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March 23, 2003.
We’ve all heard all the jokes
dealing with “Mexican time”, but some of
the delays caused by that concept are funnier than others.
Our local readers may recall the
snafus that occurred last spring when the state authorities
decided that everyone had to change the license plates
on their vehicles. Everything started out well, until
it was noticed that the last three numbers on the newly-designed
plates were illegible as they were blue on blue…
Delay number one. All the plates had to be redone. Then
new plates were issued where the dark blue patch behind
the numbers was changed to a pale shade against which
the numbers could stand out. We were then given until
the end of March 2002 to get our new plates. Then, the
deadline was extended an extra 30 days because of the
long lines of people who had not yet been able to complete
the procedure.
The authorities advised the public
that once the owner of a Mexican car had paid for and
obtained his or her new license plates, he or she would
receive the sticker to put in his windshield within
the next few weeks. Those passed and turned into months.
In January of this year, there were a few articles to
the effect that some huge percentage of folks had not
yet received their stickers. (My co-workers at the Tribune
and I were among them.) About ten days ago, a friend
of mine dropped in to show me the sticker that had just
been delivered to him by messenger - for 2002! Impressive,
but useless as we are now in 2003 and we already had
to pay for our renewal. For my part, I was most pleasantly
surprised (and amused) when my doorbell rang last Monday
and sure enough, there was a young man waiting for my
signature to prove that I had received, yes, you guessed
it, my sticker for the year 2002! I also smiled when
I looked at the registration that comes attached to
it. It read: “Fecha de expedición - 8 Mayo
2002”. In English, that means that it was sent
out on May 8th, 2002. Leads one to wonder where it went
for all these months, don’t it?
On the other hand, the Telecable
folks are getting better. I may not have gotten my TV
guide for January, but I did get the February one on
the 16th of the month, and the one for March arrived
on the 7th! Even though much of what is listed is incorrect,
I’m a very happy camper.
Actually, many things are improving
when I come to think of it. Until a couple of months
ago, we used to have to drive our garbage to the nearest
dumpster - about three blocks away. Then one day, the
neighbors around there all got together and complained
to the authorities, requesting that the dumpster be
removed as it was an eyesore and there was always too
much garbage there to fit within the container, so it
was left all around it for the street dogs and cats
to enjoy. The dumpster was removed. (Don’t ask
me where it’s all going nowadays…) In any
case, the neighbors in my end were obviously displeased
with the decision and managed to get three empty oil
drums, nicely painted in bright yellow, set right at
the corner, one block away from me. Now I can just walk
over to deposit my refuse therein every evening. So
you see? Things are indeed improving.
Earth Water Day was celebrated in
various fashions around the world last week. As it happens,
I had a house guest on the Day itself, Gail Nott whose
humorous, sardonic articles grace the pages of the Tribune
from time to time. Gail lives in Ajijic, a community
made up mostly of retired and semi-retired Canadians
and Americans located on the shores of Lake Chapala
near the state capital of Jalisco, Guadalajara. As we
chatted and chatted as women are wont to do, I learned
things I had never known nor expected about that area.
At one point, she asked me until what time I had running
water in the house. I looked at her, not understanding
the question. She went on to explain that in Ajijic,
the water is cut off at 4 o’clock in the afternoon…
a measure taken to deal with the water shortage caused
by the fact that for years on end, the 4-million plus
City of Guadalajara has refused to take any concrete
action to conserve its water reserves …that come
from Lake Chapala. The situation has become so serious
that it was even brought to the attention of the world
at the Summit on the Environment that was held recently
in South Africa.
You may be wondering why there is
a photograph of pigs gracing this page. The answer is
easy. If you take the road south as my friend and I
did recently, on our way to Boca de Tomatlan, and if
you take the turnoff to El Eden, they are a common sight.
There are also peacocks and roosters, cats and dogs,
and of course horses and donkeys, to name but a few
of the specimens that normally roam free along that
particular stretch of road.
Boca de Tomatlan is still the typical
little fishing village that so many tourists want or
hope to see, the image of Mexico as they have seen it
in some movie or other. In fact is a beautiful place.
Some foreigners live there just because that is the
environment they choose in contrast to the hustle and
bustle of Puerto Vallarta proper, or because they don’t
have the means to enjoy a similar form of peace and
quiet in Nayarit where property values have skyrocketed
over the last few years.
In any case, what I find every time
I go there to introduce the place to someone who has
never seen it before is a beautiful white sand beach
nestled in a lovely cove, delicious fish grilled on
a spit, a fish that probably “slept in the ocean
the night before” as the locals like to say, kids
playing in the pools of water formed by the sand dunes,
and of course dogs, lots of dogs.
The city’s Department of Permits
and Regulations will present the hotel and business
sectors with their proposal for a campaign to protect
street children from sexual abuse. I just hope they
don’t intend to use that godawful poster with
a U.S. passport in the background in this new campaign
of theirs…
In the meantime, let us all
pray that the war will do as little damage as possible
to innocent human beings. That’s all we can do
for now. God bless us all.
Hasta
luego. pvmomto3@hotmail.com Archives
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