Lewis Pennington asked:


When it comes to saving money, many people toss out ideas of a vacation. Of course, traveling to a foreign land for a vacation when things are tight can seem unrealistic, but there are possibilities! Mexico tourism is hotter than ever, and the infrastructure of this country has made it easier than ever to take a road trip to the best little vacation spot just south of the border. No, you do not have to spend a fortune to have a good time.

Entering this wondrous country is easier than ever. Crossing the border for a day of fun in the sun is a possibility that does not take a lot of forethought. In fact, you can make this a spur of the moment vacation that will give you memories enough for a lifetime. With the price of gas, though, you may find it better to carpool so invite friends and family and share the cost! This will definitely be something you can appreciate with everyone.

Here are a few tips for experiencing the best of Mexico tourism even on a budget!

Accommodations are important. You will find that you can save money by getting off the beach. If you do not mind traveling a bit for your pristine, virgin beaches, you will find it is advantageous to get a cottage or hotel that is further from the beach. Another great idea is to get a vacation rental if you have a whole slew of people. You will be able to rent a house or villa and split the cost which will save you money. Generally, the further from the main areas you can get, the lower the cost of the accommodations.

Food is good too! Everyone has to eat and drink. Even if you just eat sandwiches and drink water, you will find that you need this on your vacation. Instead of eating at those pricey restaurants, consider stopping at a local grocer and making your own food. Many of the accommodations you will find come complete with a kitchen or kitchenette. This can save a lot of money. Of course, there are some morsels of cuisine you will want to try so you can save money for those excursions.

Mexico tourism is a wonderful concept these days. You will want to set aside a few dollars for guided tours. Of course, some people prefer exploring on their own, but there are guided tour buses that will take you to Chichen Itza or other ruins. You will find it is easier to take the tour bus than to drive yourself. Even if you are just exploring local shopping malls, having money for taxi services and other such amenities is going to serve you well.

When it comes to Mexico tourism, you can enjoy your weekend by driving over the border and finding yourself a nice villa for the stay. You will not have to spend a fortune, and the good times you have will make memories that last a lifetime. This is great for families or just a group of friends. You choose what you need, and then the people of this beautiful country will make it happen for you.

James Finch asked:


Federal lawmakers patted themselves on the back, last Friday, in a joint bi-partisan news release issued by three New Mexico politicians: U.S. Senators Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman, and U.S. Congressman Steve Pearce. Their celebratory remarks were meant to remind voters why the politicians were in Washington – to bring their state new jobs for at least some of New Mexico’s voters. While the chorus of praise revolved around creating new jobs and bringing millions of dollars into the state’s economy, is there more behind this story, which has not yet been told?

For Senator Domenici, this was another major victory as the longest serving U.S. Senator in New Mexico’s history. The Republican Senator heads the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Domenici made his views on nuclear energy quite clear in his book “A Brighter Tomorrow: Fulfilling the Promise of Nuclear Energy” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004). He began pursuing Louisiana Energy Services to move to New Mexico in February 2003, after it became apparent Hartsville, Tennessee didn’t want uranium being enriched in their backyard.

And again, it was Domenici, whose last minute negotiations with Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, led to the adoption of the Part 810 Waiver. The waiver allowed Louisiana Energy Services (LES) to contact foreign-owned Urenco Ltd about transferring high technology data (the gas centrifuge technology) to LES so the uranium enrichment technology could be utilized at the new facility. U.S. laws ordinarily prohibit such nuclear technology transfers, but Domenici’s intervention brought the project to the NRC approval stage. LES had been on the drawing boards since 1989, having derived its name from the state of Louisiana. The LES partnership was initially formed with the intent of building its centrifuge enrichment plant in Homer, Louisiana.

Senator Domenici’s impact upon the nuclear resurgence in the United States is evident to the entire industry and most politicians. He announced last year, “In 1997, I predicted the resurgence of nuclear energy in the United States. For the last eight years, I have worked to help make that renaissance a reality.” Is there, perhaps, one more achievement Senator Domenici would like to add on behalf of the nuclear industry, before giving up his Senate seat? In his book, “A Brighter Tomorrow,” Domenici bemoans and condemns nuclear fuel reprocessing. With the advent of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), Domenici may bring a nuclear power plant to New Mexico before he retires.

Domenici’s Democratic counterpart, Senator Jeff Bingaman, is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee. We suspect Bingaman may play an integral role in helping Senator Domenici fulfill that dream. Ironically, Senator Bingaman, who last November was invited to a Santa Fe anti-nuclear environmentalist fundraiser, and which highlighted television mogul Ted Turner, was effusive in saying about the LES enrichment facility, “This will be one of the largest construction projects our state has ever seen. And the economic impact in southeastern New Mexico will be tremendous.” Does Bingaman appear to be playing both sides of the nuclear chessboard?

No, the former attorney, who reportedly once provided legal advice to uranium mining powerhouse, Kerr McGee, is deftly maneuvering between being a good Democrat and providing what he may honestly believe is best for his state. While Bingaman has curried favor among the environmentalists, in May of this year, he accepted, along with Domenici and others, the William S. Lee Award for Leadership at the Nuclear Energy Institute’s (NEI) annual conference, saying, “I share a belief that nuclear power can make a meaningful contribution to controlling the growth of greenhouse gases, while still allowing our economy to expand.” It was his subsequent remark directed at the NEI, which leads us to believe he may be among the first to support additional nuclear growth in New Mexico. He told the NEI, “I am hoping that you will do your part to use those tools that Congress has put in place to ensure that nuclear power achieves its potential as part of our future energy mix.”

The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership

In March 2006, Senator Domenici pledged his support to President Bush’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP),

“With GNEP, we begin to close the cycle on nuclear waste in ways that prevent proliferation and reduce both the volume and toxicity of waste. By recycling spent nuclear fuel, we can reuse the uranium, which is 96 percent of spent fuel, and separate the most toxic radioactive material to be burned in an advanced burner reactor. By reusing uranium fuel and burning the transuranic material in a new generation of modern reactors, we can reduce the amount of waste placed in Yucca Mountain by a factor of 100.”

One of the key technologies in the GNEP program in is the Advanced Burner Reactor (ABR). Deriving its technology from fast reactors, which were used to make nuclear weapons, the concept of the ABR is to minimize the amount of nuclear waste, produced by the nuclear industry’s power plants, to a tiny fraction of content. The concept behind the ABR is to “burn” the transuranic elements, such as plutonium and other long-living radioactive material. In this case, burning the radioactive waste is translated as: destroying the transuranics, by converting them into shorter-lived isotopes. When the transuranic elements are consumed by the ABR, a large amount of energy is released and then converted into electricity.

Instead of burying several football fields of nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain (or elsewhere) for one million years, the toxic waste would be recycled as energy to be immediately used to power homes and industry. Part of the GNEP plan is to combine the current, or advanced, light water reactors with the ABR. As the light water nuclear reactors produce transuranics, the ABRs consume those highly radioactive elements. This leaves less nuclear waste for future disposal, and immediately provides energy.

The major issue in the western United States, about nuclear waste, is “please don’t put it in our backyard.” Several western states have been approached, and even the Carlsbad area was once discussed. Through the ABR technology, it may be possible to minimize the amount of this waste to make it a less undesirable disposal problem. A look at local New Mexico politics may provide an insight as to where the two U.S. senators may be heading with regards to a nuclear power plant for New Mexico.

New Mexico’s Enrichment Facility:Prelude to a Nuclear Power Plant?

If Federal lawmakers are happy about the proposed uranium enrichment facility, some of New Mexico’s state politicians were still floating on clouds when we talked to them yesterday. New Mexico legislator John A. Heaton, the Democratic representative serving Carlsbad, waxed enthusiastic about the enrichment facility, “It’s the first step in converting this country to nuclear energy.”

Mainly the four state senators and representatives, whom we interviewed, echoed each other’s praise about Urenco’s proposed enrichment facility. “I could not be more pleased,” Senator Carroll H. Leavell told us. “It will have a major, very positive impact on the economy.” At the peak of construction, as many as 1200 workers may be employed. Later, when the facility is operational, about 300 workers will remain. All four were pleasantly surprised that town hall hearings for the proposed facility were overwhelmingly positive, and the local citizens would be delighted to have this facility in built in southeastern New Mexico. Senator Leavell said with disgust, “Most of the (anti-nuclear) protests have come from outside our area, places like San Francisco, DC and Santa Fe.”

Senators Leavell and *** G. Kernan, the state senator from Hobbs, were invited by Urenco Ltd. to tour an enrichment technology plant in Almelo, Netherlands and left impressed with the company, its honesty and especially the management’s attitude of looking at both sides of the issues. Both state senators also observed the surrounding community failed to be negatively impacted by the enrichment facility.

Looking for deeper insights into what the future might hold, we asked all four about the possibility of a nuclear power plant in New Mexico. All four agreed it would be desirable. Additional comments by the four state politicians led us to believe there might be a second step, following Heaton’s remark about the enrichment facility being the first step.

Donald L. Whitaker, the Democratic legislator from Eunice, the closest town to the proposed enrichment facility, told us, “I would like to see a nuclear reactor in New Mexico.” Whitaker has toured a nuclear facility, and believes one would be great for the state’s economy. “They employ about one thousand and bring high-paying jobs,” he said. Representative Whitaker was not the lone voice among his fellow eastern New Mexican legislators.

“Yes, we want a nuclear reactor in New Mexico,” Representative Heaton said. Heaton is the legislature’s Vice Chairman of the Radioactive and Hazardous Materials committee and a member of the Energy & Natural Resources Committee. He discussed the ABR technology and GNEP, explaining how this would solve the waste disposal problem of nuclear reactors and sway public opinion on nuclear energy.

Senator Leavell took a more cautious approach, explaining how nuclear reactors need tremendous amounts of water. “I don’t think New Mexico could have a nuclear reactor, not with the current technology.” But, he still agreed it would be a good idea if new technologies were developed, which used less water.

Senator *** Kernan told us, “I don’t know if I should be talking about this, but we are one of the candidates for the GNEP program.” Having heard a rumor that General Atomics may propose building a nuclear power plant in eastern New Mexico, Senator Kernan confirmed such a plant may be on the drawing boards, and telling us West Texas is likely to be developed as an “alternative energy corridor.” She told us, “It would stretch from Carlsbad, New Mexico to the Odessa-Midland, Texas area.” Senator Kernan would also like New Mexico to have a nuclear plant, “I don’t have a problem with that.”

The third politician, joining Senators Domenici and Bingaman, in praising the NRC approval of a draft license for LES and Urenco Ltd, was U.S. Congressman Steve Pearce. Comments, issued by his press secretary on Friday and praising the LES announcement, may foreshadow New Mexico’s next step, “Today’s announcement marks a major milestone in our efforts to cement our state’s leadership role in the development of alternative energy.” What greater leadership by a state than in introducing the new GNEP ABR technology in New Mexico? After all, the state of New Mexico remains the founding home to nuclear technology, where the world’s first atomic technology was designed at Los Alamos.

In a related development, David Watts, President of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, recently met with Congressman Pearce about developing a helium-cooled nuclear reactor facility, which would be built underground in either Lea County, New Mexico or Andrews County, Texas. General Atomics of San Diego has funded the pre-conceptual design, which is underway and scheduled for completion in August. Waste Control Specialists has a low-level radioactive waste storage site in Andrews County. Realistically, a nuclear reactor in New Mexico is not out of the question. The legislators may get what they want. We believe Senator Domenici will ultimately set into motion the plans to bring New Mexico its first nuclear power plant. It would become his crowning achievement in helping the nuclear renaissance blossom in this country and in his state.

Daniel Millions asked:


Each year, a large number of individuals, couples, and families make the decision to travel to Mexico. Most have visited Mexico before. If you are planning a Mexico vacation, and you have never been there before, you may have some concerns. You may be wondering what places are safe for you to visit.

Mexico is like all other countries. There are areas that are known as tourists attractions and then there are other areas that tourists are advised to stay away from. You can easily learn about these areas online. Researching every city and town in Mexico is a long and daunting process. To save time and a costly vacation mistake, you are encouraged to examine the benefits of taking a guided Mexico tour.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of booking a guided tour in Mexico is that you will be with a local who is familiar with the area. Guided tours are held in areas that are considered safe. In addition to showing you around certain areas of Mexico, your tour guide may be able to offer you additional travel tips and suggestions. These suggestions may help you with your vacation after your guide has ended.

If you are interested in taking a guided Mexican tour, you will have to find the tour company which you wish to do business with. There are a large nubmer of guided tour companies in the area. If you do not have a preference as to which company you would like to tour with, you may want to first search for a destination. The destination you select will be important in determining what you will learn and see while on a guided tour.

Many guided tours take place in Cooper Canyon, the Oaxaca Mountains, the Yucatan Peninsula and Baja. In Mexico, Baja is most known for its water activities. Many popular guided tours include whale watching and kayaking. Whether you set out to watch the whales or you select a kayaking tour, you are sure to see Gray whales. Many times, they will come right up to your boat, making for great pictures or video footage.

Cooper Canyon and the Oaxaca Mountains are guided tours that are ideal for those that love to hike. To participate in these tours, it is advised that you receive the proper health clearance. You tour will likely follow trails, but much of the terrain can be rough. The Yucatan Peninsula is ideal for travelers who wish to learn more about the ancient history of Mexico.

The above mentioned destinations in Mexico are just a few of the many. Guided tours are found all across Mexico. If there is particular topic or activity that interests you, you are sure to find a guided tour that will offer you excitement. Hikers often select a hiking tour, boats often opt for boat tours, and history lovers often select tours that focus on the history of Mexico.

In addition to selecting where you would like to go on a guided tour, you will also need to determine how long you would like that tour to be. In Mexico, guided tours can last as long as one day or over one week. You should easily be able to determine how long a guided tour is by looking at the price. Weeklong guided tours can cost thousands of dollars, but most of your accommodations are taken care of. Some guided tours can be considered all-inclusive vacations.

Journey Mexico, Siesta Tours, and Ufly Mexico are three of the most well-known guided tour companies in Mexico. You can examine the tours found by these three companies by visiting their online websites or by requesting free travel brochures. If you are interested in finding additional tours, your local travel agent may be able to offer you assistance.

By selecting a guided tour of Mexico, you do not always have to be looking over your shoulder. Vacationing in a safe area with an experienced tour guide is about as carefree as your Mexico vacation can get.

Alvin Starkman asked:


Alvin Starkman M.A., LL.B.

 

The fixation with mayonnaise in Oaxaca, Mexico, is subtle, as one would imagine with any condiment, yet manifests in an extraordinary supermarket phenomenon unrivalled elsewhere in North America.  Venture through one of the Gigante chain of grocery stores and you’ll find no less than 39 different sizes, types and brands occupying 6 shelves, each 32½ feet long: original, lime, chipotle and other chili flavors; squeezable and not; Gigante brand, economy manufacturer, national brands, and no less than three familiar American producers; and, regular, light and 0% fat (rather stunning since Mexico tops even Florida in the obesity sweeps).  To put the marvel into perspective, this singular versatile dressing garners pretty well the same respect from marketing mavens as does the whole range of breakfast cereals and soft drinks.

 

Oaxaca will simply not let mayonnaise take a back seat to its deep red cousin or to mustard, and not for a lack of sophistication of the Mexican palate.  You’ll find your Dijon, Maille, provencale, deli and the rest, at one end of the mayo mantels, and  your catsups and ketchups at the other, but that’s just the point…they envelope and draw your attention to the aisle’s star attraction, just as bookends provide functionality and little more.

 

Much in the same way as liberals, progressives and others of a reasonable bent decline to appear on Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly show, the Gigante executives declined to grant an interview to assist in unraveling the mystery, leaving this writer to glean an understanding from elsewhere, using:  a background in sociological fieldwork, a keen eye for observation, on-the-street interviews, and a death wish to rapidly put on weight (otherwise known as, amongst anthropologists, “going native”).     

 

If you think it’s hard to find the beef in a Big Mac, it’s even more of a treasure hunt in Oaxaca when eating a hamburger on the street loaded with, you guessed it, our dreamy white wonder.  Be it burger or dog, when your merchant of the finest meat you’ll find on the corner is finished grilling your fare, he’ll likely ask “con todo” (with everything),  the local retort invariably being a simple nod in the affirmative; mustard relish and onions is a virtually unheard of request.  The twin temptations of elotes (boiled corn on the cob) and esquites (the same, but off the cob and in a styrofoam cup) are similarly finished off with the works, in this case juice squeezed on the spot from a lime, crumbled Oaxacan cheese, chili, and a healthy dollop of mayo.  For this Oaxaca-street-corner-food junkie, as well as his family, life doesn’t get much better than stirring up a steaming cup of fully garnished cooked kernels.  

 

Now your industrial size jar of mayonnaise finds greater application in more stationary eateries, but who would have thought in the snootiest of fine restaurants?  “Oui monsieur, boot of coors I’ll brling you mor.”  And in high end marisquerías, even before your appetizer of crab bisque, shrimp cocktail or mixed seafood salad is brought to your mesa, a mountain of mayonesa alongside freshly fried tostadas and cellophane swathed saltines arrives. Your middle-of-the-road restaurants never progressed beyond the sixties, and so in bistros and buffets alike one finds every imaginable side and salad smoothed over:  pea and carrot; waldorf; boiled broccoli; and virtually every other fruit and vegetable combination, all whipped up with miracle.

 

For linguistically challenged travelers transfixed on sandwiches and tortas,  alongside musts for remembering from your Spanish phrasebook such as “donde está el baño,” and “la cuenta, por favor,” mark in “sin mayonesa, por favor.”  Otherwise, be it chicken, pork, beef or cheese, and regardless of whether or not it’s already been greased from the grill, as automatic as corned beef on rye with mustard, that additional layer will be levied.

 

Finally there’s the home, where in many respects one encounters a similarity with commercial use, particularly in the kitchen.  However, venturing into dining and living rooms reveals even a greater dedication to daubing than hereinbefore noted, where devotees ranging from toddler to teen, and adult to aged are frequently found indulging in buns and breads spread with nothing more.  But we dare not venture down the corridors to the bedrooms, leaving that to the imagination.

Terry Edwards asked:


Mexico is home to some of the most fascinating and beautiful beaches in the world. Aside from that, it is also popular for its activities and celebrations that reflect the abundance of Mexican culture. One of the most popular ways to experience this firsthand is with Cancun Mexico vacations. Yes, there are other vacation sites in Mexico such as Acapulco, Huatulco, Isla Mujeres, Ixtapa, Cozumel, etc, but there is something unique and special about Cancun, Mexico.

Cancun is one of the most favorite tourist destinations in Mexico for many different reasons. It is a perfect place for people who are active and fun loving. Thousands of vacationers take Cancun Mexico vacations every year because it is so popular with its nightlife, water adventure sports like scuba diving, snorkeling and parasailing, discos, entertainment bars, shopping malls, and others. The place is almost like a one stop shop as it offers a remarkably wide variety of options to the visitors.

An interesting fact about Cancun is that in the past it used to be just a deserted place. With time, we can’t really tell what happens next.

A vacation to Cancun takes the visitor to some of the most popular places to see. A typical Cancun tour allows you to witness and experience Paradise Island, the well known dancing dolphins in the turquoise blue Caribbean, the Atlantis Submarine, and of course the Mayan ruins. Tours to ecological parks, jungles, or natural reserves are also included to widen the knowledge of the visitors and at the same time to leave them enthralled by these sights and sites.

While it is true that there are thousands of places to go and enjoy some leisure time away from it all, Cancun Mexico vacations are a good idea to give some serious consideration to. With everything the area has to offer you can be assured of a great time.

Douglas Bower asked:


Americans are told through slick and appealing magazine ads and maybe a seminar or two that they can move to Mexico and miss nothing-all the comforts of home right here in Mexico. They can have everything in that nasty old Third-World country that they had in America. You don’t have to miss your favorite TV shows because you can install satellite TV and have Desperate Housewives beamed into your Mexican living room. (Who wouldn’t come running?) You learn that you can have absolutely everything you had in the States right here in Mexico at your disposal. You can transport all that you were in America to Mexico. It’s like moving to another state in America where everything will be cheaper and the locals will just adore you and will be so thankful you came into their lives, “We are at your service, All Mighty American Expat. (“We are Americans, hear us roar!”)

Who would not be attracted to that as the Concept of Mexico?

In other words, Americans think that because they have a familiarity with American-Hispanic culture in cities like Houston, Brownsville, Laredo, McAllen, Dallas, San Antonio, San Diego, Los Angeles, El Paso, that they have mastered Mexican culture and have a high degree of Mexican cultural fluency. They are, Americans would reason, the same people. They equate American-Hispanic culture and Mexico’s culture as one in the same as so they reason they will have no problem adjusting to any of the Prime Living Locations where hundreds of American expats have carved out something from the unique local cultures of ancient Mexican cities and call it Expatriation. What is equally appealing and probably settles it in the minds of nearly 100% of Americans who move to these Prime Living Locations is that they could spend the rest of their days there and never have to utter one word of Spanish. And, that is true.

The Prime Living Locations in Mexico have within their Mexican cities Mexico as a Concept existing as a separate dimension. The American Gringos have created this alternate dimension within each Prime Living Location city into which the gringo wannebee enters and essentially lives their lives surround by other gringos that occupy this dimension. They eat and breathe a little America within this dimension that the Mexican calls Gringo Landia. The Gringolandians can look out and into Real Mexico. An American woman recently got a glimpse of the dual-dimensional cultural bubbles in San Miguel de Allende.

In an article in the L.A. Times, a lady visiting San Miguel de Allende made this comment about the Sunday House and Garden tour she took:

“It was at this point that I realized that if I really wanted a taste of Mexico, I might as well go home to Echo Park. The tour wasn’t so much a backstage pass to aspirational cultural immersion as it was an English-only how-to guide for getting away from it all without giving anything up. Each dwelling was mostly notable for just how thoroughly the householders had managed to bring the comforts of the north into the wilds of the south.”

The Gringo Landia dimension has all the gringos could ever want right down to a country-club, Disneyland-like lifestyle. The Mexican, who lives in Mexico as a Reality works side-by-side for the Gringos but have been driven away from where the Gringolandians reside because they cannot afford to live where they did formerly before the Gringos invaded. The occupants of Real Mexico, the locals, existing side-by-side with Gringo Landia’s residents crossing each other’s paths only when absolutely necessary.

The occasions during which a rift in the walls of these dimensional existences grow weak and must cross, leak, if you will, is when a Mexican has to serve a Gringolandian as a maid, gardener, a repairman, a roof contractor and his work team, or a public event. This is somewhat akin to when matter and antimatter mix. The resulting explosion can be catastrophic. And, there is a reason why the mixing of the two dimensions results in catastrophe.

For the American to think that because they may have a passing acquaintance with an American-Hispanic culture that this means they have mastered the Mexican culture is a grave error. This belief affects American-Mexican relationships from the Fortune 500 and 100 company’s CEO’s, who want to begin a business venture in Mexico, to the common ordinary American retiree who wants to retire in Mexico. They hold the gravely false belief that because they are acquainted with Jorge Garcia Mendoza Carrillo, a third-generation American of Mexican ancestry, they are experts in Mexican culture. They could not be more wrong.

A thoroughly Americanized person with Mexican roots, even though maintaining Spanish fluency, is no more biculturally capable of dealing with Mexican culture than is your Spanish-fluent Irish American. The linguistic ability is the key to the door of cultural mastery, but they may very well be as culturally inept as any other Spanish-speaking American coming into Mexico. What happens is a CEO of a company that has a branch in Mexico will send in a second-generation American-Mexican who has maintained his or her linguistic roots but not cultural roots fully expecting they will have no problem straightening out a problem that has arisen between the plant’s American management and Mexican workers. They end up having to hire bicultural analysts (consultants) who have to come in to clean up the mess made by monocultural personnel.

If that happens (and it does all too frequently) within the confines of American companies trying to deal with Mexicans in a business setting, imagine what the gringo whose cultural mantra and proof of their cultural mastery is “Yo quiero Taco Bell” is going to encounter when moving to a Mexican city? Is it any wonder why the crossing of the dimensional rifts in an expat setting occurs in such an explosive concussion?

I tell you that if when peace does reign in an expat setting in the Prime Living Locations in Mexico, it is because of the almost saintly obsession of the Mexican detesting conflict and becoming accommodating to avoid the explosion. It can’t be the Americans because the American way is something like, “If my Ugly American Syndrome doesn’t get me what I want, I will just give them more Ugly American Syndrome.”

NEXT: Mexico As a Concept and Not As a Reality part 5

Carolyn McFann asked:


After spending many vacations in Cancun, Mexico, I decided to take the plunge and move there to study the beautiful nature I’d admired in my previous trips. Having lived many years in the comfort and safety of American suburbia, it was time for some adventure. After learning Spanish, I went to the Yucatan and rented a home in suburban Playa del Carmen and hired myself a maid. Then, with help from hired guides and friends, I visited a variety of remote places in the Mexican jungles. It was an unforgettable experience to see a variety of animals in their natural habitats.

The ever-growing city of Playa del Carmen is an hour south of Cancun, and easily accessed by public buses. Both cities are on the Caribbean Sea, where coral reefs abound up and down the coastline. The beauty of pure white, limestone sand, and richly colored, turquoise water of the ocean drew me down there. Being a nature artist, I was fascinated by the plants and animals of the region. Armed with my cameras, drawing paper and pens, I got to work drawing and photographing bugs, birds, plants and anything else exotic. Soon, my artwork landed me a job as main illustrator for a large nature park called XCaret.

Whenever I had a drawing to deliver to my employer, I would board the employee bus for XCaret, and then walk down a long, back jungle path next to the park to the office. These walks fascinated me, due to the path was directly next to fenced enclosures for their zoo and aviary. Flamingoes, spider monkeys and a harpy eagle were animals I could see the best from the path. One time I made the mistake of giving one of the monkeys a cookie, only to see the other monkeys chase after him to steal it, trying to beat him up! I quickly got out a couple more cookies and gave the rest to them, to avoid the original monkey from getting hurt. They all sat there munching peacefully as I snuck off, hoping nobody saw.

In Mexico, you will see iguanas in nature frequently. As I walked down the nature path on my way to work, there was rustling in the big tree near me. I looked up only to see a large, 6 foot green iguana male with bright orange fringe on his back, in the canopy of the tree. He looked down at me. I remember people telling me that iguanas are good eating, taste like chicken, and that they are called “chicken of the tree”. I never found out if that was true or not, but then, I wasn’t about to go eating iguanas. Nope, I’m not that adventurous in my dining choices. Black iguanas can be seen usually sitting one per rock pile. Everywhere there were rocks, were male iguanas sunning themselves. Interesting creatures. In Chankanaab Park (on the island of Cozumel) there is a huge iguana that walks around public areas, oblivious to the humans that walk past it. It will bite if petted, the park employee told me. So, I took photos of it and kept my distance.

Another lizard that was interesting and plentiful, was Basiliscus basiliscus, the basilisk. There are a few varieties of basilisk to be found in Mexico. It can run on water if it gets scared enough, and I witnessed it after scaring one unintentionally. Later, I found a smaller one and drew it for my job, they have intense eyes, looking very serious. When I was finished drawing him, he ran upright into the jungle, glad to be free of the big, scary human with whom he’d spent a few hours with.

The jungles of Mexico are fascinating, but I would never recommend walking off your path into one. First off, the foliage is very dense. Second, there are critters in there that can hurt you if provoked, namely scorpions, snakes and spiders. Look, but don’t touch. I have seen all of these, and have paid people to remove them from my home. Scorpions will come after you if they are agitated. Back away quickly, wherever they cannot follow. The lighter colored ones, I was told, are more dangerous than the black ones. There are tarantulas in Mexico, and they are big but not aggressive, thank goodness. I had a red-kneed tarantula taken away from the front of my door once. My maid used to throw out other spiders she found inside, and laugh when I would be freaked out by them. “This? It’s harmless!” she’d tell me. Yuck. I took her word for it.

As for snakes, there are a few that are reason enough not to go walking alone in the jungle. First, there are huge boa constrictors. My ex-husband was called by the ladies next door, to remove a 6-foot boa out of their rental flat. They said it just slithered into the open back door. Lesson learned, never leave an open door to your house if you live close to the jungle. Then, there is a crimson colored snake the locals called Coralio. I don’t know its scientific name, but it was beautiful but deadly. A man who lived near me had a whole apartment full of snakes, and he showed them to me up close. Snakes are interesting but it pays to watch where you step, since my ex and I nearly stepped on one during an evening walk. There are other snakes to watch out for, but these are the kinds that we saw. All snakes will mind their own business if unprovoked, it seems, trouble seems to be when humans aren’t paying attention and step on one by mistake. So, it pays to watch where you walk.

Then there were the amazing birds. A gorgeous variety of colors, shapes and sizes, birds in Mexico are exotic and fascinating. My favorites were the toco toucan, motmot, currasows, Yucatan jay, cinnamon-colored cuckoo, and pileated woodpecker and violaceous trogon (a relative of the resplendent quetzal). They had a knack for showing themselves whenever I didn’t have my camera with me. I did draw and take notes of what I saw, then look them up later. There was a bird that was so colorful that locals called it, “siete colores” (seven colors). After looking it up, I identified it as a painted bunting. Another bird locals call “pecho amarillo”(yellow breast), otherwise known as the great kiskadee, used to sit outside my window and yell, “Eeee, Eeee!” at the top of his lungs. We used to call back at him, and he’d answer. Very funny bird.

In Playa del Carmen, there is an outdoor aviary, built into the jungle, in the Playacar section. I went in there and walked around, to see the different birds that usually are hidden by jungle. One bird took a fancy to me, a barred currasow who followed me everywhere. She was my feathered tour guide, and posed for photos freely. I finally got to see a chachalaca up close, a relative to a turkey, that is shy, loud (its call sounds like a rusty meat grinder), and travels in groups. Also, there were red ibis, more flamingos, egrets, and much more. The aviary is a must see if you visit Playacar.

Another interesting natural sector in the Yucatan were all the bugs. Insects of every kind, in great quantities. I could’ve done without all the mosquitoes, though, thank goodness for bug repellent. My favorites were the butterflies. Sometimes when driving down remote roads, we came across undulating masses of various butterfiles colored yellow, white or black. Monarch butterflies also migrate in large groups down to Mexico, I saw them once, too. The most beautiful butterfly I came across in the wild, in my opinion, was the morpho butterfly. It has large irridescent blue wings, wasn’t as common as other butterflies, and preferred the privacy of non-populated areas like fields and jungles. There was another butterfly that was big, brown and with its wings closed, was the size of a large dinner plate. It was called an owl butterfly, and flew slowly. I got really close to him and he seemed unafraid. He had patterns on his wings that were like numbers. Fascinating.

Beetles. Ahh, beetles..not very graceful, and apparently not all that bright, but endearing with their less than graceful antics. There were golden scarab beetles that used to fly into my window as I was working, frequently. They usually landed on their backs with their feet flailing helplessly in the air. Eventually the situation would rely on me turning them right-side up, some would then fly off, others would somehow end up on their backs again. It was odd, but I took the opportunity to draw these metallically colored insects, who looked as if they were gilded in brushed gold.

Grasshoppers and katydids are in large quantity in the jungles of the Yucatan. There are so many varieties of grasshoppers, I lost count. As for katydids. their bodies are gigantic, the size of a sparrow. I caught one, to draw him, then when I let him go off my balcony, he flew away in a straight path. His big, green body was visible for a very long time as he flapped off into the sunset, it was surreal.

Sea creatures and fish are plentiful in the Caribbean Sea. Though the reefs are endangered and show signs of damage, they are still beautiful. Every day, I’d snorkel in the low-traffic area near my home. It was serene to get to the beach early in the morning, pick up a few shells that washed up on shore, then make my spot on the beach. I’d snorkel until my body got cold, every day. There weren’t many large predators in the areas I swam in, due to the breakwalls that run up and down the coast, separating the shores from the deeper, ocean water. Once in awhile, a barracuda would find its way into the reef area, my, what big teeth they have. Out there, you can see dolphins playing in the waves made by large yachts or ferries. Bottle-nosed dolphins are very social creatures and seem unafraid of humans. Some of the most memorable smaller fish and creatures I saw were brittle starfish (they live under rocks and will climb off your hand quickly if you try to hold one), octopus, conch, sea turtles, moray eels, blue tangs and of course, those feisty damselfish. Though I haven’t gotten my scuba license, I went on a few professional scuba tours where the water was so shallow, snorkeling was possible. Tours are great for finding gorgeous coral gardens that aren’t visible to everyone else. The prettiest ones I saw were near the town of Puerto Morelos.

Other places I liked to explore were the Cenotes Azul, and Dos Ojos. Cenotes are brackish water natural bodies of water that the Mayan indians used to build their villages around. Now, they sit in the jungle and tourists enter them to go cave diving. Underneath the Yucatan is an elaborate network of caves that attract cave-divers from all over the world. Not me, I preferred just swimming in the crystal clear water in the mouth of the cenotes, and observing the fish I saw. One of the cenotes had fish that I’d seen in pet stores back in the US, swimming there naturally. Jack Dempsey fish and green sailfin mollies, along with a kind of livebearer fish I didn’t recognise. They were very colorful, and the Dempseys, being combative cichlids who like to pick on one another, had tattered fins. But, all the fish were very healthy. What a wonder it is to swim among them in their natural habitat. The nature around cenotes is interesting, too. I saw a basilisk run across the water, when I swam too close to him, and a duck that would dive for fish and stay underwater for a long time. Nature abounds in and around cenotes.

The nature of Mexico is plentiful and beautiful in all its forms. The tropical, hot climate brings out flora and fauna unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my home state of Ohio, or even in my current state of Florida. Living among the lush jungles, hearing jungle frogs sing at night and spending time with my wonderful Mexican co-workers, guides and friends changed my life. By being respectful of nature (look, don’t touch) and watching where you walk, you will see clouds of butterflies, brilliantly colored birds, and animals like coatimundis, agoutis and others normally only seen in zoos. My employer promoted the preservation of Mexico’s wildlife, and it was my honor doing artwork of all things natural for them. I miss walking the jungle path to their office weekly and seeing the zoo animals, as well as the wild ones in the trees. If you love nature, make sure to visit Mexico and go on tours to see the beauty of the wild, but with professionals who know where to take you. It will be an experience you will appreciate and remember forever.

WRS asked:


Huatulco is the largest ecological reserve designated by the Mexican government, making it a truly a unique tourist destination, combining a modern resort infrastructure within a largely undeveloped natural area.

The Bahias de Huatulco offer 18 miles of clean and beautiful coastline, allowing you to enjoy a day at one of the dozen relaxing, non-crowded beaches in almost guaranteed perfect weather. For your more active side, Huatulco invites visitors to enjoy an exhilarating round of golf or an invigorating tennis match. Take advantage of Huatulco’s clear waters by snorkeling, fishing, swimming, sailing, or scuba diving. Travel Mexico and stay at the Huatulco Mexico Barceló beach resort to discover the hidden treasures of this unspoiled land while delighting in the benefits of affordable Mexico all inclusive vacations.

Relax during your vacation in Huatulco, whether it is a day at the beach or a shopping extravaganza, Huatulco has it all!

Shopping

The indigenous folk art of Huatulco has found its place in galleries, museums and gift shops around the world. From unique black and green pottery, to whimsical carved wooden animals, to boldly colored wooden rugs, there’s always something to catch your eye.

Golf

Be sure to enjoy the beautiful Tangolunda Golf Course, an 18 hole (par 72) championship course designed by Mario Schjetnan, which is beautifully blended into the surrounding jungle course features a spectacular waterfront green on the 13th hole.

Club de Golf Vista offers a 9 hole course, but be sure to arrange transportaions as it is more challenging to find it than to play it.

Sailing

Harness the wind and sail the sea on the 44-foot sailboat, Luna Azul. It’s a one of a kind sailing experience found in Huatulco, where you can let soft breezes take you away. What better way to enjoy a peaceful ocean sunset than on a relaxing sunset cruise, while enjoying a glass of wine and bit of cheese.

Cultural Walking Tours

Huatulco is easily explored on foot, and cultural walking tours provide a great introduction to the city. The colonial heart of the city is immaculate and clean, and a guided tour will walk you through this exciting historical area, explaining the significance of various sites.

Beaches

The coast of Huatulco, at least for now, has remained one of Mexico’s relatively undiscovered beach areas. This incredible location offers some of the most beautiful bays and beaches in the country. The Huatulco coast used to be one of the sea turtle’s worst enemies, lately it has become a savior of this endangered species. This is now one of the few remaining places in Mexico that you can see these beautiful creatures on a regular basis, in any numbers.

Jessica Santoli asked:


Each year, a large number of individuals, couples, and families make the decision to travel to Mexico. Most have visited Mexico before. If you are planning a Mexico vacation, and you have never been there before, you may have some concerns. You may be wondering what places are safe for you to visit.

Mexico is like all other countries. There are areas that are known as tourists attractions and then there are other areas that tourists are advised to stay away from. You can easily learn about these areas online. Researching every city and town in Mexico is a long and daunting process. To save time and a costly vacation mistake, you are encouraged to examine the benefits of taking a guided Mexico tour.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of booking a guided tour in Mexico is that you will be with a local who is familiar with the area. Guided tours are held in areas that are considered safe. In addition to showing you around certain areas of Mexico, your tour guide may be able to offer you additional travel tips and suggestions. These suggestions may help you with your vacation after your guide has ended.

If you are interested in taking a guided Mexican tour, you will have to find the tour company which you wish to do business with. There are a large nubmer of guided tour companies in the area. If you do not have a preference as to which company you’d like to tour with, you may want to first search for a destination. The destination you select will be important in determining what you will learn and see while on a guided tour.  

Many guided tours take place in Cooper Canyon, the Oaxaca Mountains, the Yucatan Peninsula and Baja. In Mexico, Baja is most known for its water activities. Many popular guided tours include whale watching and kayaking. Whether you set out to watch the whales or you select a kayaking tour, you are sure to see Gray whales. Many times, they will come right up to your boat, making for great pictures or video footage.

Cooper Canyon and the Oaxaca Mountains are guided tours that are ideal for those that love to hike. To participate in these tours, it is advised that you receive the proper health clearance. You tour will likely follow trails, but much of the terrain can be rough. The Yucatan Peninsula is ideal for travelers who wish to learn more about the ancient history of Mexico.

The above mentioned destinations in Mexico are just a few of the many. Guided tours are found all across Mexico. If there is particular topic or activity that interests you, you are sure to find a guided tour that will offer you excitement. Hikers often select a hiking tour, boats often opt for boat tours, and history lovers often select tours that focus on the history of Mexico.  

In addition to selecting where you’d like to go on a guided tour, you will also need to determine how long you’d like that tour to be. In Mexico, guided tours can last as long as one day or over one week. You should easily be able to determine how long a guided tour is by looking at the price. Weeklong guided tours can cost thousands of dollars, but most of your accommodations are taken care of. Some guided tours can be considered all-inclusive vacations.

Journey Mexico, Siesta Tours, and Ufly Mexico are three of the most well-known guided tour companies in Mexico. You can examine the tours found by these three companies by visiting their online websites or by requesting free travel brochures. If you are interested in finding additional tours, your local travel agent may be able to offer you assistance.

By selecting a guided tour of Mexico, you do not always have to be looking over your shoulder. Vacationing in a safe area with an experienced tour guide is about as carefree as your Mexico vacation can get.

Alvin Starkman asked:


Alvin Starkman  M.A., LL.B.

 

 

 

Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor (PROFECO), Mexico’s Federal Office of Fair Trading, is the closest you can get to an American or Canadian style government administered consumer protection bureau and mediation facility.  Its Oaxaca regional office is run in a relatively swift and efficient manner, meaning that it is extremely user friendly from the perspective of an expat seeking recourse against trades and businesses located both in the state and further abroad.  Naturally, though, it’s subject to limitations, and to idiosyncrasies to which we are not accustomed.     

 

I purchased a hot water heater made by Hidro Electrica, SA de CV (HESA), which to my amazement came with an eight-year limited warranty.  Usually in Oaxaca one buys domestically produced or assembled goods with a 30 day guarantee.  In the odd case it’s for three months (extended warranties are rarely available, since manufacturers and insurers are aware of the lack of adequate quality control in Mexican production). Typically your widget stops widgeting within a week after expiry date … be it a washing machine, microwave, TV, or long-life bulb. 

 

After about a year one side of the dual-tank HESA boiler sprang a leak, and then a couple of months later the other side followed suit.  After six months and several phone calls to my retailer, Tubos y Conexiones, the HESA authorized repairman arrived with two pairs of replacement tanks, neither of which matched the tanks which came with the unit I had purchased.  “Don’t worry,” Roberto assured.  “I’ll bring you the right tanks when they’re in stock, so just choose one of these two sets for the time being so your heater will at least function.”

 

Whenever you sign anything, if you’re not entirely satisfied with the service provided or product received, qualify your acknowledgment.  Doing so assists when availing yourself of the resources of PROFECO.  “Temporary solution pending the arrival of the elite stainless steel tanks,” I noted on the work order.  Anything in writing appears to be taken as gospel in Oaxaca, therefore regarded as almost irrefutable evidence.  Just ask anyone who’s been held in jail for two years pending trial, based on little more than newspaper clippings alleging criminal activity.

 

Over the course of the next year I periodically attended at Tubos y Conexiones, each time pleading with my contact person, Boneque the branch manager, to help me get the proper tanks before the replacements went awry.  Boneque was in fact cooperative, so much so that he admitted to me that the HESA service department had become a real pain, with complaints and lack of their resolution mounting.  Hilda, HESA’s Oaxaca representative, had left the company, and serviceman Roberto was no longer accepting work from the manufacturer.

 

Three or four emails to the HESA service department went unanswered, as did the message left at HESA for its chief technician. Hearing “Mr. Levin will return your call in 15 minutes,” by this time did not instill the confidence in the company I had been seeking.

 

With my bill of sale and warranty booklet, copies of emails, the qualified work order acknowledgement, and notes of every communication or attempt at reaching a resolution all in hand, I attended at the offices of a friend, litigator Lic. Edna Franco:  “Don’t worry about my fee Alvin.  My concern is that on a claim worth less than 15,000 pesos, the out-of-pockets will kill you.  Go to PROFECO … that’s what I tell all my clients to do before they retain me.”

 

Oaxaca doesn’t have a small claims court system, which means that regardless of the peso value of your claim your costs will be the same, subject to working out a deal with your lawyer for a reduced fee.  Edna advised me that proceeding through the court system on your own, even for a former Canadian litigation lawyer, is an almost insurmountable task.  Hence, PROFECO is the way to go, subject to your fact situation meeting its mandate and guidelines, and your willingness to use a government-run mediation facility. 

 

The Oaxaca PROFECO offices are well staffed, yet used by a relatively modest percentage of the populace, meaning that compared to government offices of transportation, immigration and taxation for example, they are a welcomed and expedient breath of fresh air.  Intake reviews your documentation and advises what if anything is lacking, and how many copies are required.  Your primary advisor then reviews your paperwork, asks for clarification, and prepares a claim package.  Feel free to supplement the information she selects to append to your claim, by suggesting the inclusion of any additional documentation you might have.  Remember that as competent and seemingly helpful as she might appear, she is nevertheless a Oaxacan civil servant:  “Is it okay if we also attach copies of these notes I made over the past year?,” I queried. More hard evidence. 

 

My initial September 11, 2008, attendance terminated with a hearing date I negotiated to meet my schedule, October 10, 2008.  “You know,” advised Aurea Guzman Palacios, “you should also name your retailer, Tubos y Conexiones, as a respondent, even though it seems like it didn’t do anything wrong.” I wouldn’t have advised a client with a legal dispute any differently!

 

“We’ll look after serving them, but remember to make sure you’re here at 10 am sharp on the October 10th.”  Even in Toronto we’re accustomed to giving 15 minutes grace, so how could it possibly be that Oaxaca, government to boot, could possibly adhere to a more stringent and exacting timetable?

 

Service of the proceeding and notice of the date is effected by the regional PROFECO office where the company carries on business.  In the case of HESA, this meant in the State of Mexico. 

 

A Tubos y Conexiones representative attended, arriving shortly before the appointed hour.  HESA was a no show.  The PROFECO mediator, Javier, called the Estado de México PROFECO process server, and was advised that HESA was not served because company employees were on strike and the factory was shut down.  The mediator was skeptical, indicating to me that sometimes federal government employees forget to do their jobs, or simply can’t be bothered and make up stories.  But in this case we should give them the benefit of the doubt and simply ask them to once again try to serve  the documentation with a fresh return date, a month down the road.  November 10th was set for the new appointment, with more documentation drafted, the preamble including the circumstances of the adjournment.

 

Before conceding that PROFECO was unable to serve HESA, in the presence of Javier the conciliator and Engineer Octavio the Tubos representative, I called the HESA offices.   Lorena Torres, receptionist, advised me that the employees were not on strike, nor had they been in the recent past, and that the company was functioning as normal.  So much for the veracity of the State of Mexico PROFECO process server. 

 

PROFECO levies a fine against a company for each missed appointment, the amount increasing with each failed attendance.  Should HESA fail to attend the next date, after having received notice, the fine would be 172.79 pesos, making it hardly a compelling reason for the company to send someone from head office.

 

By the time November 10th had arrived, my hot water heater, wrong new tanks still in place, had once again sprung a leak, albeit a small one.  The main implication is that the dripping water puts out the pilot from time to time, so unless you’re constantly checking, you never know when your shower will be hot or cold.

 

Neither HESA nor Tubos attended on the new date for the proceeding.  The PROFECO mediator checked on his computer, and with the State of Mexico regional office, once again being led to believe that HESA was on strike.  And once again I called HESA and confirmed that business was operating as normal, without strike.  “Don Alvin,” Javier assured, “we’ll try to serve HESA once more, and hopefully this time the process server’s supervisor will have a word with him and tell him that there is no strike.”  More importantly, the conciliator decided to levy a 3,000 peso fine against Tubos for not sending its representative to this second meeting.

 

I didn’t ask why the fine for Tubos was so steep, simply stunned that my ally was being dinged with a sizeable stipend while the scoundrel was getting off unscathed because it ostensibly had no notice of the proceeding.  “I think we should be trying to convince Tubos that it should share responsibility, and maybe this fine will be what it needs to convince it to come to the table and acknowledge that you were relying on the judgment of its salesperson when you decided to buy a HESA product.”  Javier was treating me with the utmost respect (i.e. “Don Alvin”), giving me advice, and being pro-active in his approach to the matter.  “Let’s give them a bit more than a month to be served, just to be safe.  How about December 15th?”

 

On December 15th, Engineer Octavio once again attended, but no one from HESA.  This time PROFECO had a statement from its process server stating that indeed HESA was on strike, all very strange since there has not been any such indication on the internet.  “It could be that some company employees are striking, and HESA is able to use this as a way to avoid service of legal documents for the entire company,” Javier surmised. Only PROFECO is permitted to effect service of PROFECO documents, so my offer to have a friend in Mexico City attend at HESA with the papers was rejected.

 

I decided enough was enough, and if I could exact upwards of the 3,000 peso fine from Tubos, and buy a new, alternate brand product, that would be the best, at least in terms of finishing my business with PROFECO.  I could continue to pursue HESA, but only in court since the PROFECO proceeding would be closed out.  We adjourned until the 17th, the plan being that in the interim I would attend at Tubos, select a comparable product of another manufacturer, and be given a 2,500 peso credit. 

 

As long as PROFECO does not register a fine with a companion governmental branch, presumably finance or collections, the amount or any portion thereof can be applied to a comprehensive resolution as part of a negotiated settlement.  PROFECO doesn’t otherwise receive the fine amount, nor does the consumer.  The paperwork which reflects the levying of a fine can be redrafted with no mention of a fine. Literally, one branch of government does not know what the other branch has done.

 

I selected an alternate brand, Delta, with equivalent specifications and a six-year warranty, for a net cost to me of 9,800.25 pesos.   Three years earlier I had paid 11,736 pesos for the HESA hot water heater. Given Mexico’s rate of inflation, I didn’t do too badly.   Although I have released Tubos y Conexiones from any further obligation to me, I have preserved the right to proceed in court against HESA, for all losses including the cost of my new Delta boiler.  Economically feasible or not, that’s the way I intend to go. 

 

PROFECO has its limitations, especially since its power to force and enforce resolutions in this type of consumer dispute are restricted.  However, it does provide an important and valuable alternate means of dispute resolution, attractive for a number of reasons:

 

1)      The system works fast, much more so than that to which we are accustomed in Canada and the US;

 

2)      There is no cost to the consumer;

 

3)      The staff are helpful, obviously well trained, and willing to render legal or quasi-legal advice … although not necessarily correct advice, it’s nevertheless helpful for foreigners, often with limited networks otherwise able to provide counsel;

 

4)      Its mediators appear to have good mediation skills and be sincerely motivated to bring parties together with a view to achieving resolutions in a cost-effective and sensible fashion.