Altitude

A friend asked if it's difficult living at 8000-8500 ft. above sea level.

Well, backpackers, hikers, athletes acclimatize in just a few days.

Couch potatoes like me take a bit longer.

After 3 to 5 days I stopped feeling discomfort walking up and down 3 flights of stairs.

I needed to stop and rest walking up a 200 ft. long 20 degree slope.

After month, that wasn't a problem anymore,

There's a quarter mile 30-40 degree hill leading from downtown to a park we go to frequently.

The first time I tried it, I had to stop twice.

That's not a problem now.

From there to the house is about another half mile uphill with grades as steep as 60 degrees.

The few times we've done it, it was very slowly and we stopped to catch our breath about halfway.

Not feeling we need to be heroes, we walk downhill to the park, nearby restaurants and shops or downtown and take a taxi back home.

Sacred and Profane

I started this post to describe some of the contradictions between the religious and secular in Mexico. Then a friend asked about Holy week customs in Mexico and I found this link which describes the most significant observance in Mexico:
Semana Santa in Iztapalapa
Clearly this takes things to an extreme, but similar, less real, less bloody observances are found all over Mexico.

My original article continues below.

Holy Week is a time of fasting, prayer and charity according to a banner in the church where we attended a secular chamber music concert today. Zacatecas schedules it's Cultural Festival at this time every year. It's a great showcase for local, national and international talent which attracts visitors from all over Mexico and around the world partly because kids are out of school and parents are on holiday from work. There's everything from heavy metal to ballet and beyond including a street fair with music and dancing surrounded by endless lines of booths selling trinkets and every class of edible goodies imaginable.

There's a sharp contrast between Mexico today and Spain of the 1960s where you awoke to somber music blaring from loudspeakers at dawn, all secular events were prohibited and nightly processions of penitents blocked the streets carrying heavy religious figures on their backs and shoulders. In cities like Seville and Jerez, Spain, several cofradias hold processions from their parishes each night during Holy Week. In Mexico, for the most part, the processions are limited to Holy Thursday.

I'm wondering if this dichotomy doesn't have its roots in Benito Juarez' nationalizing Church property and turning churches, convents and monasteries into museums, hotels and theaters to eliminate the Church's participation in government.

The Catholic Church enjoys complete religious freedom and other religions are not discriminated against in any way. Even though there are lots of Catholic symbols in public everywhere and all Catholic holidays are national holidays, non Catholics don't seem to be offended. Perhaps this is what the framers of the US Constitution had in mind. No national church, no politicization of religion, religious freedom for all.

In cities and beaches all over Mexico, people are partying. In the South, there are areas that look more like Mardi Gras or Carnaval than Holy Week.

Big Day 1/10/10

High today was was 60F, low (right now) 45F. higher than some places in Florida, nyaaaaaah!

Early movie Sherlock Holmes (dubbed in Spanish), enjoyed it immensely even if it isn't at all faithful to Conan-Doyle. I do recommend that everyone see the old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes flicks made in the 40s to get a baseline for Hollywood's progression in the development of the character.

Lunch followed at a new burger joint, styled after Johnny Rockets in the US. A single half pounder mushroom burger was about $3.20 and a double bacon cheese about $8.00. These prices are outrageously high for Mexico though there's nothing else like it in Zacatecas. A street corner burger with cheese, lettuce, tomato, cream, mayo, ketchup and mustard is about $1.60, still high for the working class. I'd say the quality of the food beats Johnny Rockets.

Then there was 4 hours in Wal-Mart buying, hopefully, a month's worth of groceries and supplies for 2 people, $130. No heat there, by the way. Cold.

Adventures in Showering

By any standard, our little house is luxurious.
In Mexico, the word has a slightly different meaning.

Even here, showering can be challenge or adventure.

First some background.

We have an 1100 liter water tank on the roof fed by a 15,000 liter cistern underground. Why all that plumbing?

The city doesn’t pump water 24/7 making the rooftop water tanks called tinacos a standard fixture in most Mexican homes. The 15,000 liter cistern is the added luxury assuring we won’t run out of water if the city fails to pump for an extended period; a pump fills the tinaco from the cistern.

Even in a city where nighttime temperatures can get down to freezing and below, central heating it's almost unheard of. Gas for the stove comes from a 500 liter stationary tank and there’s another gas connection in living room but nothing in the bedroom. The landlord is going to have a pipe run to the bedroom soon.

Right now, I have two roll around gas heaters with 20 liter portable tanks. The
downside is that the tanks have to be taken to an LP station to be filled. Soon
we’ll be able to connect the heaters with hoses in the living and bedrooms.

The water heater is an on demand tankless type. Being outside in the cold, it takes a little while to send hot water to the faucets. Originally, the water came out nearly boiling but an adjustment a couple of days ago fixed that so the water is just right for showering. This technology is so new to the area, plumbers aren’t really up to speed and it may take a while longer to get things set correctly. If you attempt to add just a little cold water to the mix, the heater shuts down and all you get is cold. Clearly, further tuning is needed.

Want to take a shower? It’s not so simple as just turning on the water and jumping in. First, you turn on the heater in the bedroom. Second, roll the other heater into the bathroom and turn it on. Now, wait a half hour till both rooms get warm.

OK, they’re warm. Now turn on the shower and wait till the water begins to get warm. Undress quickly and jump in. Shampoo, soap and rinse in a hurry before the water turns boiling. If you miss the window, turn the water off, jump out and wait till the system resets. Turn the water on again and finishing rinsing.

On leaving the shower, towel off and enjoy the heat till you’re completely dry.
Now, run to the bedroom before freezing. Luckily, it’s only 6ft.

You’ve left your clean clothes in front of the heater. Dress and lay back to enjoy the warmth. There were times we had to go through resetting the system 3 times before we were completely showered and rinsed.

SHEESH, it's a holiday!

Cristy and I had big plans today for going downtown and getting lots of stuff done at government offices and other bureaucracies like the cable and phone companies.

Ten minutes ago, I realized there weren't any kids at the kindergarten next-door. Hey Cris, is it a "bridge" today?

Oooh, it's the November 20 holiday! We're going to have to take it easy today, everything is closed.

November 20 is the anniversary of the 1910 Revolution. When a holiday falls on a weekday, Mexico celebrates it on the Monday preceeding and they call the extra day off "making bridge."

Tough luck, NOT! I was feeling lazy anyhow, something very unusual for me.

Good Breakfast

The apartment is still in no shape to do any cooking, stuff is in bags strewn all over the place. So, I went out for an “American” breakfast to VIP’s this morning.

VIP’s is a semi upscale restaurant chain owned by Wal-Mart. It’s similar to Denny’s or IHOP with a mix of Mexican and "American/International” items. I had OJ, two smallish hot cakes, a slice of ham, four rashers of really lean bacon, two scrambled eggs, a sweet roll and coffee for 108 pesos including tip. That’ll be about $8.00 by the time the transaction hits my credit card. It’s only a bit more than double what you would pay for a typical Mexican breakfast in a “working class” place.

Then I had to go out an buy a broom, dustpan, mop, toilet paper and paper towels, all of which were supplied at my old place.

The downhill walk to VIP’s was 15 minutes, 5 more to the ATM and 2 minutes to the supermarket. The taxi back was 10 min and about $1.85. It’s a beautiful, clear, sunshiny day, temp about 81º with a nice breeze. Sunblock doesn’t last long around here. But, I enjoy the walks and would try the uphill except for shlepping all that stuff.

Credit Cards Come to the Convenience Store

Oxxo is about the largest chain of convenience stores in Mexico. It's large by any standard, there seems to be one in every block, in every neighborhood.

This week, I noticed that they started accepting Visa and Mastercard.

The thing is, if you make lots of purchases of less than 100 pesos, you end up with a pocketful of change 4 or 5 times the weight of US coins. There's so much, it's hard to get rid of.

Being able to use a credit card will protect my pockets from wearing out too soon.

Where's the Maternity Clothes?

I've been here a little over a year now and I just noticed something. There are a fair number of pregnant women on the streets, on the busses, in the restaurants. None of them are wearing anything that could be remotely called maternity clothes?

Is it the same now in the US and other countries?

Normal dress is jeans hanging as low on the hips/tush as possible without falling down with a T-shirt, blouse, sweatshirt. The same jeans with a looser top work.

Usually, I'm not out and about when people are going to and from work. Maybe women who work in stores and offices where a more professional style is in order have a different kind of wardrobe.

Holy Posoly, runner-up Soapies

In my 11 months in Zacatecas, I've come to enjoy two dishes more than any others.

Number 1 is Pork and Hominy Stew with Red Chiles (Pozole Rojo) pronounced po-so'-lay row-cho with the ch like in the German ach. Sample recipe at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pork-and-Hominy-Stew-with-Red-Chiles-Pozole-Rojo-101285.

The thing that makes it for me is the chewiness of the hominy and pork (shredded here in Mexico), the crispiness of the onions, lettuce and radishes seasoned with the tanginess of the lemon juice.

Number 2 is Sopes pronounced so'-pays or little round masa patties with a ridge around the edge. They're a lot thicker than tortillas and only semi rigid. My favorite taqueria serves them with Picadillo (a ground meat, potato and onion mix) topped with lettuce, tomato, onions, cream (not sour) and cheese (never yellow in Mexico). http://mexicanfood.about.com/od/fiestaappetizers/r/SavorySopes.htm

Both pozole and sopes can be found in an almost endless number of variations and are all good as long as fresh ingredients are used. I've never been disappointed.

Enjoy!

Electrical Wiring

This is the fuse box in my little place.Two, count them two, 30 amp fuses. But that's not all, they appear to be wired in series.

Shortly after I moved in, one blew and everything in the house went out. So, they brought a new fuse, replaced it, and NOTHING. Apparently the fuse wasn't making contact. Pulled the other fuse and what did they find? There was a copper coin under the fuse. OK, so they put a coin under the other one. No trouble since.

On top of that there are only two electric outlets in my living/dining room.That's where I have:

2 computers

2 external hard drives

1 monitor

1 printer

computer speakers

cable modem

cable box

plasma tv

paper shredder

fan

heater

all plugged into two daisy-chained 8 socket voltage regulators.

I wonder how many amps I'm drawing in just this room.

In the kitchen, I have refrigerator, toaster oven, coffemaker, blender, juicer, coffee grinder all plugged into one socket with a surge protector. Well, I don't use them all at once.

Smoke detector? What's a smoke detector?

Well, there's nothing flammable in the structure of the building only a bit of furniture. Worst case, I'm only 5 ft. from the balcony and can let myself down from the second floor without breaking a leg.

How to Heat a Mean Tortilla

Tortillas made in a tortilla bakery aren't really baked. They are heated just enough to hold together. You have to heat them at home so they don't taste raw and are pliable enough to make tacos out of them.

If you are in a hurry, the quickest way to heat your tortillas is to drop them right over the gas flame on your stove. Give them about 15 to 30 seconds per side. the result is they don't taste raw and they're pliable enough to roll into tacos around your favorite filling.

The crunchy pre-fried Taco Bell type taco is something I've never seen in Mexico. Crunchy (dorado) tacos are made in one of two ways. One, is to fill the tortilla, like a burrito sealed at both ends, and deep fry it that way. The other way is to fold the tortilla more or less flat and deep fry it. The filling is piled on top of the crunchy tortilla and you break it up to use the pieces to shovel the filling by hand.

The more sophisticated way is to use a comal (picture below) which is kind of like griddle that covers from one to four burners on the stove. Mine takes about 5 minutes for 3 tortillas.

All you need to keep tortillas warm is to wrap them in a cloth and put them in a basket.

Danger buying fruit and pastries

Summer is in full swing and bees are out in force.
Street stalls, the public market and many small shops are wide open to the street.
The other day, I went into the local bakery to buy fresh rolls (bolillos.)
There were 30 or so bees hovering over the pasteries which are all on open serve-yourself racks and flitting around the cafe area where people were enjoying their coffee and cake.
When I took my purchase up to the register I asked, "Doesn't anyone ever get stung?"
The girl answered, "No, they're all old friends, when one of them dies, we have a funeral mass," with a big smile on her face.

I guess they're so fat, satisfied and feel so unthreatened they don't care.

South Park in Mexico

This is a First Communion invitation. First Communions and the parties afterwards are major events in childrens' lives and printed invitations are pretty much a requirement.

The personage here is St. Jude, but doesn't he look an awful lot like the Jesus character in South Park?

Comic or religious invitations are also used for baptisms and 15th birthdays (for girls.)

I ran out of fruit last night and also wanted to get some chorizo to go in an omelette with some Mennonite cheese I bought yesterday. (Mennonite cheese comes from a colony in Chihuahua that was founded in the mid 1800s when they were invited by Benito Juarez to escape persecution in the US.) It has a consistency like mozzerella but has a definite flavor. Absolute great on pizza and quesadillas, naturally.

At 9AM there was almost nobody on the streets until I got within a block of the market. Then it was still mostly vendors setting up or already open.

It was nice doing my shopping without having to climb over a bunch of pushing and shoving housewives to make my purchases. At any rate, six apples, six bananas, a pineapple and a half pound of chorizo was 60 pesos ($4.50), a good deal, I think.

The downside is that, unlike years ago, they use plastic bags now and if you are going to carry 10lbs. of stuff home, best bring a heavy duty sack or backpack. I've seen people carrying canvas sacks, but haven't seen them on sale anywhere. I guess I better ask.

IM - Instant Messaging

My friend is Mexican with a Spanish keyboard. I only have English. Yeah, you can configure Windows for both, but what about the keytops or memorizing the new layout. Hell, I never learned to touch-type.

We IM almost constantly. We wander back and forth between English and Spanish. That’s no problem with a Spanish keyboard, all the letters, numbers. accents, punctuations, and special characters except @ = ALT+064 for both languages are on it. Anyone who has been to an Internet café in Hispano America learns that right off.

What to do? What to do?

The only real sticky one is ñ. Without it, year (año) becomes anus (ano). You can get around it by typing anio which would be pronounced almost like año. So, I hunted through MS Word’s symbol table and found that ALT-0241 makes ñ.

Leaving all the other accents off may look uneducated but nowhere near as silly as Have a Happy New Anus.

One clumsy character per language is a fair trade, I guess.

There’s a more pernicious side effect. The more I IM, the more cigarettes I light, sometimes having two going at once. The doc gave me some new pills to help quit. After two weeks, not a dent! I guess that shows that the Smoking Nazis and their pet shrinks don’t know what they’re talking about. The addiction is more habit than chemical dependence.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, smokes are less than twenty bucks a carton for Marlboros, less than ten for a couple of similar Mexican brands.

Where’s the will power?

Internet Idiosyncrasy #1

When I first got down here, I was initially surprised that all the major web pages – MSN, Yahoo, Google were in Spanish!!!! Wait a minute! I’m in Mexico. The “Internet” knows I’m in Mexico. No, it’s not big brother watching me. It’s those funny numbers like 123.456.789.012 that do it. Every computer connected to the Internet has at least one of those strings of numbers that identify it. It just so happens that the first part of the number identifies the country the computer is in and a lot of the programmers who build websites use it to decide which language to use. There are ways to find the English language page that you were used to and making it a favorite or bookmark so you can always get English. Usually there’s a link at the bottom of the Spanish page that will to English. Most of you probably know that stuff; I thought I’d mention it just in case. BTW, this website comes up in Spanish till I log in. Once I do, it’s in English because my account specifies I use English.

Time, Place, Travel

Life is good. At certain points in my life, I had my doubts. Retired now, there’s enough money to live where I want, enjoy what I want, go where I want. Rich might have been better, but. . . Looking back, I see I made some choices between goals and the price that had to be paid for them. I ended up OK. FWIW for all you younger people out there, think hard about your life decisions, weigh the costs in time, effort, money against your goals for your retirement. Try to set goals that you can reach while you still have the time to enjoy life along the way. That is, don’t just live for tomorrow, but don’t just forget about it either. Tomorrow comes a hell of a lot sooner than you might believe. Sermon over!

Beggars

Yeah, there are more than I saw at first. The worst are the ones that use their small children as shills. If they’re begging, they are not going to school, so don’t encourage it by giving. They wouldn’t be doing it if it weren’t good business. On the other hand, there the old people who may not have any other means of support. To those you give.

Some people, not content to accept the status of beggar, are the entrepreneurs who buy crates of fruit, bag up 3 or 4 assorted pieces and sell on the corners or in the street. Gotta hand it to them!

Junk Mail

Every once in a while, a flyer gets pushed through the crack in the door. These are distributed by individuals hired by the companies, NOT the Post Office. Is there an idea there? Today, the flyer is about carpet-upholstery-car cleaning on one side, general help around the house or business on the other. Including distribution of advertising.

Business Hours

I leisurely extract myself from bed between 7:30 and 8:30 AM.

I may wander out for breakfast as early as 9AM, at which time about the only things open are the corner grocery store “hole-in-the-wall” and the public market. It’s not until 10 that the other eateries that serve the breakfast crowd open. Remember, Zacatecas is no major metropolis.

With some exceptions, businesses don’t open till 11AM making 10-10:30 the right time to grab some breakfast before work. Then, they close at between 1 and 3 PM for a big lunch plus siesta, opening again from around 5 till somewhere between 8 and 9.

9PM is when the restaurants’ supper business picks up. I use the term restaurant loosely. It could be anything from a lady on the corner with a basket of tamales or a pot of corn on the cob to the fanciest place in town.

I have to admit I’m still not certain who is open when, but it is clear that there are few, if any, worms for the early bird to catch.