Uncovering Mexico
Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.What's on this page?
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Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2007 > August
August 2007
Best of times, worst of times: Celebrating the 100th
I’m sure you’ve all been keeping track, but this is officially the 100th blog entry for Uncovering Mexico (it only took a year to get here).
I’m a sucker for commemorating milestones and also a compulsive list-maker (as a child I faithfully recorded my top 10 favorite songs every week).
So, I present a kind of best/worst list for our first year-and-a-half in Mexico, compiled by me and my wife (and sometimes photographer) Nancy Flores.
As is fitting, we begin with the food.
Best Meals
1)White fish in parsley sauce at the Primer Piso restaurant in Patzcuaro, overlooking the Zocalo. Most heavenly culinary moment in Mexico, and the atmosphere’s not bad either. (Followed closely by the same dish at Villa Casona, our favorite restaurant in Mexico City.)
2)Carnitas in Cotija, Michoacan. This wasn’t the healthiest meal, but the deep fried pork was among the tastiest. Also qualifies as the strangest. It was at a breakfast with the entire police force of Cotija. My wife Nancy and I were the only non-cops or non-elected officials at the long, picnic-style tables. The scene was surreal, but the carnitas, fried up by a local woman, were delectable.
3)Hamburgers in Cerritos, San Luis Potosi. It’s hard to describe how good the hamburgers made by Mexican street vendors are, and the burgers in this small town in northern Mexico were the best. The town was one of a legion in an area nearly emptied by immigration to the U.S. Souped up cars with American license plates zipped around the central plaza, where we found “Hamburguesas Gigantes,” massive burgers topped with ham, three kinds of cheese, and a heaping of mayonnaise. Our friends from home think we’re crazy when we tell them about Mexican street burgers. Believe us. They are awesome.
Dodgiest Hotel
The Motel Ojo de Agua in Juan Aldama, Zacatecas. This was actually our fourth choice in this rough and tumble town in northern Zacatecas, near a Mennonite community we were profiling. The first three hotels fell through when we asked about parking our rental car. All the hotels only had street parking and when we asked if it was safe to park there, all three places told us no, it wasn’t. At least they were honest. We ended up at this highway motel because of the parking in the back. It turned out to be a hotel/bus station and every hour or so a bus load of hungry passengers would pile in. No toilet seats, a faulty lock and a 13-inch TV that got one channel were strikes against.
Best Hotel
The next night we went to the Hotel Emporio in Zacatecas City, which made up for the Ojo de Agua. The amazing location, lush comforters and balcony views of Zacatecas’s spectacular cathedral made this place stand out.
Strangest Night
On a cold, January Saturday night, I found myself in a legal whorehouse filled with shivering transvestites just outside of Saltillo, Coahuila. The border state had just legalized gay civil unions and I was on a nocturnal excursion with some members of a local gay rights group to talk to folks about the new law. The transvestite prostitutes told horrible tales of being attacked and raped and while they were happy about the new law, it was hard to see how it would improve their grim realities.
Coolest City
Hands down it’s Guanajuato, the otherwordly colonial city in central Mexico. We had heard the talk, but this place surpassed all the hype. With narrow, European-style streets, underground tunnels that funnel car traffic out of downtown, and a booming university, Guanajuato feels like no other place in Mexico.
Most Unsettling Moment
Along the Mexico/Guatemala border, we trekked across abandoned railroad tracks with members of Grupo Beta, a governmental group that helps migrants. The tracks were a well-worn path for Central American migrants entering Mexico on the way to the U.S. They were also home to bands of thieves who preyed on the migrants, mostly members of the violent Central American Mara Salvatrucha gangs. As we walked the tracks, we would periodically see groups of men in the distance, not knowing if they were gang members or not. Seeing the uniforms of the Grupo Beta guys, they would scurry into the underbrush. Still, we felt quite vulnerable on that isolated stretch of tracks.
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Is another circus on its way? Maybe not.
A year ago this week, Mexican politics reached one its weirdest points in recent memory during President Vicente Fox’s last State of the Nation address. Members of the opposition Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) seized the stage of the Mexican Congress, physically barring the president from entering the hall. A bewildered-looking Fox handed over a written copy of his speech and sped away.
On Saturday, it’s new President Felipe Calderon’s turn. With the PRD (and a sizeable percentage of the population) still convinced Calderon cheated his way to the presidency, what horrors might await the Mexican leader when he enters the Congress?
Surprisingly enough, Calderon might be facing a smooth ride Saturday as he negotiates with what has become a severely divided PRD.
Just a week ago, PRD leaders were telling the media that there was no way Calderon would be permitted to give his speech, that he would be barred by any means necessary. But now it seems that the PRD is willing to negotiate with Calderon and his National Action Party (PAN). From leaked reports, it seems the deal is roughly a trouble-free speech in return for debate on electoral reform, an issue near and dear to the PRD.
The brouhaha over the speech is more evidence of an ever-deepening split within the PRD leadership. The camps are divided between those loyal to Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the losing presidential candidate, and a group called the New Left.
AMLO and his people are pushing for a policy of zero engagement with what they consider an illegitimate presidency. New Left leaders take a more pragmatic approach and say that by merely opposing the president, the PRD (the second largest political force in Congress behind the PAN) loses a chance to shape legislation.
The New Left rejected AMLO’s calls for zero negotiation last month and entered the fray on tax reform. Now they seem willing to trade a potential ruckus for electoral reform. Of course the whole deal could blow up if the hardliners have their way, and we could be in store for some more fireworks.
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Hurricane Dean takes on Mexico City and wins
Even under perfect conditions, Mexico City’s infrastructure lives on the edge of chaos. Throw in a torrential downpour - like the one that soaked this city yesterday as a result of Hurricane Dean - and the city’s traffic grid seizes like an engine without oil.
The hurricane left historic rainfall amounts in the capital and officials reported that the city’s drainage system reached its maximum capacity at about 8 p.m., just as the rains began to slacken. Whole neighborhoods flooded with filthy black water; major thoroughfares were covered with several feet of water.
When we flew into the airport yesterday evening, fresh from covering Dean’s ravages in the Yucatan, we found the city effectively shut down. It took our cursing taxi driver almost two hours to navigate the gridlocked streets near the airport. It was a terrifying ride, quite frankly, but it seemed as though some unseen algorithm kept the cars from colliding no matter how fast they darted through the smallest of spaces.
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Racing the hurricane
We were halfway to Chetumal when we faced a decision. Either continue on and try to reach the path of frightfully powerful Hurricane Dean or head back while we still had enough gas to make it back to civilization.
Once we ventured south of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, a small town on Mexico’s so-called Ruta Maya, we would be entering a no-man’s land of no electricity, no gas and most likely, no cell phone service. That would make filing today’s story tricky to say the least. But the trip to Chetumal offered a once in a lifetime glimpse at the impact of a Category 5 hurricane and the people down there certainly would need international media attention in their drive for relief services.
In the end the decision was helped along by a photographer for another U.S. newspaper. She had a satellite phone we could use in Chetumal. It seemed a no-brainer: I could file in an hour from the storm’s ground zero or my wife/photographer and I could turn around and drive two hours to the nearest Internet connection. We could worry about the gas situation later.
We had to spell “TV” in big letters in tape on our windshield to make it past the checkpoint, and the road was littered with trees limbs (the incredibly efficient Mexican army had cleared the entire road by the time we drove back, two hours later). We saw a metal municipal auditorium shredded into pieces, fields of corn and palm trees cut to shreds, random rooftops lying on the ground.
Once in Chetumal we surveyed the scene (it looked like a war zone) and filed the story on the satphone. By the time we headed back it was getting dark. I held out hope that by the time we got back power would be restored to Felipe Carrillo Puerto and the gas station would be functioning, but no such luck. We spent awhile trying to buy bootleg gas, but no one was selling. Word was that gasoline service wouldn’t be back for a few days. Our companion had enough gas to make it to the next town, where we could spend the night, buy a few gallons and return to our car the next day. We found a friendly older gentleman near a church who let us stash the car in his garage.
By the time we woke up the next morning we realized we had gone 24 hours without eating a meal. We retrieved our car and headed back to Cancun.
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Hunkering down for hurricane Dean
We awoke this morning to the howling wind, but also to great relief. Category 5 hurricane Dean passed far to the south of Cancun, sparing this resort the brunt of its wrath.
We had been here a few months ago to do a story about beach erosion following 2005’s hurricane Wilma and at the time officials were very nervous about another hurricane hitting the fragile beach. Even direct hit from a Category 3 could spell doom, let alone the 160 m.p.h. winds of Dean. It will be very interesting to see what the beach looks like in a few hours.
We’re about to venture out to the south, to Tulum, and, if the roads are open, toward Chetumal, the nearest city to the eye. Tulum is one Mexico’s truly magical places: you can body surf waves at the edge of Mayan ruins. Hopefully the damage is not too terrible. There haven’t been reports of deaths or injuries yet, but this was a massive and violent storm.
Our hotel in Cancun is an unofficial shelter: its thick walls have acted as a safe haven in many past hurricanes as well. Last night the place was full: relief officials, stranded tourists, and workers with the Mexican power company all crowded the small restaurant. It was an almost festive vibe: we felt very safe here.
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How do you measure the popularity of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who would have turned 100 this year?
Judging by the monstrous lines outside of the Bellas Artes museum all summer long, Frida has never been more beloved in Mexico. The Bellas Artes exposition was the single largest showing of Frida’s works and brought together far-flung pieces from various private collections.
An estimated 410,000 filed past the exhibition this summer and having witnessed the incredible lines in person, I can attest to the devotion (and saint-like patience) of Frida’s fans. Unfortunately, my wife and I never made it before the exhibition closed this past weekend. Every time we went we were confronted with 3-hour waits and lines snaking for blocks.
Apparently Frida’s works have to return to their respective homes and the exhibition won’t be extended (boo hoo). Congrats to everyone who made it inside.
Above is a self-portrait by Frieda, which the U.S. Postal Service chose to honor the artist in a stamp issued in 2001.
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The most influential Mexican you’ve never heard of
While she is largely unknown beyond Mexico’s borders, there may be no more influential politician in Mexico right now than Elba Esther Gordillo, the boss of the powerful Mexican teachers union.
Gordillo has shown a knack for swinging elections, from the presidency to this month’s governor’s race in Baja California. She is also credited (and blamed) for facilitating passage of a highly controversial pension reform bill and for hand picking officials in the federal education department. [The Economist] magazine (http://www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9516526) says she may be “the second most powerful politician in the country” behind President Felipe Calderon.
Calderon most likely owes his razor-thin victory to the Gordillo, who famously broke with the PRI and convinced her teachers army to support Calderon. I remember being at the Zocalo during one of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s protest rallies when the losing leftist candidate played some secretly recorded phone calls between Gordillo and several PRI governors on election day July 2006. Gordillo basically ordered the governors to swing their people toward Calderon (candidate of the rival PAN). The deferential tone of the governors toward Gordillo (yes, ma’am, no ma’am) was amazing to hear.
Since then Gordillo has announced that Calderon owes her a heavy debt and has already cashed in. Her son-in-law was named sub-secretary of basic education.
Two weeks ago Gordillo struck again, this time in Baja California. Experts there attributed the victory of the PAN over controversial PRI candidate Jorge Hank Rhon to Gordillo. In the key border state, Gordillo once again mobilized her teachers against her old allies in the PRI, no doubt winning more credit at Los Pinos.
Look for Gordillo to continue to be a key figure during Calderon’s term. Many observers say the president can’t withstand the political price of distancing himself from her.
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The parking mafia
Here in Mexico City we don’t have parking meters, we have franeleros. Roughly translated as ragmen, these self-appointed parking officials stake out a street or two in this parking-space starved city and direct cars in and out. They’ll guide you in and then offer to watch your car (or even wash it) — all for a fee, of course. During the day it’s usually just a handful of change, but at night - especially in trendy areas where parking is at a premium - they can charge several dollars per car.
The charge for parking on a public street is theoretically voluntary. In reality almost everyone pays the franeleros, lest their car suffer a nasty dent, flat tire, or worse, disappear. None of this is legal (thanks to a 2004 “Civic Culture” law), but like lots of illegal activities that flourish in the Mexican capital, is supported by a chain of corruption. Neighborhood cops and tow truck drivers reportedly get a taste of the franelero money in exchange for looking the other way or letting the ragmen operate in no-parking areas.
Neighbors periodically rise up against the franeleros. In Coyoacan neighborhood, home to the Cox office, there’s an ongoing battle between residents and ragmen over the right to park on the streets around the picturesque plaza. In other parts of the city, officials have threatened to replace franeleros with parking meters, hoping to channel parking money directly into the city budget.
For the most part the franeleros are grudgingly accepted as a fact of life in the capital, and like the legion of street vendors who illegally set up shop on downtown streets, are yet another symptom of an economy that isn’t producing nearly enough jobs for its citizens.
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Majorly awesome: Mexico can’t get enough of Lorena
Mexico awoke Monday to one giant lovefest with golfer Lorena Ochoa, who on Sunday became the first Mexican golfer to win a major tournament. “Grand Goddess” thundered the sports section of the Mexico City daily Reforma. Ochoa managed to knock the opening weekend of the Mexican soccer league off the front pages of most sports sections, a feat almost as difficult as winning the British Open.
Why all the hubbub in a nation that can be accused of a lot of things, but certainly not of being golf crazy? Peruse the nation’s sports sections and you quickly learn the performance of Mexican athletes on the international stage means a lot to the national psyche.
Here in Mexico City, you won’t find many recaps of Major League Baseball games, but you will find daily updates on Mexican players like rookie phenom Yovani Gallardo (tearing it up for the Milwaukee Brewers) and the frustratingly inconsistent Oliver Perez (pitching for the New York Mets). Good, or even decent, performances bring banner headlines.
The same holds true for basketball. You might not be able to find your hometown scores, but you can count on daily stats for native son Eduardo Najera, the Denver Nuggets bench player and certified basketball god south of the border.
Ochoa seems acutely aware of the pressure and expectations her countrymen place on her, and her failure to win majors despite being ranked number one for most of the year was widely lamented here.
“I was playing for all of Mexico and hopefully [as a result] there will be many more Mexicans playing in the future,” Ochoa told The Times of London.