A Guide to Shopping in the City of Guanajuato

Guest Blogger: Cindi Bower


The city of Guanajuato is known for its history, architecture and music but is not thought of as an especially great place to shop. While Guanajuato is not full of shopping malls and exclusive boutiques, it has enough shops to satisfy even an inveterate shopper. The historic center of Guanajuato is where you'll find the best shopping opportunities.

Many shops can be found along the main street that runs through the center of the city. The street is called Sopeña on the south side of the Jardín de la Unión, then changes to Obregón from the Jardín to the Plaza de la Paz and finally to Juárez from there until past Mercado Hidalgo. Since Guanajuato's streets are not built in a grid formation and are not always clearly marked, most people use landmarks as points of reference when giving directions.

The best place to start your shopping adventure is in the Jardín de la Unión, Guanajuato's main plaza. There is a small shop, Arte de México, just across from the newsstand. It carries some jewelry, souvenirs and a small selection of regional candies.

With your back to the Jardín, face Teatro Juárez and the San Diego Church. Turn left and walk past the steps leading to the theatre. Now you are on Sopeña. This is mainly a pedestrian street, but watch out for delivery and trash trucks that also use the street from time to time. At Sopeña #5, you will find Rincón Artesanal, a small shop with ceramics, some religious art and carved wood items. A few doors further up the street is La Florecita, a shop with cloth bags, scarves, shawls and embroidered blouses and dresses.

Around the corner from La Florecita at Sopeña #17 is an upscale store called La Casa del Quijote with several rooms of jewelry, pottery, sculpture, ceramics and more. The displays are nicely done and the employees are very attentive and helpful.

Turn around and go back toward the Jardín. La Catrina Dulcería (candy store), just across from the theatre steps at Sopeña #4, is a sweet tooth's dream. The store offers a wide variety of typical candies from different parts of Mexico as well as nuts, jams, cajeta (sweetened caramelized goat's milk), vanilla extract and much more. Be sure to climb to the second floor for more delicious treats and the various Catrina figurines for sale.

Continue past the Jardín on Obregón Street. On the left just past a travel agency is La Casa del Sol. The shop is jam-packed with all manner of items: jewelry, dolls, religious objects, purses, dishes and much more. Though the items look antique, they are reproductions made in workshops around Guanajuato.

Cross Obregón Street, go through the small plaza and you'll be on Calle Truco. La Casa de la Abuela, at Truco #5, offers handmade, unique items such as puppets, children's toys, fountains, picture frames, candles, metal sculptures and more. A few doors further is Galeria del Arte Nautilus Calli, which offers art, home décor and gifts.

Go back to the intersection of Truco and Obregón Streets and turn right. There are a number of handicraft, gift and souvenir shops around Plaza de la Paz (dominated by the Basilica, the large yellow church) and along both sides of Juárez Street all the way to the Comercial Mexicana supermarket.

For silver jewelry, visit Plata y Artesanias at Avenida Juárez #34. The store offers bracelets, earrings, rings and necklaces, both in plain silver and silver with various semi-precious stones. It also offers handmade Mexican home décor.

Mercado Hidalgo has some souvenirs, candy and handicrafts on the second-level mezzanine as well as in some booths outside the building. It is more a market where residents buy food and household supplies or stop for a quick snack or meal than a place to buy handicrafts.

Across Avenida Juárez from Mercado Hidalgo is a steep street called Mendízábal that leads to the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, a large building on the left that was used as a granary. There is a bookstore inside that offers literature, books about history, art, science and more.

Calle Mendízábal ends at Pocitos Street. Turn right on Pocitos and walk away from the Alhóndiga. There are a few shops of interest along this street. El Viejo Zaguán, at Pocitos #64, offers candles, shawls, religious art, candy and knick-knacks. Donkey Jote, at Pocitos #30, is an English-language bookstore. La Rana, at Pocitos #7, has handicrafts, glass, and colorful Mexican folk art animals (alebrije).

Continue on Pocitos (now called Lascurian de Retana) past the steps leading to the main building of the University of Guanajuato. At the bottom of the hill, there is a small plaza on the right. Around the corner, at Ponciano Aguilar #25, you will see the Capelo gallery and café. The famous local artist, Javier de Jesús Hernández, goes by the name Capelo. The gallery offers art and ceramics. Capelo owns several horses and often uses them as subjects in his work.

Go back to the small plaza outside Capelo and face the post office. A large church, La Compañía de Jesus, will be on your left. Walk toward the post office on the sidewalk in front of the church. There is a street to the left of the post office that will lead you to Plaza Baratillo (turn right at the tortilla shop). Plaza Baratillo has several food shops as well as a shop on the corner next to the street that sells a variety of regional candies, nuts, jams, salsa and liqueurs.

Cross the street and go through the large indoor patio (there is a coffee shop/restaurant inside called "Café Atrio"). The narrow end of the Jardín de la Unión is just outside. There is a jewelry store and a shoe store just across the sidewalk from Café Atrio. Around the corner from the shoe store, you'll find a small shop with pottery.



You've made a large circle and ended up back where you started at the Jardín de la Unión. While you haven't seen every handicraft, jewelry or artisan shop in Guanajuato, you've discovered the vast majority.

American Unversities Canceling Language Programs in Mexico

In May, 2010, Texas Universities their Mexico study-abroad Spanish programs due to increasing violence. The University of Kansas followed suit in June, 2010.

Increasing violence from Mexico's drug and gang problems are cited as reasons for the language program cancellations.

The University of Kansas has, in the past, lost students to violent deaths in other countries which is a consideration in the strict policy governing the decision to cancel the Mexican language problems.

Source 1

Source 2


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Travel Destinations: Guanajuato, Mexico

Guest Blogger: Cindi Bower

Guanajuato, the capital of the state of Guanajuato, is located in the mountains of central Mexico. It's not a place that immediately comes to mind when people consider vacationing in Mexico. Many are familiar with Mexico's lovely beaches and the attractions in Mexico City, but few discover the treasures in the colonial cities of central Mexico.

Guanajuato is often referred to as "The Jewel of the Americas" and "The Crown Jewel of Mexico's Colonial Cities." It's come a long way from the days when the semi-nomadic indigenous people called it "Quanx-huato" or "Hill of Frogs" because it was so barren that only frogs would live in the area.

The area probably would have remained little more than a place for ranchers to graze their cattle if not for one important discovery in the mid-1550's. Silver and lots of it. Some of the world's richest silver veins were buried in the mountains surrounding the modern-day city of Guanajuato.

Silver made many of the Spanish settlers very rich. They built huge haciendas outside the city and fabulous mansions in town, some of which remain today. Some made generous donations to build and adorn Guanajuato's numerous churches. One man, the owner of the Valenciana mine, single-handedly provided the money to build the San Cayetano Church, otherwise known as the Templo la Valenciana.

Shopping for silver is just one of the many activities one can do in Guanajuato. There are a number of shops with silver jewelry for sale along the main street that passes from the San Francisco church, past Teatro Juarez and the Jardin de la Union to Mercado Hidalgo. You can even let the jewelry come to you if you prefer. Just sit on one of the shady benches in the Jardin and wait. Before long, women with silver jewelry in black cases will approach you and proffer their wares.

While you search for an unoccupied bench, take a look at the buildings surrounding the Jardin. Though most are hotels, restaurants and shops, they were originally the homes of some of Guanajuato's wealthiest residents. The interior of the building that houses Starbucks is particularly beautiful. If you walk in the large, center door, the passage leads to an interior patio topped by an impressive stained glass window. The railings and pillars that line the passageways on the second and third floors that overlook the patio give you a glimpse of how opulent the home once was.

Visiting the churches will show you the results of the money donated by the wealthy mine owners. The San Diego Church, across the street from the Jardin, had to be raised 20 feet and rebuilt between 1782 and 1784 due to extensive flooding. The second Marques de Rayas, owner of the Rayas mine, donated much of the money needed to rebuild the church. He and his family are buried in the elaborate El Senor del Burgos chapel to the side of the sanctuary.

There is a museum under the church that contains an excavated portion of the convent (monastery) that was attached to the original church. The museum has drawings of what the convent looked like when it was functioning. Unfortunately, the rest of the convent cannot be excavated as Teatro Juarez was built on the site.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guanajuato, the large yellow church a block from the Jardin, is a favorite venue for weddings, baptisms and confirmations. The interior is quite impressive. Above the altar is a statue of Our Lady of Guanajuato, a gift from King Charles I of Spain in gratitude for the vast amount of silver that poured into his coffers from the mines of Guanajuato.

Plaza de la Paz, the location of the Basilica, is surrounded by several mansions built by more of Guanajuato's wealthy mine owners. One of the several homes built by the Count of Rul y Valencia, the owner of the Valenciana mine, now houses the Superior Court. If you ask the guards at the door, they will allow you to go as far as the interior, enclosed patio and get a taste of the way the rich lived in the 18th century.

The San Cayetano Church in Valenciana, built by the aforementioned Count of Rul y Valencia, is small but contains richly carved and gilded altarpieces. Several concerts during the three-week-long International Cervantes Festival in October are performed in this church.

There are a couple of shops on the plaza in front of the church, one of which, Ojo de Venado (deer's eye) sells folk art from all over Mexico. To the right of the church, there is a street that leads to the Bocamina San Ramon mine and hacienda. The Bocamina is the entrance to the mine, and while visitors cannot go into the mine itself for safety reasons, they can get a feeling for how difficult the life of a miner was. There is a small museum with mining equipment and artifacts from the mine's heyday.

A trip to Guanajuato wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Mummy Museum. It's rather ghoulish, but is very popular nonetheless. Between 1865 and 1958, the law required that if the deceased's relatives stopped paying upkeep on the deceased's crypt, the body would be disinterred. Cemetery workers found a percentage of these disinterred bodies had been naturally mummified due to Guanajuato's dry climate. The mummies were housed in a building, which was later converted into a museum when people began showing an interest in seeing the mummies.

Guanajuato offers plenty to do and see. Spend a couple of days, a week or longer enjoying the architecture, the art, the music and the culture in Guanajuato, named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It will be an unforgettable experience.

Guanajuato, Mex - Safety: GRAVE

Points from Ruth Elizarraraz's, Thursday, July 1, 2010, article: Es grave la inseguridad en la ciudad: líder de Canaco (It is serious insecurity in the city: leader of Canaco) referring to the safety of the capital city of Guanajuato. Here's the link to verify the facts yourself.

The story made these points:

1. Roberto Serrano Chirino, the local leader of the National Chamber of Commerce, said that the lack of an operational and growth strategy to reduce crime rate is at the root of the rising crime rate in the city of Guanajuato.

2. The statistics show, says Chirino, that law enforcement officials are NOT doing their job.

3. The criminals know the police are not doing their job: "this is something that the criminals know and that's why more and more robberies, assaults and other crimes that damage the heritage of the families."

4. The mayor, says Chirino, has private police security as well as all council members and top level officials have surveillance in their homes whereas the people, the citizen of Guanajuato do not enjoy that privilege.

5. The story concludes with "Guanajuato is no longer the safe and peaceful city...now the theft and robbery are everyday things, "something they prefer to ignore, this is a turning point where they must act in a timely manner because otherwise the situation can become uncontrollable levels."

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Guanajuato, Mex - Women Suffer Violence

Here is another fact the Gringolandians in Guanajuato selling real estate and who have rentals don't want you to know. In a situation assessment conducted in 2009, 6 out of 10 women suffer some form of violence in the municipality of Guanajuato. Another line of the study revealed that 52% of the households in Guanajuato have women head of household.

My point in reporting this is that Gringos, almost always, move here based on a fantasy. Websites talk of living in Mexico will use phrases like, "It's heaven on earth," "Come live in Nirvana," "Experience the magic of Guanajuato," or whatever. These sites are generally real estates website trying to sell you a house or some other service pertaining to expatriation.

Putting in nicely, they have a bias.

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Guanajuato, Mexico - Tourist Robbed

A twenty-two year-old Oriental woman was robbed at 7:15 PM, Monday, 7/5/10, while walking down a callejon from the Pipila when she was set upon by three men. The victim reported to police that the men violently relived her of her laptop, a bag with personal items, cameras, money, and her personal documents.

Though the poor woman reported it to police, there will be nothing significantly accomplished in finding her assailants. She is a tourist with a limited time in the city. Unless she is fabulously wealthy and would gladly return to GTO in the unlikely event someone locates her attackers, there will nothing much done in some sort of investigation. The police know that, the tourist doesn't, and what do you want to bet the thieves do.

If caught, the thugs know the tourist will be unlikely to return just to testify against them in a trial.

The girl was walking alone.

When will they learn?

Guanajuato, Mexico - Dengue Fever

It comes chugging up the street under the cover of darkness. The sound is unmistakable. It sounds like a train engine trying to make it up a steep mountain. The sound belongs to the truck with a machine on its back spraying a noxious cloud of insecticide into the air. Guanajuato does this, by the way, in an attempt to rid the city, or keep under control, a deadly resident: Dengue Fever Mosquitoes.

According to Secretary of Health of Guanajuato, Jorge Armando Torres Aguirre , the city is just starting its third stage of the first phase of spraying. Though no local outbreaks have been reported of the disease, there have been identified mosquito larvae transmitter of the virus. The spraying seems to be killing the larvae, says Aguirre.

Secretary of Health of Guanajuato (SSG), Jorge Armando Torres Aguirre, says there have been cases in other Mexican states but none yet locally. That's why, he says, Guanajuato is engaging in aggressive spraying control.

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Click On This Link to Reach A Walk Through Mexico's Crown Jewel

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Source: El Correo 6/29/10

Guadalajara's consular district continues to deteriorate...

An alert for the Great Guadalajara Metro Area:

Tue Jun 29, 2010
5:15 pm

posted today on chapala.com

United States Consulate General Guadalajara
PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT TO
AS MANY AMERICAN CITIZENS AS POSSIBLE

Date: June 29, 2010
BEGIN TEXT.

American citizens should be aware of the fact that the security environment within Guadalajara's consular district continues to deteriorate. Mexican officials recently commented on the security situation in Guadalajara saying that police are unable to effectively combat organized crime and drug cartel violence could affect innocent civilians.

Drug cartel violence continues to be on the rise within the greater Guadalajara Metropolitan area. On June 24th there was a confrontation between police and cartel fighters on the road between Guadalajara and the nearby tourist destination of Mazamitla. Multiple gun battles between rival drug cartels and police involving automatic assault rifles, armored vehicles, and grenades have been reported closer and closer to Guadalajara to include the recent heavy weapons fights in Tepic, Nayarit where the Governor recently ordered the early closure of public schools due to the cartel violence.

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The Gringa who wrote this made the comment as to how many (if not the majority) of Gringos have their heads in the sand regarding what is happening in Mexico.

In a recent incident in which an American couple's kid was held without food for being an American and in revenge for what is happening in Arizona, the Michoacan Yahoo forum moderator took off the report claiming it was political and incendiary. This makes me wonder what Real Estate business this forum's moderator is trying to protect from bad publicity. This is often the case in these censuring attempts. Just what thinking person could not connect the dots here.

The kid was told by the Mexican police that he was being held for revenge in light of what has been happening in Arizona. As if the kid of a missionary couple from America is responsible for the Arizon fiasco. The political situation in America is and will affect Americans in Mexico and yet this Gringolandian, in typical Gringo style with gringo thinking, calls the story political and inflammatory and not contributing to a forum dedicated to "living in Mexico." The kid was singled out for detention, ripped out of his bus ride to another city, and held with out food--denying his human right--and was told his treatment was because of the Arizona situation.

I will have a blog on this story in a few days.

Sneaking an Early Peek at Our Lady of Guanajuato

From my vantage point I could see everything. Sitting in a small sidewalk café with the very original name, El Café (The Café), I was working on my third cup of Nescafe while watching Mexicans walking by like someone was chasing them. Of the many Twilight Zone events I've had while living in Guanajuato, Mexico, this is really the most bizarre. It is a cultural fact that you could bet the farm on that Mexicans will never get to an appointment on time-ever. Setting up an appointment at three in the afternoon, for example, can mean a host of things, none of which means that the person will show up at three. So just where they are going in such an apparent hurry, I cannot possibly say.

From that point of view, Guanajuato is not an especially nice place to walk between the hours of ten in the morning and two in the afternoon. To test this hypothesis, try walking from a barrio called Embajadoras to the Super, Comercial Mexicana, between those hours. Here's a tip: Make sure your Tourist's Insurance Premiums are paid up.

El Café is located on the side of Guanajuato's magnificently ostentatious Juarez Theater and diagonally across from the main plaza, El Jardin. From here, you can watch the city, at least in El Centro (The Center), wake up. I watched vendors buzzing about like so many bees in a busy swarm toting restaurant supplies on their little dollies making hurried deliveries. Shopkeepers were busy opening up their doors and removing the huge wooden panels from their boarded windows. Sidewalks were swept and mopped (I just love that!). I've written often that this is the very best time to see Guanajuato-in the early mornings-without the fear of being swept off a sidewalk by the race-walking, pressing throng.

After the third cup of Nescafe and finally reaching that I-am-now-going-to-vomit-myself-to-death taste in my mouth, I decided it was time to get moving on the day. But first, I have to explain the Nescafe angle in this town.

Nescafe is what is served in most small cafés in Guanajuato. If you want a cup of Americano, Nescafe is what you will get. Now, I have no ill will toward Nescafe and will indulge in a cup when there is nothing else to order. The strategy to successfully surviving a morning of this brew without suffering a possible stroke is to add more sugar than the human body can possibly handle and then throwing it back like you are tossing back a shot of tequila. And, note this, there are rarely free refills. I must add a note here: El Café does serve great scrambled eggs with chorizo.

My objective, the target of my sleuthing travel writing quest, was to journey, entirely on foot, to La Plaza de la Paz (The plaza of peace). For this arduous hike, I was duly fortified and knowing it would take all of sixty seconds, I was ready for it. But before I could go, I had to deal with the line of beggars and vendors who had queued at my table.

These people always know when I come into town. They must send each other messages on their Blackberry's when one of them spots me ambling along the streets. It doesn't matter what time of day I show up, "Red Alert...Bower's coming!" They come, one after another, to my table with assorted items from which I can choose NOT to buy. One lady had candy bars, or so she claimed, wrapped in red cellophane with Chinese characters on the packaging. The lettering looked faded like it had been manufactured in 1945 and probably read something like, "Chin-a-Lax-a-Tive". Next, the Doily Lady came rolling up.

I believe The Doily Lady has to have convinced herself that she will sell us something before she dies, which seems imminent. For the past seven years, she has tried selling us stuff that frankly looks like she got it at Wal-Mart. She always hits on us and when we refuse, she has a follow-up sales pitch to try and overcome our long-term refusal. She never gives up, ever. Once, we tried ignoring her while we kept walking. This would not do. Oh no. She grabbed hold of the belt on the back of my wife's pants and was dragged along as though she was water skiing and my wife was the motorboat. I had to dislodge her hands and yell at my wife to run. The poor old thing is that persistent. And here the kicker: I've never seen anyone, Gringo or Mexican, buy the dear's stuff. Sad, really.

After that bit of distraction, I walked to La Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Guanajuato's parish church. La Basilica doesn't look all that impressive when approaching the plaza in which it sits and that is because the traffic on both streets that run parallel to it goes the wrong direction. So, for example, if you were to take an automobile of any sort into the plaza, you wouldn't know what the structure was unless someone hit you on the head and said, "Hey, look at that church." And, even then, you would have to twist your head backwards in Linda Blair style to see it. The visual impact of the church would indeed be impressive if the traffic flow was reversed. This 17th-century Baroque church is most impressive when viewed on foot from the opposite side of the plaza. In its elevated splendor, the main entrance is reached by climbing semicircular and steep stairs. In older photos, the church's entrance is at street level. This is no longer the case.

I was there at about nine in the morning to get a better look at the most unique object in the church. Though I had seen pictures of this 8th-century statue, I had yet to see her in the actual context of the church's altar. She used to sit on the back wall, behind the alter and to the left. You really couldn't see it since services were always in progress when I was there. Many American tourists will, unfortunately, think they should have access to the churches, like the churches are Museums, and will often march to the front during a service and start squeezing off snapshots. We saw this happen at a child's funeral. The tourists, dressed for the beach, rushed to the front when the casket was being opened and snapped photos. The churches are not museums and are there for the spiritual needs of the locals.

When I settled into a pew and got out my writing things, I noticed five people sitting toward the front and in the right side of the pews. I always fret when I walk into a church on a writing gig and there are parishioners making spooky but soft chanting sounds, as these five were. They were all hunched over like they were suffering stomach cramps in unison and erupting in sudden moans and groans. I thought they were either sick or practicing some esoteric religious moaning exercises with which I was unfamiliar. Whatever it was, they didn't seem to mind a horde of workers who were climbing scaffolding and dropping things to the church floor from dizzying heights. The one thing I was very pleased about is that the virgin I came to see was brought to the front of the altar and sat in what looked like a dessert case at Denny's. She was locked up snug and in a glass container where all could view without difficulty.

The story about this religious icon is a great one and one which I love.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is a sculpture standing 1.15 meters high and depicts the Virgin holding Baby Jesus. Depending on the version of history you find, it was alleged to have been created around 714 A.D. and was hidden, probably in caves or catacombs, in Spain during the five-hundred year Moorish rule. King Charles V of Spain donated the statute that was rediscovered. In 1557, the statue arrived in Guanajuato and later came to be called Our Lady of Guanajuato. It was actually Charles' son, Phillip II, who was entrusted with the icon's journey to and safe arrival in Guanajuato.

Though nothing is really known about the sea voyage of the icon to Mexico across the Atlantic, one can only imagine the peril it faced. Perafán de Rivera, the nobleman assigned to bring the statue to Mexico, didn't know where Guanajuato was exactly and became essentially lost. Just a suburb away in the area today known as Yerbabuena, he stopped to reconnoiter and prayed to the icon for help. According to legend, a pair of white doves guided him in safety to the city of Guanajuato.

Considered to be the oldest piece of Christian art and carved from one piece of cedar, the statue has actually a rather interesting part in its history in which thieves made off with the jewels sewn into the sculpture's garment. The thieves didn't get far and the jewels were recovered. I cannot begin to imagine what the locals must have done to the thieves.

Though the actual icon looks rather dull, it is amazing that it is so old and so well preserved. Presently (Fall 2008), when there are no services going on, you can walk right up to the front and have a look at what two members of the Spanish royalty and a geographically-challenged nobleman went to a lot of trouble to bring to the new world-New Spain, today Mexico.

I looked over my left shoulder and the five moaning parishioners were still rocking and moaning, the workers were still on their scaffolding dropping things from the rafters, and I took my leave with my mission accomplished.

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A Walk Through Guanajuato: México’s Crown Jewel

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San Miguel de Allende Gringa Reports: No Crime Here

You just have to wonder. How is it that people can become so delusional that nothing seeps past the intact fantasy? I've been writing much of this in this year's blogging. Gringolandians move to places like San Miguel de Allende, set about transforming it into their American Imperialistic Image, then report that it is a "literal heaven on earth."

Read this:

"Re: San Miguel de Allende Safety
Apr 06, 2010, 9:49 AM

no problem with safety here. I've been here 11 years, heaven on
earth..! the drug things happen 99% near borders and don't effect us in
san miguel.but if something happens, it's reported . but nothing really
except yearly purse snatchings around xmas.. It is gorgeous and totally
safe.

jackiesan
sanmigueldeal..."

Here she's been in the city for 11 years and declares it, "heaven on earth" and "totally safe."

Perhaps she's missed the Mexican reported news since the vast majority are so ignorant of no more of word or two of Spanish.

Here are the facts as reported in the Mexican and American news media:

Crimes and misdemeanors: Staying safe in San Miguel
(click on this title)

1.) What Will It Take?

2.) San Miguel de Allende Shoot Out

3.) I Wouldn't Last a Day Here

4.) San Miguel Muggings

5.) Safety Crisis

6.) SMA: Robbery and Shot to Death!

Guanajuato, Mex -- Your Tax Dollars

This blog is cheerfully and merrily dedicated to all those Gringos who are on their way to live in Mexico. It is written with the motive that those who are coming here would really evaluate if this is what they want to do.

Let me share a story with you all. It is true. The names, dates, and other personal info has all be changed to protect the innocent.

If you are retiring here know that the American government does not trust direct deposit into Mexican banks. If you get Social Security and want it deposited into a Mexican bank, this can be done. But, here is how it works.

What SSA does is transfer it to the bank of the American Embassy in Mexico City. From there it is sent to your Mexican bank account. For example, your $1,200.00 US dollars is sent to the Embassy's bank where it is converted to Mexican pesos then transferred to your Mexican bank account.

Well, I can hear you pontificate, I have my Social Security deposited to my bank account in the States.

Well...I respond...the US Feds will eventually figure out that you do not really live in the States and will snatch your account right out from underneath you.

For real, I am not joking. Unless you live in the States, and they will verify this, you have to have a Mexican Bank account and will have your American bank account seized. You have to live FULL TIME in the States to maintain your American Bank account. If you put your daughter's address, or whoever, down as your place of residence, and someone's American phone number, they will check this out.

LET ME REITERATE: Unless you have a American address and phone number where you reside full time, they will close your account and seize your money.

So, if you cannot find a nefarious way around this, you will have to have a Mexican Bank account--you will have no choice.

Now, let's say you get your SSDI or SSI payment on the third of the month. According to the SSA Rules, when your payment date falls on a Saturday or Sunday, that is the third of the month falls on a weekend day, then you should be paid on the Friday before your payment date. Get that? If you get your check on the third and the third falls on a Sunday, then you'll be paid on the first which would be a Friday.

Got that?

Well...in Mexico this doesn't work that way.

If your payment date falls on the third of the month and the third is on a Saturday or Sunday, you will not get paid on the first which would be a Friday. You will get paid sometime that following week and when exactly is anyone's guess.

I mean this most sincerely. The Mexican nationals who work at the Social Security Office in the American Embassy do not get that the SSA office sends your payment on the first if your normal payment date falls on a weekend.

Now that I think of it, this applies to whatever dates: If you normally get your check on a certain date that falls on a weekend you should get your payment on the Friday before.

THESE ARE THE RULES ONLY THE MEXICANS RUNNING THE SHOW IN MEXICO CITY AT THE EMBASSY DO NOT KNOW OR UNDERSTAND THIS.

Did you hear my screeching alright?

Right now, even as I speak, there is couple who have no money for rent, no money for life sustaining medications, no money for food, no money for anything because the SSA Office in Mexico City is illegally holding this couple's money.

Here's what Mexican truly do not get by a true democracy. A government within a real democracy is that the government is WE THE PEOPLE. The Mexican nationals employed by the Embassy do not work for the Embassy or a group of politicians, or a governmental entity.

They work for WE THE PEOPLE and when on Embassy grounds, they are on American soil and therefore work for WE THE PEOPLE!

The man on SSDI, Social Security Disability, called the SSA Office. The Mexican national male laughed at him repeatedly and especially so when told of this man's illnesses and that without at least four of his medications he could die.

THE MEXICAN NATIONAL LAUGHED AT HIM!

So, that, among many things, is what you are up against if you plan on moving to Mexico.

Now...if you are asking yourself just how this applies to you if you never move to Mexico, let me elaborate.

If you are an American citizen and are reading this, know that a portion of your taxes, your hard earned income taken from your pay each week, goes to support not only the American Embassy, but the Social Security Office within the American Embassy that has Mexican nationals as their incompetent and unwilling-to-help your fellow Americans as employees. They are allowed to neglect their jobs for Religious Holidays causing your fellow Americans to suffer from lack of money to pay their bills and access health care.

If you want to express how you feel about how your taxes are being wasted with these SSA Mexican nationals click here to send an email:

Send SSA an Email -- Juarez
Send SSA an Email -- Guadalajara
Send SSA an Email -- MEXICO CITY (Hit this one if choosing just one)

Why not send your feelings to all three addresses to see if you get a response?

###

Guanajuato, Mex -- It's Impossible

In a not-to-long-ago blog I mentioned the joys (not) of trying to watch Mexican television in Guanajuato. Unless you have cable or satellite, it is virtually impossible to watch TV without consistent problems.

The current problem is channel 12. This channel has been a problem for years and not just for us (I make inquiries). This channel, and none of the others, does pretty much what it wants when it wants. Actually I should be fairer in my judgment of the channel. It has to be the Mexicans who run the thing that do pretty much what they want when they want.

Remember, "preventative maintenance" is generally NOT a Mexican forte. I can easily imagine how the workers, those responsible for maintaining the channel's broadcasting integrity, may not show up for work, sleep on the job, wonders what job they are suppose to do (their uncle hired them), and/or are too busy engaging in any number of nefarious activities while on the job they are suppose to be performing. I mean this most sincerely, this is seems to be a way of life here.

Anyway...

Two years ago, channel 12 went off the air. It took the better part of the year to come back on. I made inquires. No one knew anything.

A year ago, for several months, the channel just "rolled." I made inquiries. No one knew anything.

(No one ever knows anything.)

A week to ten days ago, channel 12 began sending secret coded messages. What I mean is that the picture is visible but the sound, audio, cuts out with a predictable sequence each time. It sounds like Morse Code is being sent. It is as though every other syllable of a line of dialogue is blanked out. Then it runs normally for about a quarter of a minute and starts again.

This is, I am sure, meant to torture me but I have not been able to confirm this.

Also, I've yet to make inquires but will and will blog my investigation when I am able.

###

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Guanajuato, Mex. -- Bored To Tears

I am bored. There's nothing to do right now in Guanajuato. Well, not much to do anyway. I am writing this during Semana Santa. This means roughly, "Easter Week" and the whole town in on vacation. In fact, the whole country is on vacation.

Gringo tourist write my wife, the trip advisor, what "child-friendly" things there will be to do in Guanajuato during Easter. They specifically ask how many and where all the Easter parades will be. They want to know when the Easter Bunny will make an appearance with those dyed eggs. They are coming with secularized American Gringo expectations.

Here is a little Plain Truth About Living in Mexico: Culturally, and to a great extent in individuals, Mexico has not abandoned the God who created them.

Easter here (as is Christmas) still a celebration of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Savior and Lord of the world, Jesus Christ. If you find that offensive to your secular world view, well, too bad.

One of the reasons we moved to Mexico is to live in culture where the ACLU isn't lurking in closets and hiding in the bushes ready to spring out at the first hint that someone want to put up a navity scene or erect a cross on public property. And, yes, you can see that sort of thing on public streets and that is just find by me.

Mexico is changing. The Imperialistic American world view is slowing infiltrating into Mexico culture. It is secularizing. It is slowly heading toward a secular ideology.

But, for now, it is still a place where you can mention God in schools, the private or government work place and not fear lawsuits.

I love that Mexico!

###

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Guanajuato, Mex -- Winds of Change

The immigration procedures for Mexico are changing. There's a lot of confusion out there as to what is going to happen. I have an "insider" friend who said not even the officials at the immigration office knows what to expect or is going on. Figures.

Here is an article that sounds good but in the end, who really knows?

Mexico Simplifies Visa Procedures.

If there's anything I have learned in living in this country for so many years, it is that nothing is ever as it seems and the Twilight Zone Effect will also come into effect.

Moral: You have to just wait and see.

###

Guanajuato, Mex. - Excuse Me?

My wife is an "official" travel advisor for an online outfit that is quite popular. They have a host of these advisors for just about anywhere. One cool thing they have is this secret online forum just for the advisors where they can chat among themselves and share the insanity with which they must deal in the questions they must answer.

Don't misunderstand. They do a fine job in answering the same questions over and over again. I suppose they need some sort of catharsis in this sharing with one another.

One that struck me the other day was this woman who is an advisor for some Mexican resort town. She said that the thing which gets her the most is how frequent she has to answer this question: "Why are Mexicans so stupid that they cannot learn to speak English?"

This does not surprise me. This is the true nature of the Culture Imperialist American who comes to a foreign country (Mexico especially) and really in their heart of hearts believes that anyone with whom they come into any sort of contact must speak English.

Have you ever wondered why they must think this?

I have and am found lacking when trying to offer a plausible answer.

How can anyone offer an excuse for this bizarre mindset or be so stupid as to have this mindset?

Spanish is the spoken language in this country and no matter where these Gringos go they expect to be catered to in English.

I suppose I could ask these gabachos this:

• "Why are you so stupid that you cannot realize that the entire planet is NOT fluent in English?
• And why are you so stupid to expect Mexico will have an English speaker at your elbow at every turn?
• Why are you so stupid to NOT learn Spanish when you come to a country in which Spanish is the major language?
• In addition, why are you so stupid for being so stupid?"

Well, excuse me if I sound a little testy but it just is beyond the pale to hear this sort of thing so often.

###

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Guanajuato, Mex -- The Gringos!

Gringos really do ask question like what I am about to share. Here is how I would have answered the question the wife found on a forum:



QUESTION:

Thank you so much for all your help, do you go to Punta Mita often?
In regards to Walmart, would I be able to get food like home in regards
to meats, chicken, I am planing to cook most nights. I just don't know
what I should bring from home, or can I get most everything there.


ANSWER:

Food like home? Are you kidding? You have to take fishing boats out each morning to catch your day's supply of protein. Then you have to forage in the woods for grubs, herbs, and roots. And to fry the fish you have to find wild corn and process it for the oil.

###






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###

Resources

1. THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT LIVING IN MEXICO
2. A WALK THROUGH MEXICO'S CROWN JEWEL - A Guanajuato Travelogue
3. ROCKET SPANISH
4. LEARNING SPANISH LIKE CRAZY

###





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Guanajuato, Mex -- Dirty Hands and Disease

When the swine flu hit Mexico, the authorities were a bit on the embarrassed side having to explain why so many infections and subsequent deaths were in Mexico. The disease eventually spread to the rest of the planet but Mexico seemed to be the epicenter.

Political correctness forbid publicizing why the infection spread so fast, far, and wide here: poor hygiene habits!

I have American friends who not only own eating and drinking establishments but who have to train their Mexican staff to wash their hands after using the toilet. This is almost too unreal to believe. But, more than one employee has had to be let go, fired, for failing to heed verbal warnings, read warning signs, and being yelled at for not washing up and then handling customer's food and drink. It is barbaric.

Their personal hygiene habits are never more plainly seen as when helping themselves to samples at the supermarket. With little plastic spoons and forks, toothpicks, napkins, and small plates sitting beside the deli samples or bakery cakes, in plain sight, they will elect to use their hands. They will pick up food with their filthy fingers just after wiping, picking, gouging, or generally touching almost every orifice of their bodies (Especially their noses...OMG...the nose!!)

I thought I would have to lean over and empty my stomach when I saw this little woman use her hands to grab a GLOB of cake from the bakery and begin stuffing it into her cake hole. I felt my stomach cramping, tightening up, that pre-vomit hot flushing feeling coming over my face....I was able to just close my eyes a pray for God's calming mercy.

These are the folks that after grazing on the Supermarket's plenty will trip off to their food kiosks in merriment and mirth and prepare your tortas (sandwiches) or tacos with the same hands that infected the Supermarket food samples. They will wash the fine dining ware after each cutomer in a vat of BLACK water that they keep adding clorox to making it smell like a toxic waste dump.

This...this...this is why the flu spread so fast in this country.

It is sickening. It certainly causes one to pause to see grown men and women, most notably the women, stick their hands into meat sample trays instead of using the toothpicks on the side of the tray.

It is barbaric!!

###

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Guanajauato, Mex -- The Gas Truck

In Guanajuato, and in each Mexico town we've toured, businesses and homes have to get their gas via these gigantic truck that can bring you tanks (ballistic missiles) of gas or with hoses to fill up your stationary roof tanks (bombs).

In all of the towns we've been to in Mexico these trucks will prowl the streets playing this god-awful ditty through speakers on top of the cab of the trucks. It is not a song but a ditty lasting about 5 measures and on this endless feedback loop where it repeats, well, endlessly.

My first comment is just how does the truck driver keep from going totally insane from this ear-splitting music that is blasted so loudly that it could surely hurt Superman? I mean, how does this driver keep from jumping from his truck in a ditty-driven, murderous rage and committing mass murder? I am speechless to come up with an answer.

My second comment is that no matter the gas company, they all do this and do so at ungodly early hours....Like when the wife and I are still in bed. And, the thing is, though the obvious reason for playing the cacophonous roar is to tell everyone and everything in the street through which they are driving that "the gas man cometh," NO ONE EVER IS SEEN RUNNING OUT OF THEIR STORE OR HOME FLAGGING DOWN THE GAS GUY!

We have made a point to watch and note in almost all the cities we've seen this happening and no one ever comes rushing out all breathless with tingly anticipation that they've conquered the gas problem.

The way the picture supposedly plays out is that the poor, hapless Mexican waits like a hunter in a duck blind for the prey to come flying by and BOOM, the hunter prevails by snagging a goose.

But in a city where phones, landlines or cellular are plentiful, everyone dials a number for gas and they come, with the brain-tumor-inducing music blaring, and nothing at all makes sense.

The third comment is my wife has got to be the only human being who has ever flagged down these monster trucks from the front porch of our house.

We needed gas and right before we dialed the number we heard the truck bellowing up the mountain side. I wondered then and am still wondering just what went through the driver's head to actually have an honest-to-God human being standing in front of a house flagging him down for gas? Certainly it had never happened.

Since then the two gas company's still come up and down our street, music blasting as loud as ever, and when they pass our house I can hear them slow down a bit as though waiting to see if someone will pop out and hail them.

This country!!

###

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Guanajauato, Mex -- Are They Really Friends?

I have had Gringolandians tell me that "all my friends are Mexicans." This would be nice if it weren't for the fact that these Gringolandians who tell me this can't speak Spanish. I do not doubt that they have some Mexican friends. What I doubt is that these alleged "friends" are really friends at all as American Gringolandians define friends. And, again I point out the obvious that if the Gringolandian really have Mexican friends it is that they have Mexican friends who have done what the Americans seem so incapable of doing and that is becoming bilingual.

I harp on this so often because through the years I have been told by each Mexican I converse with in Spanish that they regard the Gabacho as disrespectful who do not bother to learn Spanish. Why does the American pitch a fit over the "wetbacks" who remain monolingual in America when the Americans does the exact same thing when they move to Mexico?

Hypocritical at its finest.

I have caught hell for making this point. I am in fact known as THE MOST HATED GRINGO IN THE WORLD for speaking up on this point. For making this a point and issue I am despised among men (Gringolandians) and hated to the grave.

I just wonder how Gringolandians make the huge leap of cultural logic that "all my friends are Mexican?" How do they make this determination? What is their criteria?

Listen to what one American Gringa--an Honest Gringa--has to say in an online forum:

"i love the Mexican people, despite my experiences with my friend
from Guad. i have had wonderful experiences with people there, and they
are lots of fun, in the years i've visited my brother there and gone on
my own. my ESL friends said that as a gringo or as someone not a part
of their familiy, you will not ever really, truly know a Mexican person"

This person is absolutely right. Having a Mexican treat you nicely on the street, in a store, or whatever is no indication that a lifelong friendship has begun. Having a Mexican praise you lavishly is also NO indication of anything. It is an aspect of culture that they do this. They are so terminally polite and would do this sort of thing out of culture politeness.

When their kids begin calling you Tio (Uncle) and Tia (Aunt) then you can say that you have real, honest-to-God Mexican friends.

If you become a part of their family then and only then do you have Mexican friends. Otherwise, the best you can say is you have acquaintances.

If you are an American Gringolandian and your house catches fire and yet those Mexicans around you do nothing to help save it then maybe you should take note of the following story in this Gringa's post:

"one of the ESL teachers said that a friend of theirs was out on a
motorboat in the Bay of Bandera near Puerto Vallarta and saw that his
house was burning. he got ashore as soon as he could but the house was
destroyed. all the Mexican neighbors were standing around watching and
no one helped to put out the fire; they waited for the fire dept to come do it. one of his friends told him a few days later it was because he
had never tried to be friendly with them and he acted like an ugly
American, treating the local Mexicans as inferior and as his servants
[his attitude toward them], rather than being friendly and kind to them
in passing, because he made absolutely no effort to fit into their
customs and expected them to fit into his ways because he had more money"

This is exactly what I have been saying all these years and yet rather than repenting of their evil Gringolandian ways, they not only threaten me for my prose, they go on and on acting like all their Mexican acquaintances are their best friends.....

Just wait until your house catches fire and see what happens. Then you'll know. :)

###

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