals. We didn't get to go to a cockfight while we were in Aguascalientes since they had finished a few days earlier.
We did however go to our first ever bullfight on Saturday evening. Megan and I both had mixed feelings about going to a bullfight. It is an inherently violent and cruel death for the bull, but it is also supposed to be one of the most beautiful and interesting cultural activities in Latin America.
[More after the jump and more photos to come later in the week]
We went to the arena about 6pm and took our seats in the top of the shady side of the arena. We were just in time for the first of 6 bulls. There were 3 matadors, so each were to fight 2 bulls each. Here is how each fight goes (more or less).
As the bull enters the arena there is the main matador and three assistants (banderilleros) test the bull to make sure it is up for a fight. They provoke the bull into charging them and then deftly dodge out of the way. After they are satisfied that the bull means to trample them and the crowd is satisfied they will get a good show, they move on to the next phase. If they or the crowd aren't happy with the bull, then the bull gets sent out of the arena to await another fight. This happened once during the fight we watched and subsequently a "reserve" bull was brought out to fight.
The next phase begins with the entry two horse-mounted picadores. The picadores each have a long spear and their horses are very well padded and protected. The banderilleros draw the bull towards one of the picadores at the outside of the ring. The picador then stabs the bull in the back with the spear. It seems like the picadores are not looked upon very favorably by the crowd. The crowd views them as a necessary evil, but if the picador is to enthusiastic about doing his job the crowd starts to boo and yell at him. This was nearly my least favorite part of the fight. It seems very cruel and weakens the bull to a very large degree. In a few of the fights we saw the bull was so hurt by the picador that it could barely fight or standup.
In the next phase the banderilleros or the matador try to stab the bull with 3 sets of 2 barbed sticks. This further weakens the bull and prepares it for the ultimate phase.
In the last phase, the matador faces the bull by himself. The matador again dodges the bull over and over. The bull is generally bleed very badly by this point and seems to understand that this is a fight for its life. After a lot of dodging and taunting the matador will get a sword from ring side. He faces off against the bull and while the bull charges he will try to stab the bull behind the head in spine. If successful, the bull will drop to the ground and die, but this is very rare, in the 8 fights we saw (there were two extra fights that night) only one of the matadors managed to do this. If they are unsuccessful, then the bull will walk around with a sword stuck in its back and the matador will try once or twice more. If the bull collapses, but does not die, then the fight is over and a assistant will stab the bull in the back with a long knife to insure it is dead. The bulls body is then dragged out of the arena by a team of bulls.
I left the arena after 8 bullfights with similarly mixed feeling about the sport. It is a beautiful event to watch, with the matadors and banderilleros more like very talented dancers than anything. The crowd participation is very interesting and important aspect of the entire event. At the same time, the killing of the bull was unnecessarily cruel and violent. Most of the fight seems to involve taunting the bull into charging the fighters, but I don't believe this is really the natural inclination of the bull. In the end, both Megan and I decided we would like to go to another bullfight here in Guadalajara, but I still think it will be difficult to watch.
For the week after Easter Megan and I took a week off work and traveled to Belize. We've posted photos, but due to circumstances (i.e. not having a Mac) we couldn't put them up in our Hawk's Eye photo gallery. We used Google's Picasa and their Picasa Web Gallery service. Also, you can see our photos in Google Earth by downloading this file.
The trip was very interesting and Belize is unlike any country I've ever been to. Owing to its status as a former British colony and the subsequent influx of different cultures, this is one of the most diverse places I have ever been. There are Africans, Mayans mestizos, Chinese, East Indians and a fairly large Mennonite population. Most Belizans speak 2-3 languages (English, Creole, and Spanish being the most common) and some speak 5 or more (possibly a Mayan dialect or Garínagu). All this in a country with only about 250,000 people.
We flew into Chetumal in southern Mexico on the Saturday before Easter and found the town completely full with holiday travelers. We couldn't find a hotel, but we heard that there were hotel-casinos over the Mexico-Belize border, so we caught a bus over the border hoping they would have a room available. We figured that if they didn't, at least the casino was open 24 hrs. a day, so we could just stay awake in the casino. Unfortunately, there was no room at the hotel, so we just decided to stay up all night in the casino.
Early the next morning (Easter Sunday) we caught a bus headed for San Ignacio in the Cayo district of western Belize. San Ignacio is very close to the Guatemala border and is located in a lush jungle setting. On Monday we went on a tour of the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. We saw an amazing cave and swam in some really refreshing river pools. On Tuesday morning, we woke up very early to catch a bus further west to the small village of San Jose Succotz. We crossed a hand-cranked ferry and walked up to the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich. These ruins are very nice, but not huge. We were the first people up to the ruins and got to roam the entire grounds by ourselves. After walking back to San Jose Succotz we caught a bus to the southern coastal town of Dangriga.
We didn't stay long in Dangriga and caught the first boat to Tobacco Caye on the edge of 2nd largest barrier reef in the world. The entire island is only 5km square and has only a couple small lodges, we stayed at the Paradise Inn. The Paradise Inn consists of 4 small cabins with porches out over the water. The island is beautiful. Our pictures don't really do it justice. For the next four days (through Friday) our daily activities pretty much consisted of snorkeling, eating, reading in a hammock, snorkeling, eating, reading in a hammock and more snorkeling. It was an incredibly relaxing place and just what we needed.
On Friday we caught the morning ferry back to Dangriga and then caught a bus to Orange Walk in northern Belize. Orange Walk wasn't my favorite city, but we found a good hotel and booked a tour of the Mayan Lamanai ruins for the next day. On Saturday we woke up and caught a taxi to the river docks were the tours to Lamanai leave. The boat ride up the New River to Lamanai was a great way to see the bird life of Belize. We saw all 5 species of herons that reside in Belize as well as a many other birds. We even caught a glimpse of a crocidile. The Lamanai ruins are much larger than Xunantunich. We enjoyed a very thorough tour of the site and I climbed the highest temple on the site. It is 150 meters tall and at over 300 meters above sea level it is the highest spot in northern Belize.
After our tour of Lamanai and the New River we caught a bus up to Chetumal, Mexico. We stayed there Saturday night and then caught a flight back on Sunday morning.
Yeah, it sucks that I lost my passport, my work visa and my bank card - all in the last week. But I also sat 9 feet away from my favorite actor (ohmygod!, ohmygod!, ohmygod!), Gael Garcia Bernal, at a press conference. I also had a nice interview with Yann Martel, author of one of my favorite books, "Life of Pi." My interview with Yann made it into the newspaper - but my nice little caption story on Gael did not. My editor says he wants to attract a younger audience. Hel-lo! print a damn photo of the hottest, coolest, most respectable actor out there!
Film Star and Author Host Fund-raising Event
Actor and activist Gael Garcia Bernal joined Nobel Prize winning author Jose Saramago to present Guadalajara’s Civil Hospital Association Foundation with a check for 475 thousand pesos, representing the proceeds from their joint reading of selections from Saramago’s latest work, “Las internitencias de la muerte (The Intermittence of Death),” at the Teatro Diana on Wednesday evening. The donation will be used to assist children battling cancer in the city. Bernal, who grew up in Guadalajara, said he felt honored to have been invited to work with Saramago in his hometown, and that he feels the event is a great example of what each person can do in his or her life to help others. “The Intermittence of Death” describes a fictitious country in which the inhabitants cease to die and are suspended in an eternal old age, much to their increasing despair.
On Nov. 10th we completed our first year living in Mexico, and now, nearly a month later, we have finished up the photo gallery from the first year. We also started a new gallery, Living in Mexico - Year Two, so we can have a new place to put our year two photos. Right now it has photos from our Thanksgiving weekend trip to Zacatecas.
Megan has started writing for the local English language newspaper and her first story came out in last Friday's edition. You can read Day of Dead market is a traditional family affair at the Guadalajara Reporter website for the next week, but when the new edition goes online this Friday the story will disappear in a subscribers only section, so here is an alternate version.
One thing I haven't been talking about much on this blog over the last 9 months is how I have been earning money. I worked from Nov. 2005 until April 2006 at a Guadalajara Apple retailer called "MacGic World". I wasn't legally allowed to work in Mexico, but I was working on getting my work visa. It was a pretty interesting job (mostly sales and a bit of service), but ultimately wasn't really what I wanted to do, the hours were long, and the pay wasn't that great. I have some pretty good stories about this job that I haven't posted yet, but you might yet see them here in the not to distant future.
So I applied for a job at Hewlett-Packard Mexico and in late April, I was offered a position as a Project Manager. I quit my job at MacGic World immediately and started anew on my work visa process. The lawyers for HP and I hoped I would be able to start as soon as June 1st, but due to many different reasons (mostly the amazingly bureaucratic Mexican immigration department) I didn't actually receive my work visa (called and FM-3) until July 14th. HP only allows you to start on the 1st and 16th of the month, but I was too late to start on July 16th, so my start date was set for August 1st (coincidently Megan's birthday).
Finally, after months of waiting, I started my first day of work Tuesday. It, of course, rained and I, of course, had left my umbrella at home, so before I even arrived I was pretty well drenched. Nothing a 10+ year Oregon resident can't handle, but annoying. So far (after only 2.5 days) the job is very interesting. I am still trying to get my bearings around the office and I am only beginning to understand exactly what my role will be (so expect more details about the job later).
Yesterday, Sunday, Guadalajara celebrated México’s 3-1 victory over Iran in the World Cup. The World Cup is the most popular sporting event for much of the world, including México, trumping the Summer Olympics by a considerable margin. Bars opened early, or stayed open late - depending on how you look at it - and were full by 11:00am local time, when the game started. Many businesses closed, and many more just moved TV sets into the office or sales floor, making little pretense of doing any business. At major intersections throughout the city, recently installed jumbo screens broadcast the game. As each goal was scored, the collective roar of Tapatios reverberated from the hills of the valley.
México’s victory was particularly sweet for Guadalajara. The national team’s goalie, Oswaldo Sanchez, is from here. Last week his father died in Guadalajara. Sanchez flew back from Germany for the funeral, and then back again to Germany just in time for the game. There wasn’t an un-choked throat in the house watching him fall to his knees and raise a salute to his father after the match, while his teammates jumped into each other’s arms.
The center of victory celebrations was the Minerva roundabout, where thousands of soccer fans turned out to share their excitement. Chaos reigned as vehicles trying to get through, competed with cars there for celebrations and pedestrians who ran amongst traffic with flags, noisemakers, and the ubiquitous México World Cup jersey. In the 90-degree sun, the revelers continued on for hours without tiring. The PRI candidate for mayor, Dr. Leobardo Alcalá, took advantage of the opportunity to show his everyman-ness and his patriotism, coming out shake hands and snap photos with his constituents.
“You can’t bribe anyone at the Migration Office anymore,” says the director of the institute where I hope to obtain gainful (read: legal) employment as a teacher, if I ever successfully navigate the bureaucracy of the Migration Office. “Used to be that you had to pay a little something to pass through every step of the process, 200 pesos here, 100 pesos there. Now it’s just paperwork – lots and lots of paperwork.” But if there is any trace of wistfulness in his heavily accented English, I don’t catch it.
Only a few days before, chatting with a friend of a friend at a party, I had shared my consternation about the latest roadblock in my long and winding course through the government office I’ve come to dread. On this particular occasion, I had climbed the 6 floors (the elevator has been in service only 3 or 4 out of the 10 times I’ve gone) to the drab brown headquarters, presumably to receive notification that my application had, finally, been tentatively approved pending successfully completion of a long list of vague and mysterious requirements, which I’d be informed of at the appropriate juncture. Don’t get me wrong, I bore no illusions that I would be receiving positive news – I’d learned better. But still, I must admit that I was surprised when they told me they couldn’t continue to process my application until my perspective employer updated their tax documents and licensure status with the Migration Office. I knew what the director of the institute would say before I told him about the hitch, “but I know they have the current records on file, they aren’t supposed to expire until June.” Well, of course. And so he promised to look into it, and he did, and the Migration Office told him everything appeared to be in order and they didn’t see any reason that I would have received this notification and that they would be happy to continue to process my application just as soon as I came back in with the proper documentation that I had been approved to continue the process, which I couldn’t conceivably be in possession of, now could I?
“And that’s exactly when you should have reached for your wallet,” this friend of a friend I was talking to said, and then he launched into a lesson on basic bribing skills. He said it’s the fastest way to get things done, swore that he’s got out of countless traffic violations and even through the line at the DMV, and that it is the only way to process paperwork. “You got to remember,” he said, “it’s not like these workers are making enough income to get by – basically, it’s their salary you’re paying. You just act really worried and desperate, but calm, and say ‘Isn’t there any way we can resolve this now?’” I really can’t imagine myself being cool and/or firm enough to pull this off over the narrow partitions at the Migration Office. “What if they’re offended that I would try to bribe them? What if they deny my visa application all together, and red flag my name in the system or something?” I asked. He shrugged, apparently it had never come up. I started to seriously consider that it may be my only hope of living here legally.
I was just shy of practicing in the mirror a few times, summoning up my flair for the dramatic, and marching up those stairs, when a casual conversation with the director about Mexican bureaucracy put an end to my mounting anxiety. A long time resident and fluent in the art of paying “miscellaneous fees,” he knew better than anyone that the winds of reform had blown through the Migration Office. “No,” he said, “now you just have to jump through all the hoops, stick with it, and hope for the best.” Fine by me – cutting through red tape is just too stressful.
Megan and I launched a website today with information about our home in Guadalajara, Mexico. We have dubbed the house "Casa Citlalli".
An article in last Friday’s edition of El Público, a Guadalajara daily newspaper, reported that deaths resulting from public transportation in the city decreased 33% last year from 2004. In 2004, 51 people died as a result of bus accidents and careless bus drivers, in 2005 only 34 did. The State Commission on Human Rights has issued recommendations aimed at making the bus systems more comfortable, safe, and efficient for passengers and other motorists. Ex-secretary of Urban Health and Transportation, Germán Camacho, stated, “If the body in charge of the defense of human rights gets involved in the issue of public transportation, something is seriously wrong.”
A statement that any passenger on any local bus will attest to. To say they drive like maniacs is a cliché, and only scratches the surface of the particular indifference and incompetence of a city bus driver. They frequently ignore people hailing them from a bus stop if it means that they can make the light at the intersection before it turns red, or ignore traffic lights altogether. Alternatively, drivers will allow so many passengers on the bus that it becomes difficult to breathe, and makes it nearly impossible to get off the bus. Drivers often don’t allow sufficient time for passengers to descend the bus before they start rolling again, despite signs that assure the bus can’t move until the doors are closed. They seem to delight in accelerating to ridiculous speeds, barreling down narrow neighborhood streets, only so they can slam on the brakes at the next corner, throwing as many riders off balance as possible. Additionally, they often cut off traffic, pick fights with motorists, and play games of chicken with drivers who upset them, leaving their passengers blessing themselves and hanging on for dear life. Since it simply isn’t possible that there could be so many madmen in one city, and disregard for safety is so predominate amongst bus drivers, one is left to assume that this problem has less to do with individuals than with demands and stipulations put upon them by their supervisors.
All this being said, the purpose of this observation is pay tribute to the Route 640. In a city of dangerous traffic and crazy drivers, the 640 bus is a relative beacon of safety and tranquility. First of all, there is the convenience. It travels practically right from our doorstep, winds through cute little neighborhoods, and drops us off at Centro Magno (where Noah works). From there you can ride it all the way to the neighborhoods of southeast Guadalajara, and it even passes by the neighborhood where I lived in 2000. Second, the drivers on the 640 bus seem to have a more relaxed and humanistic worldview. They generally drive carefully and slowly, and there have been a few times when we have been able to hail the bus when we weren’t standing at the designated stop, but rather approaching it (something so unheard of that we marveled over it for days the first time it happened). Finally, the 640 is almost never packed, there is plenty of room for everyone to sit comfortably and enjoy the interesting street life going by outside the window. Bless you 640!
Since the concept was first introduced to me in high school Spanish class, the Mexican traditions surrounding the Posada have remained somewhat mysterious to me. Vague assertions were made about candlelight processions, piñatas, and feasts in the evenings leading up to Christmas. But in all of my superficial inquiries, no one has ever explained to me exactly how a Posada works. Now that I was to be living in México, I hoped to be invited to take part in a neighborhood Posada so that I could see what it is all about.
Having just moved into our neighborhood, I knew I’d have to ingratiate myself upon my neighbors quickly to establish sufficient rapport in time to be invited into their homes by December 16th, which is when I was told the nightly Posadas begin. Eagerly, I began introducing myself around. At the bakery a few doors down I steered a friendly conversation about sweet breads to Christmas plans. “So, will you be having a Posada this year?”
“Yes, of course,” she said. “Mine will be on Tuesday.”
I stood a few moments, waiting for her to do the only polite thing. No offer came. “So tell me, what time do the Posadas usually start?” I shamelessly encouraged.
“Oh, they usually come around 8:00.” She handed me my change, smiling.
I couldn’t stall any longer; I took my change and my rolls and left, weighed down by my status as a stranger.
Subsequent conversations with my neighbors Pepe, who runs a lunch stall outside his house, and Jesus Lara across the street, were equally fruitless. The morning of 16th, in quiet desperation, I threw myself upon poor Irena, the tiny old woman who owns my favorite dry goods store. As long as I kept thinking up items I needed, then she was obligated to answer all my questions. “Do people have to be invited explicitly? Does everyone just know where to show up and when? What does the host offer to the guests? How long does a Posada last?” Overwhelmed, Irena finally suggested that I seek out Doña Maria who apparently serves as a kind of coordinator for the Posadas that occur in our neighborhood. But Irena’s advise that I ask around door-to-door until I found Doña Maria, seemed to take my curiosity a step too far.
And so, around 8:00 in the evening, I settled into the front room of our house to see if I could learn anything by watching activity on the street. Across the way and a few houses down, I noticed groups of children began to gather around a non-descript door. As more children arrived, they grew rowdier and louder. The door opened, a woman stepped out and told them all to be quiet, to line up against the wall and be patient. Several minutes later she emerged again, carrying a platform that had statuettes of Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus. She asked which of the children would like to carry it. The kids snapped to attention and pleaded to be given the honor of carrying the statues. Then, they started singing Christmas carols as the woman lead them off down the street, around the corner, and out of sight.
Each following night it was the same – around 8:00 children gathered beneath glowing Christmas lanterns at the same door, the woman that I decided must be Doña Maria emerged to lead them off toward that evening’s Posada. Sometimes a few parents of the kids would accompany them. I watched from inside the house, too curious to miss the ritual, too embarrassed to trundle along after them for the main event.
It wasn’t until Christmas Eve, the culminating night of the Posadas, that I was given a straightforward explanation of what happened after that procession turned the corner. We were invited to have Christmas Eve dinner with the family of Noah’s co-worker, Monica. Over spicy shrimp soup and brandy, I finally got definitive answers to my questions. Posadas are primarily attended by children, sometimes with their parents. The holy family statues are carried to the door of the host of the Posada (arrangements are made well in advance to determine who will host the Posadas each night) and the children begin singing a carol asking for shelter for the night. From the other side of the door, the host’s family sings back to the procession, until they open the door and allow the group in. Everyone sings a rosary, then more carols, then another few rosaries. Atole (a thick drink made with corn flour) or Christmas punch is often served with tamales or pozole (a hominy stew). Wrapped balls of candies are given out. The kids traditionally break open a piñata representing the Star of Bethlehem. A final rosary is said, the children leave for home, and the statues remain with the host for night.
“Where there any Posadas in your neighborhood?” Monica asked me.
“Oh yes, every night,” I replied.
“And you didn’t want to go?”
“Maybe next year.”
Only a couple days after we decided to move into our new house (but before we actually had moved in) Megan stopped by a veterinary office to see if they knew of any pet shelters were we could adopt a kitten. It happened that they had a kitten up for adoption who had been attacked and wounded by a dog. Megan met the kitten and was instantly in love. A few days later I went to the vet's office with Megan and met the kitten and was equally enamored.
So a couple days after we moved to our house we had a new little kitten. We decided to name her Huérfana, which means orphan in Spanish. For a short we call her Güera (which means "fair skined"). She healed up very quickly and got to have the cone around her neck removed last weekend. Now she can roam around our courtyard, climb the lime tree and generally be very cute.
For the last few weeks Megan and I have been living in a very nice hotel room at (no joke) The Hotel California in Guadalajara. It was a very nice hotel, but like all hotel rooms, it had its limitations (no kitchen, one room, etc.).
That all changed on Wednesday when we recieved the keys to the house we will be renting while we are living in Mexico. It is a great old Mexican house in the classic style. It has three bedrooms, a large kitchen/dining room area and a huge courtyard in the center with a lime tree that aparently is always bearing fruit. It is only about a 30 min. bus ride from my job (which hopefully I'll be able to write about more in the future) in a pretty quiet neighborhood.
When we recieved the keys and moved in on Wednesday we had our first "Gringo moment" in our new house. As we walked in to the courtyard we noticed white paint from the newly painted walls all over the cement in the courtyard. Megan and I both started freaking out a bit and worrying about how hard it would be to get the paint out of the cement. Then the guy who was doing all the repair work simply mopped up all the "paint" (which turned out to be easily cleanable whitewash). Well, we felt pretty stupid about that and vowed to try and take a bit more relaxed attitude towards these kind of things. We'll see how that goes and how many more "Gringo moments" we have over the next couple years.
I have posted a small gallery of photos of our new house, and the last image is a rough floor plan so you can get a better idea of the layout of the place. The place has so much potential and we just can't wait to start painting, fixing up and filling it with furniture.
When it comes to visual entertainment, in all its tragedy, comedy, and excitement, little else compares to the lively street activity here. Walking out the door and down the street beats television any day, which is convenient for us as we have no television. As a newcomer, you are always bound to see something new and interesting, something that you will reflect on all day.
Performers are a feature at most major intersections. Usually dressed as clowns, they juggle fire, dance, and stage mock battles for the few pesos that the stopped traffic will offer up. They generally show impressive efficiency and timing, knowing exactly how long they have to perform and collect money before the light turns green, and they are fairly talented to boot. I spoke to a fire juggler who performs at an intersection near where we live; he said that he makes enough to get by and that he finds the job better than most.
We currently reside on a major East-West avenue that runs all the way through the city core, for several kilometers. Every Sunday from 10am-2:00pm, the entire length of the avenue is shut down to automobile traffic and it becomes the Vía RecreActiva; hundreds of thousands of people come out on bikes, roller-skates, skateboards, and sneakers to traverse it. It is wonderful to see so many families and young kids out on the street. Along the route, at the Parque Revolución, free Spinning and Aerobics classes are given. The Vía RecreActiva has been functioning in Guadalajara for just over a year, and has been so successful and popular that it is being used as a model for other Mexican cities and Latin American countries.
Then, too, there are horrifying street scenes – reminding a pedestrian of his or her own mortality and the fragility of human life. Just today I was waiting for a bus, when a police car raced past and around the corner. My eyes followed the flashing lights and I saw just at the end of the block there was broken glass and a small body laying in the street. Family sat next to the child, there were a dozen onlookers - I was amazed by how quiet the whole scene was. Then I saw a car parked hastily a few yards away from me, a large round hole in the windshield of the passenger’s side. The police mostly milled around talking to witnesses, it wasn’t until a coroner’s truck arrived that the family members were gently approached and moved away.
As you stroll through the wide, colonial pedestrian malls of downtown Guadalajara you immediately notice the predominance of big, Cinderella ball gowns. Storefront after storefront displays these Marie Antoinette dresses in every color imaginable, from creamscicle orange to lime green to eggplant to smack-you-in-the-face pink. These gowns will be the centerpieces of the Quinceañera – a young lady’s 15th birthday and “coming out” party. In their planning, trappings, and expense these bashes resemble a wedding; the overwhelming number of stores dedicated to their production serve as evidence of a lucrative and thriving industry. Visit nearby Parque Agua Azul on a Sunday afternoon and you will find three entrance fees posted for the leafy, enclosed gardens: adults-10 pesos, children-5 pesos, photography sessions-67 pesos. Inside the park, amidst picnicking families and young couples looking for a romantic spot, at any given time there are a half-dozen of these coifed and uncomfortable looking princesses being led from flowering tree to picturesque bridge by a photographer and followed by an entourage of mothers, aunts and girlfriends.
On Wednesday I had my first job interview in Mexico, and by the end of the day yesterday I had a job offer. I took it. I'll be a Macintosh Repair Technician working at The Apple Store at the Centro Magna mall in Guadalajara. In Mexico, The Apple Stores aren't actually owned by Apple Computers (like they are in the states), but are instead run as a franchise by a Mexican company. So, I'm not working for Apple (one of my employment dreams), but pretty close. The job will be good, but not necessarily great. The pay is terrible by USA standards, but good enough for Guadalajara. It is not exactly a career building job (since it is closest to the work I did at Pacific University 6 years ago). This all is pretty much what I expected, and I'm just happy to find work.
Of course, getting a job offer necessitates getting a work visa. Now I get to navigate the bureaucracies of not just one country, but two. Turns out I need to give a copy of my diploma to the Mexican immigration officials, but this document has to be certified as official by the university that issued it, then notarized by a notary public and the notarization has to be apostillized by the State of Oregon as authentic, so that it can be recognized as official by the Mexican authorities. Phew. . . that was exhausting just to type. That is just one of the little things I have to do before I get a work permit (and therefore before I can start work) that has driven this from simply headache stage to pain-in-the-ass stage. I'm hoping that it never gets to nightmare stage. Luckily my new employers seem to be pretty patient about this process and are going to try to send me to an Apple training (unpaid of course) next week in Mexico City.
So if all goes well I'll be working at an Apple Store fixing Macintoshes in the next month or so. Megan's search for work is going well, she has already had one interview and has another today. There are lot's of English language institutes in Guadalajara, so we are pretty confident in her ability to find work soon.
I am happy to announce that all of our photos from our South America trip have been posted. During the 5 weeks we traveled South America we took over 800 pictures. After some tough decisions, we were able to cut them down to 241 pictures. To make that easier to digest for our friends and family we have divided them up into three galleries of photos, one for each country (with Bolivia and Chile sharing a gallery).
Peru Gallery (71 photos): Photos from Cusco, Machu Picchu, and Lake Titica.
Bolivia and Chile Gallery (70 photos): Photos from Isla del Sol, La Paz, Salar de Uyuni, Southwestern Bolivian Highlands and a few from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.
Argentina Gallery (100 photos): Photos from Salta, Tafi de Valle, Cordoba and Buenos Aires
Inside each gallery you will see thumbnails of our photos. Click on any thumbnail to view a much larger version of the photo. From this view you can click on the "Next" or "Previous" buttons to page through the large versions of the photos. I hope you enjoy all the photos!
Also, I updated the West Coast Tour photos.
We left Buenos Aires on November 7th for a long three day journey through Peru, Costa Rica, Los Angeles and finally ending in Guadalajara, Mexico on November 10th. Our last few days in Buenos Aires were very eventful and a lot of fun. On Friday evening, Bush arrived in Mar Del Plata (about 5 hours by bus away) and there were lots of protests. Our hotel was on the main street between the Legislative building and the Executive Palace (Ave. de Mayo) and many of the marchers went down this street on the way to the Legislative building. We decided to walk along with them to the Legislative building. The protests we saw were very peaceful, although almost every group of protestors had a few young people with masks on carrying a wooden club or metal pipe. Not something you see at protest in the U.S.
On Saturday, Megan and I took a trip by boat to a former prison island (and now nature reserve) in the Rio de Plata called Isla Martin Garcia. This island was home to no less than 4 Argentine presidents (most before or after their term in office). The island was beautiful and definitely a place that would be great to live. Unfortunately only those who work on the island (mostly Coast Guard, tourist services and park rangers) are allowed to live there.
During the trip we met a very nice Argentine couple, Arturo and Lily. We talked with them a lot and by the end of the boat ride they invited over for lunch the next day. We of course agreed.
The next day we woke up and went to a craft markets and then grabbed a train out to Arturo and Lily's house. They live outside the federal district of Buenos Aires, in the Cuidala neighborhood. The neighborhood is a very nice middle class suburb of Buenos Aires. Lilly cooked a nice lunch of ravioli and roast beef for us. After a nice slow lunch and lots of conversation about politics we went to the social club that they are members of and enjoyed a nice coffee.
That afternoon we went to another craft market (a huge one with great artisan goods). After buying some very nice things at the market we went to a park to watch Megan's sister Rebeca dance at an outdoor milonga (tango dance) before we said goodbye to her. Rebeca is staying in Buenos Aires till the end of December to learn more Spanish and teach English in a volunteer program.
The next day we packed up our things and we caught our flight and headed towards Guadalajara.
(I'm actually writing this entry from my hotel room in Guadalajara, Mexico. I didn't have a chance to write an entry before I left South America.)
Yesterday morning we arrived in Buenos Aires on a long night bus from Cordoba. Cordoba was a nice city, but we made the mistake of visiting the most Catholic city in Argentina on a weekend. Most of the shops where closed at noon on Saturday and closed completely on Sunday. On Sunday we went to the zoo and had a great time seeing one of the best zoos I've ever seen.
Buenos Aires is a very large city and we'll be spending 7 days here to see as much as we can. We'll be spending about 1 day in each of the major neighborhoods. Yesterday and today we spent most of our time in the central district of the city. We crossed the widest street in the world (Avenue 9 de Julio) a few times on foot and in car.
We also found this good guide pamphlet to guide us around the city. It has a lot of updated information that our big guide books don't have, but it also has some strange little pieces. Below are the few I have noticed so far:
Casa Rosada: "Located in front of May Square, this is the seat of National Government. This pink color has nothing to do with a pro-gay tendency, but to the decision of former president Sarmiento . . ."
Plaza San Martin: "One of the city's most beautiful squares. It presents slopes and wonderful trees, such as the Jacaranda; it is ideal fro sunbathing, meeting friends, or trying to enter a conversation with one of the pretty women of Buenos Aires.
Reserva Ecológica: "The Reserve is a natural circuit with thousands of typical trees, herbs and bushes of the Delta and River Plate banks. There also are many birds and small animals. Ideal for bird watching, taking pictures, riding bicycles, or jogging. And an excellent meeting point for gays.
I'm not sure if these are just bad attempts at jokes, cultural differences in general, or if it is just the weirdest little guide book in the world. These are just three from the central area that we visited today. I'll post more when I find them.
Well, sorry for the 10 day gap in posting. I was away from the internet for 4 days and then the internet in Chile was really expensive. Let me briefly recap what has happened since La Paz.
I mentioned in my last entry that I was going to go to a prison in La Paz, but when I got there, the guards said that no tourists were alowed in. Dang!
After La Paz we headed to southern Bolivia to see the salt flats and the high Andean desert. On our way down (between Oruro and Uyuni) there was a road block. A bunch of students were blocking roads all over Bolivia to protest a massacre that happened two Octobers ago, known as Black October. All the advice is that you are never supposed to run a road block, but our bus driver was bound and determined to make it to Uyuni. So the bus (a large one) drove off road for about 5-10 KM, in the middle of the night. Pretty spooky.
Transportation leaves a lot to be desired in Bolivia. We didn't have one bus ride there that wasn't late, over crowded and uncomfortable.
Once we got to Uyuni we hooked up with tour group and took a 3 day, 2 night tour of the salt flats and high andean dessert of Bolivia. The salt flats were the very definition of vast. At one point in crossing the salt flats, you could look in every direction and not see the edge of the salt. We stopped at a large hill that juts out of the salt flat and is covered in really large cactus (some thought to be 1000+ years old). That night we stayed in hotel that was made out of large salt blocks. The next day we toured the many lakes of the Andean high dessert. Most of the lakes have volcanic springs near by so they are flush with chemicles giving them strange colors (white, red, deep green, and bright blue). Most of the lakes also had a sizeable population of one of the three varieties of pink flamenco native to the region. It is weird to be at 4000+ meters and see pink flamencos.
There was a supprising amount of wildlife on this leg of the trip. Andean Foxes, Vicuna (a small relative of the Llama) and Fox Rabbits (also known as Viscuchas). That night was very cold (below 0 degress centigrade), but our basic hotel kept us pretty warm. The next morning we crossed the border into Chile and arrived in San Pedro de Atacama.
San Pedro is an oasis town in the middle of the dryest dessert in the world (no rain ever in recorded history). It is also a tourist hot spot (read: expensive) in the most expensive country in South America. Food was very pricey (US $5 for a sandwich) and internet was US $1 per hour (compared to US $.30 elseware). We only stayed for two nights and that was two long for me.
We arrived in Salta, Argentina two days ago and I've really been enjoying it. I had my first argentine steak and wine last night and both were wonderful. We leave this afternoon points south on our way to Buenos Aires.
We arrived in La Paz, Bolivia yesterday and it was a big shock from the last few days of our trip. La Paz is a very busy city with people everywhere (more on that in a bit).
Before La Paz we spent a day in Cuzco and a day in Puno (both in Peru) before crossing the border into Bolivia. Our first stop in Bolivia was Copacabana, a town that apparently is a magnet for South American hippies. The town had a great vibe, the prices where great (much better than Peru) and if it wasn't for all the dogs barking at night it would have been awesome place to stay a few more nights. The next day we went to Isla del Sol in the middle of Lake Titticaca. After a painfully uncomfortable boat ride and unexpectdely gruiling hike up a very large hill we arrive at Casa de Don Pedro, a Bed and Breakfast owned by a Argentine, but managed by a local family. The location was beautiful (perched atop the highest point on Isla del Sol) and we met a few really nice aussies staying at the B&B. We saw a great sunset from the island and had some amazing views of the lake and the Andes from the rooftop terrace.
Today we took a walking tour of La Paz and went through two very busy market districts (one which had all kinds of knock-off merchendise) and saw the legistlative building and presidential palace. It is a real diffence from the calm of Isla del Sol, but now I'm pretty adjusted to it. Tomorrow we may visit a prison (which I will definately write about).
This is a very difficult entry to write because it is hard to put into words how amazing Machu Picchu is. The beauty and power is overwhelming and although Megan and I took many, many pictures, I doubt they will even do it justice.
We woke up very early in the morning on Friday (I had my days wrong in my last entry) and caught a train to Aguas Caliente (which is now officially called Machu Picchu Puebla) which is about 4 hours from Cuzco and at the base of the mountain on which Machu Picchu rests. When we arrived we found our hotel and took a walk around the town. During lunch Megan, her sister, her mom, and I decided that Aguas Calientes is kinda what Disney would make if it made a Peruvian Village. It was just a bit to perfect and was very geared toward tourists. It was very easy to have a good time in this little town.
Later that day we went to the hot springs that gave the town its name. It was nice to just relax in the hot water. We talked to some Irish and English travelers who had just made the 4 day hike up the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. This and the train are the only two ways to get to Aguas Calientes. It sounds like a great hike, and hopefully I can come back and do it some day.
The next morning (Saturday) Megan woke up very early (5 am) and skipped breakfast to catch the first bus up to the site at 5:30 am. Megan's mom, sister and I all woke up about 5:45 am had breakfast and caught a bus that left about 6:15 am. Megan was lucky enought to be one of the first people up to the Machu Pichu and got to see the entire site when it was almost totally empty of people. The pictures from this time are some of the best because of the lack of other tourists. I arrived about 6:45 or so and there weren't a ton of tourists. We walked around almost the entire site for the next 3 1/2 hours and it was just mind blowing.
I don't think I can capture the entire site, so I'll just try to write about a couple moments that really stand out for me. The first would be walking up the imperial temple near the center of the complex and seeing a falcon siting on the top of the ruin. This bird on the edge of the ruins while I was able to take many pictures of it. It was really amazing.
Walking alone through parts of the complex was great as well, I was able to get away from everybody else and just look at the architecture of the buildings and find small places with amazing beauty.
At about 10:30 am we started a pretty long walk back down to Aguas Calientes. We caught our train about 4pm and were back in Cuzco by 9pm last night.
This morning we went to 4 more ruins very close to Cuzco that all had unique beauty, but it is hard to beat the beauty of Machu Picchu.
Just a few minutes ago Megan and I found out about a proccession of a saint that was happening a few blocks from our hotel. It was a beautiful display of the unique catholisism that exists in Latin America.
Tomorrow we leave Cuzco for Puno (near Lake Titticaca). Cuzco is a great city and I really enjoyed my time here. It will be very hard to leave.
Yesterday after a long day of travel we arrived in Cuzco, Peru. We left San Francisco, on Tuesday night and arrived in Cuzco on Wednesday afternoon, with stop overs in LA, San Jose, Costa Rica and Lima, Peru. It was a lot of traveling, but more or less uneventful.
Yesterday we went to the Plaza de Armes (the main square in Cuzco) and just soaked in the surroundings. We had a great dinner at Cafe Baghdad (no kidding) which is located right on the plaza. After that we pretty much went straight to bed and enjoyed a restful evening. We are all feeling the affects of the altitude (12,500 ft), but none of has really felt more than a headache or shortness of breath.
Today we woke up went to the Plaza and visited the Cathederal. After that we went to the Muse Inka, which has a great collection of pre-inca and inca artifacts. Then we had a great lunch at a nice little cafe (whose name escapes me) I had heard a lot about the bland food I would find in the Andes, but everything I've had so far had been really great. Also, there is a pretty decent dark beer (Cuscaño Negro) that I have been enjoying. After lunch we walked to the Convento Santo Domingo, which is a very nice museum built in a former convent that was built on an Inca temple. Very nice original Inca walls. Lastly we went to the artisan market and bought some nice crafts. Now we are going to grab a bit of dinner before getting to bed a little early, so we can wake up bright and early tomorrow for our next adventure.
Tomorrow we catch the train to Machu Pichu. This is one of the big tourist destinations, but we hope to beat some of the tourist traffic by going up to the ruins on early Saturday morning instead of when we arrive late Sunday.
Well, my 30 minutes at the internet cafe are almost up. Look for another posting in a few days.
So a bit over a month ago when I publicly announced my plans to leave Portland for Mexico, I probably was a bit hasty in announcing that Megan and I would definitely be going to Mexico. Now it actually looks like we will be going to South America first!
Megan's mom and sister have been planning to go to South America this year and last week they asked us to join them on the trip. Not only do they think it would be fun to have us along, but Megan's mom will be more comfortable with a fluent Spanish speaker around (Megan, not me).
So now the plan as to travel the U.S. west coast for the month of September with stops in Seattle, Portland, McMinville, Chico, Yuba City and San Francisco. Then in late September or early October we will fly down to Lima Peru for four weeks in Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. We might go to Uruguay as well, but probably just a overnight trip to Montevideo. After that we would likely go back to Mexico to live for a year as planned.
Even though this is a fairly major shift in plans, Megan and I have been keeping an open mind so it hasn't really thrown us off at all. Plus, we get to see South America soon!
Yesterday I told my boss that I'm moving to Mexico in late August and about 15 minutes ago I sent an e-mail to my co-workers telling them the same thing. So, now I can make my Mexico category live on this blog and start talking about it more publicly.
Since this is the first many of my readers have heard about my plans, here is the run-down. Megan and I have been thinking about moving abroad for a while. We plan to live and work in Mexico (probably Guadalajara) for at least a year. After a year or so we will reevaluate and decide to stay where we are, move back to the states or move somewhere else in Latin America.
So why are we doing this? Well, we have been thinking much more seriously about buying a house and having a kidlet and have realized that once either of those two things happen, it would be very hard to move abroad. We have both been interested in living abroad for years and this just seems like the perfect time.
Expect to see a lot more entries in the Mexico category over the next few months and feel free to look at the category to see my older (previously hidden) entries about our plans.
Megan was saying last night that now we are going to move to Mexico in protest of Bush's win. Harper's magazine had the same idea and had advice for people moving abroad to get away from the president. They included the following information about Mexico:
"Mexico’s citizenship program is equally complicated. Seniors should know that the country does offer a lenient program for retirees, who may essentially stay as long as they want. But you will not be able to work or to vote, and, more important, you must remain an American for at least five years."
That's OK though, since we aren't planning on a permanent move.
So a few months ago I wrote about telling my parents that I was going to move to Mexico this coming January. Well, a lot has happened since July. Megan got a new job that she started a couple of weeks ago and after considering what it would mean to start a new job and then leave the country 6 months later, we have decided to delay our exit from the country for a few months. Now it is looking like we won't be leaving until September of 2005.
I told my mom this news while I was visiting her in California this weekend. She said that she was happy that I was staying around for a bit longer, and I suspect that she may be hoping that we stay a lot longer or don't go at all.
I haven't told my dad that we aren't going yet, but I should probably call and do that soon.
Also, for the near term, this category will remain secret since I still haven't told my boss or any of my co-workers yet.
So this is the first entry in the Mexico section of this blog. For now (July 2004) this category and all it's entries will remain hidden. The main reason I am doing this is that I haven't yet told very many people, including my boss, that I am planning on moving to Mexico in January of 2005. So until a few more people know this category will remain hidden. When I have told more people this and all the entries in this category will become visible so that people can read my thoughts on getting ready to move to Mexico and the actual move itself.
This weekend I told my dad that Megan and I are planning to move to Mexico. He was really excited for us and said what I am sure will be the general reaction of people my parent's age, "Well if you are going to do something like this, this is the time in your life when you should do it." This seems like a bit of a backhanded compliment, but I pretty much agree with them.
When I told my mom a month ago her reaction was a bit more like stunned silence. It definately took her an hour or more before she came to the same conclusion that my dad did in a matter of seconds. This doesn't really come to a suprise to me since my mom has always been a bit more protective and a little less happy about me living away from "home" in Northern California.
I am happy that I have finally told both my parents and some of my other family and now Megan and I are going to do more serious planning for the move. That starts with getting together our CVs and looking for work.
